Employment Tribunal (Alison Mountney v Wirral Council) Day 10 of 10: Judgement
Employment Tribunal (Alison Mountney v Wirral Council) Day 10 of 10: Judgement
Liverpool Civil & Family Court, Vernon Street, Liverpool, L2 2BX (the venue for Employment Tribunal case 2400718/16)
This is a report of a very small part of an Employment Tribunal hearing I attended (the judgement). By this point the matter had already been heard over 9 days and this was day 10 of 10. Brief details are below.
Venue: Tribunal Room 2, Third Floor, Liverpool Civil and Family Court Hearing Centre, 35 Vernon Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L2 2BX
What were top 7 most viewed articles and top 7 most viewed videos for May 2016?
Power
Well just over a month has passed since polling day the election for a Merseyside PCC and local councillors on the Wirral and on the 23rd June 2016 there will be a referendum about membership of the EU.
As I’ll be at Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday morning, instead I thought I’d look back at the most read stories of last month (May 2016) and some of the most watched videos. Both are in order of most viewed (so the top number 1 slot was the one that attracted the most interest).
Since I wrote this story question marks have also been raised about the election of two further Wirral councillors not referred to by name in the article, which leads to unanswered questions about over a quarter of the 23 councillors elected. If all six elections had been (or are in the next 2 years) declared null and void*, no political party would have a majority on Wirral Council.
*Highly unlikely considering how this country works or doesn’t work and I’d like to point out that councillors/candidates are innocent until proven guilty and that trial by media doesn’t count.
Polling stations open from 7am to 10pm for local council and PCC elections
Polling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 front resizedPolling card Bidston and St James ward 2016 back
Today is polling day in the elections across Wirral for who your local councillor and Police and Crime Commissioner will be. Polling stations are now open and will close at 10pm. If you have a postal vote and haven’t sent it back yet, your local polling station can accept your completed postal ballots too.
As the ballot papers for both elections will have to first be sorted out from each other at the count, this will cause a slight delay in the result being declared.
The votes in the local councillor elections will be counted and declared first, with the count of the votes in the Police and Crime Commissioner election happening (as far as I know) tomorrow morning. The result of Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner ballot is expected later on Friday.
There’s no right in law for the press to be present at the count (it’s at the discretion of the Returning Officer who I haven’t asked) and I don’t plan on being there tonight.
If the local councillor results are declared at a reasonable time I will be posting them as they happen on this blog. If not, I will post the results tomorrow morning. However as Wirral Council councillors are elected by thirds, a number of council seats stay the same as there are only elections for twenty-three out of sixty-six councillors.
I will (along with Leonora) be going to my local polling station to vote in both elections.
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Why is the government consulting on abolishing fire and rescue authorities in England?
Why is the government consulting on abolishing fire and rescue authorities in England?
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority Police and Fire Collaboration Committee 1st September 2015 Left Jane Kennedy (Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside) Right Sir John Murphy (Chief Constable, Merseyside Police)
This article in the Guardian about the consultation on the proposals has the opening two sentences which sum things up, "What do you do if you’re part of a government that believes in decimating the fire and rescue service as a means to making "efficiency savings", only to find yourself regularly thwarted by elected councillors who sit on the local fire and rescue authority? Answer: abolish the fire and rescue authority."
It 2012 the Merseyside Police Authority (made up half of local councillors and half of independents) was scrapped and replaced with a Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner. It would seem the Conservative government wants to do something similar to what the Coalition government did to the police authorities in 2012, but this time to the fire and rescue authorities in England.
What happened to the police authorities and their replacement with police and crime commissioners plus police and crime panels was part of the Coalition agreement:
"We will introduce measures to make the police more accountable through oversight by a directly elected individual, who will be subject to strict checks and balances by locally elected representatives."
The Conservative 2015 manifesto stated "We will enable fire and police services to work more closely together and develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners." but didn’t go as far as stating the fire and rescue authorities would be abolished and their functions transferred to the police and crime commissioners.
However the page below was only provided last Friday, which accounts for a further £241.10 claimed (October 2013).
This breaks down to:
1) Mersey Tunnel tolls Fast Tag (£1.30 * 10 (5 return trips on 17/10, 18/10, 21/10, 23/10 & 24/10)) = £13
2) Return train from Liverpool to London for LGA Workforce Board meeting (21st October 2013) = £220.80
3) London tube for LGA Workforce Board meeting (21st October 2013) = £7.30
Total (for 17/10/13 to 24/10/13): £241.10
These were for meetings to see an unspecified Police and Crime Commissioner (which could be Jane Kennedy), a meeting of the City Region Cabinet, a meeting of the LGA Workforce Board (in London), a meeting of NWIUF (spelt incorrectly) and the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership presumable the Liverpool City Region one).
In fact NWIUF is an error on the expenses form and should instead be NWUIF (which is the North West Urban Investment Fund).
For four meetings that are not at Wallasey Town Hall (Police Commissioner, City Region, NWUIF and LEP) Cllr Phil Davies should have included the place he was going to on the form. However, as he claimed Mersey Tunnel tolls for going to these meetings, it is assumed they are all outside the Wirral and to the east.
Looking on the bright side though, Cllr Phil Davies’s expense form is typed, which makes it far easier to read than those councillors who fill them in by hand! The total of £241.10 seems to have originally been a different figure, but then tippexed out and replaced with £241.10. However it is to be expected that the Leader of Wirral Council has a busy schedule and diary.
Cllr Phil Davies expenses claim 2013 page 1 of 1
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