BIG/ISUS Reports: Wirral Council and Merseyside Police in “Alice in Wonderland”

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

BIG/ISUS Reports: Wirral Council and Merseyside Police in “Alice in Wonderland”

Last month I got a response from Wirral Council over my Freedom of Information Act request for Grant Thornton’s report into Wirral Council’s ISUS (Intensive Start Up Support) program. You can view Wirral Council’s rather wordy response saying no on the whatdotheyknow website. Here is a brief quote from their refusal:

“Wirral Council can confirm it is not possible, at this moment in time, to make available copies of the report into ISUS that was produced by Grant Thornton following their investigations, either in full or in a redacted format, as the report, which has been reported previously, has been handed over to the Police for their consideration, in accordance with the recommendations contained within the report.

As such any disclosures either in full or in part are not appropriate at this time, until the Police have concluded their enquiries or determined that no further action should be taken, for fear of compromising further actions that may result as a consequence of that report.”

So I emailed the Chief Constable on the day I got that refusal (23rd September) asking the following questions about their investigation, a copy of my questions are below. I even pointed out that I’d publish the responses.

1) Have Merseyside Police concluded their inquiries into the issues raised in the BIG & ISUS reports referred to them by Wirral Council?
2) Has anyone been charged in relation to this?
3) Who is conducting (or if it has concluded conducted) the investigation and what are their contact details?
4) If the investigation is ongoing when is it likely to reach a conclusion?

This is the response I got today (4th October 2013) by email:

Dear Mr Brace,

I have looked into the matters that you have raised but I’m afraid that there is not a lot I am able to tell you.

This matter is currently in the hands of Wirral Borough Council and any requests for information you have should be directed to them, perhaps by way of a Fredom[sic] of Information enquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Thompson
Detective Chief Inspector
Staff Officer to the Chief Constable
Merseyside Police

So, just to summarise Wirral Council won’t say anything because it’s in the hands of Merseyside Police, but Merseyside Police say it’s “currently in the hands of Wirral Borough Council”… you couldn’t make it up if you tried could you? So any constructive suggestions as to where to go with this next?

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First 20 Pages of Wirral Council’s Colas Contract (Highways and Engineering Services Term Maintenance Contract)

For some reason people seem to like reading about Colas on this blog so here is another blog post about Wirral Council’s relationship with Colas. Wirral Council have a really long contract with Colas (called the Highway and Engineering Services Term Maintenance Contract), that’s over five hundred pages long. Currently the contract (which runs to 2014) is out to tender with Wirral Council’s Cabinet expected to reach a decision on a new contractor (or to bring it in-house) by the end of the year. Colas have already stated they won’t bid for the new contract.

The contract itself is in A5 format, but the version I’ve been given is a copy in A4. As usual you can click-through for more readable versions of each page.

This is a cover page for volume one of the contract, which detail the sections in volume one (forms and certificates, general data and optional statements, additional conditions of contract (Z Clauses), Local Labour, Freedom of Information and TUPE information).

This is the start of the contract. Although the contract ran from the 1st April 2009, the agreement with Colas is dated 17th March 2010. In order to protect itself shouldn’t Wirral Council have made sure they a signed contract in place before work was started?

This is just a cover page for section 1.1 (forms and certificates).

These contain the signature of Colas’ Chief Executive Officer dated the 4th September 2008. These pages are reassurances from Colas made as part of the tendering process to carry out the work if they win the tender and that before the returnable date for the tender that they’ll keep various aspects of their tender confidential.

This is Colas’ tax certificate information and the cover page for section 1.2 (General Data and Optional Statements).

This page details various terms used in the contract even going so far as to define the language of the contract as English and the currency of the contract as pounds sterling!

This deals with risks and insurance, optional statements, Y(UK)2 (please leave a comment if you know what that means) and how prices are to be adjusted for inflation with reference to Baxter indices and Gershon Efficiency Savings.

This has the Baxter (nothing to do with soup) index in the form of a table and sections on performance bond, retention, limitations of liability, key performance indicators and a reference to Y(UK)3 (again if you know what this means please leave a comment).

This is a cover page for section 1.3 (additional conditions of contract – Z clauses).

This has sections on intellectual property rights, corrupt practices, principal contractor, confidentiality, partnering, quality statement, quality management system, named key persons and named sub-contractors.

