What did 21 invoices show Wirral Council spent money on?

A few months ago I exercised a right under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 for invoices, credit card statements or requests for payment connected to various payments Wirral Council made during the 2018-19 financial year. Wirral Council is currently predicting it will overspend its agreed budget in 2019-20.

Due to the volume of information I don’t have time to write about what each one is for so will link to the first 21 invoices I’ve been sent below with a brief description for each one. The only allowable reasons for redaction are personal information (except for the names of sole traders) or commercial confidentiality (if there’s no overriding public interest in favour of disclosure).

1 – an invoice from Venn Group Ltd for £1,632.20 for agency staff (unfortunately heavily redacted).

2 – an invoice from OFSTED for £2,925 which is an annual fee to do with the Council’s role as a fostering agency.

3 – this is a request for payment from Wirral Evolutions (one of Wirral Council’s trading companies) and is for the settlement of an equipment claim following the theft of £5,067.49 of equipment from Royden Park.

4 – this is an invoice from Penna PLC for £32,100 for advertising a job in the Municipal Journal (£11,250 + VAT), Guardian Jobs Online (£6,000 + VAT), www.pfjobs.co.uk (£2,000 + VAT), Google website (£2,500 + VAT) and publication in “Penna Programmatic 1” (£5,000 + VAT). The job description is EVP project but I’ve no idea what EVP stands for!

5 – this is another invoice from Penna PLC, this time for £22,494 again for the EVP project and is for “client manager, creating new concepts and development, video shoot, photoshoot and a microsite”.

6 – another invoice from Penna for £15,307.20 for media advertisements (in the Municipal Journal, Guardian J-Pack and Linkedin) for the post of Head of Digital at the Assistant Director level as well as for some of Penna’s time in copywriting, typesetting and producing a MPU (whatever a MPU is).

7 – this invoice from Penna for £12,528 is for recruitment to the post of Corporate Director for Economic and Housing Growth and is for adverts in the Municipal Journal, Guardian J-Pack and Sunday Times Appointment Online.

8 – this is from JGP Resourcing Ltd and is for “ATS Contracts (Microsite Build Licence, set up, front end and licence, as well as attraction and podcasts) which cost £48,600.

9 – this is again from JGP Resourcing Ltd listing the same items outlined above for number 8 but for £24,600.

10 – this is also from JGP Resourcing Ltd for £24,000 for “Campaigns”

11 – this is from Forge House Associates Ltd for £15,964 which states it was for “specifically supporting the legal negotiations and production of the Partnership Business Plan and Birkenhead Commercial District Business Case” to do with the Wirral Growth Company – as a comment on this though Bevan Brittan were providing legal advice about the Wirral Growth Company to Wirral Council (original budget £230,000 but overspent to £540,000) and GVA were providing commercial advice to Wirral Council about the Wirral Growth Company (original budget £340,000 overspent to £430,000).

12 – another invoice from Forge House Associates Ltd for £15,964 which is for the same type of work as invoice 11 but for a different time period.

14 – this is from the Wirral Chamber of Commerce for £3,000 for “Love Wirral Sponsorship of Birkenhead First Street Banners”.

15 – for £2,500 from the Williamson and Priory Friends for work on the Williamson Art Gallery and Birkenhead Priory websites.

17 – for £70,000 (+VAT) which is a “second tranche payment” to Tour of Britain Limited to do with a Venue agreement for the Tour of Britain. The Tour of Britain is a cycling race that recently took place.

18 – for £2,235.32 (+VAT) from Reach Publishing Services Limited for a public notice in print and online in the Liverpool Echo about selective licensing.

19 – another invoice from Reach Publishing Services Limited for a public notice about selective licensing in the Liverpool Echo costing £2,235.32 (+VAT).

20 – a third invoice from Reach Publishing Services Limited for a public notice in the print and online versions of the Liverpool Echo costing £2,235.32 (+VAT).

21 – another invoice from Reach Publishing Services Limited for public notices in the Liverpool Echo print and online editions costing £2,235.32 (+VAT).

22 – the final invoice from Reach Publishing Services Limited for public notices for selective licensing in the Liverpool Echo print and online editions again for £2,235.32 (+VAT).

23 – this is an invoice from Merseyside Police for £1,025 for “Engage Scheme ADI Membership and training”.

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.