This part has sections on accidents on site, recovery of sums due from contractor, special requirements of statutory bodies, Construction Industry Scheme, Value engineering, TUPE, Pension Scheme, Two Tier Workforce, Freedom of Information and Provision of Information on Contractor’s Employees for the Purposes of the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2008.

This continues the additional contract conditions with sections on audit and ECC Option B Clause 63.13. It also has the cover page for a section on local labour.

The section on local labour is just a blank page, but this also has the cover page for a section on employment and training in the construction industry.

This is the code of practice signed by Colas which includes a signed statement of intent by Colas to “use their best endeavours to ensure that not less than 90% (including those directly employed by us and those sub-contracted to ourselves) will be established residents of the Wirral Borough”. Councillors have asked previously if local labour clauses can be included in other Wirral Council contracts to be told by officers they can’t because it’s “illegal”, the fact it’s in this contract shows it’s not and is a good way that Wirral Council can ensure the money it spends remains within the local economy.

This is the statement of support signed by Colas for the Code of Practice for Employment and Training in the Construction Industry and for its role in “the objective of reducing local long-term unemployment to be publicised in an appropriate manner”. It’s also the cover page for a section on Freedom of Information.

This contains a short, but interesting section on Freedom of Information copied below followed by the cover page for TUPE information:

“FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

STATEMENT OF INTENT

The Council undertakes to use its best endeavours to hold confidential any commercially sensitive information provided in the tender submitted, subject to the Council’s obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If a tenderer considers that any of the information submitted in the tender should not be disclosed because of its commercial sensitivity or confidentiality, then this should be stated with the reasons for considering the information confidential or likely to prejudice commercial interests if disclosed to the public. The Council will then consult with the tenderer in considering any request received under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 before replying to such a request.”

This just states:

“TUPE INFORMATION

The Information on both the HESPE TUPE list schedule and CD (enclosed with hard copy of this contract) relate to current conditions of employment.”

This is the cover page for Volume 2 (Contract Data Part One (ii) Works Information) detailing sections on general description, specification, performance management and standard details as well as the cover page for section 2.1 (general description).

This is a description of the works to be carried out under the contract which are in two packages (package A and B). Package B is minor repairs to coast protection structures, package A is highway works. It has sections on drawings, specifications and method of measurement, indicative annual expenditure by Wirral Council for various types of work, a section on the Contractor’s responsibilities and on working hours.

This continues the section on working hours and starts a section on administration of the contract. This has subsections on existing IT systems, Highways (Field Service Overview) and Street Lighting (HiLight Horizon Street Lighting System).

If you’d like me to publish more of the Colas contract than this please leave a comment.

Continues at Exclusive: Next 20 Pages of Wirral Council’s Colas Contract (Highways and Engineering Services Term Maintenance Contract).

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Incredible: Wirral “spending freeze” Council overpay £½ million to Colas in ten Colas payment blunders

The invoice above (which you can click on for a more readable version) received by Wirral Council from Colas in April 2012 showed that while they had a spending freeze on non-essential expenditure that they’d managed to overpay Colas to the tune of £548,734.16! Incredibly ten separate overpayments to Colas were made ranging from £4,660.51 to a staggering £122,330.62.

Although the £½ million credit will count towards later Colas invoices, it makes you wonder if Wirral Council really are as hard up financially as they claim? Wirral Council stamped the invoice from Colas advising them of the £548,734.16 as “paid”, perhaps they don’t have a stamp for overpaid?

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£879,406.02 spent by Wirral Council on Seagulls

A blog post about a Colas invoice for services to Wirral Council totalling £879,406.02 (+VAT)

£879,406.02 spent by Wirral Council on Seagulls

I wrote on Twitter recently that not much surprises me with regards to Wirral Council. However this Colas invoice, you can click on the image for a larger version, received by Wirral Council in March from Colas is for £879,406.02 (+VAT) for work raised through its Seagulls system.

The detail as to what the taxpayer gets for just over £1 million spent on this item isn’t detailed on the invoice but a part of the contract details what the work on Seagulls refers to. The Colas contract shows that the Council has to raise work orders with Colas through a system that Wirral Council called Seagulls which keeps a track of various assets like drainage gullies. The Colas contract for Seagulls (and other matters) runs to 2014 and Wirral Council is looking for another company to do the work under a new contract.

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Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee (Wirral Council) 9th September 2013

Video footage from Wirral Council’s Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee held on the 9th September 2013

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