This week mark’s the last instalment payment by Stoke City Football Club to Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
It seems incredible that over 18 months ago councillors found out about the instalments arrangement and began asking questions. When they got no answers I wrote to the Audit Commission to investigate.
It started out with simple questions:
- Why were councillors not informed of the instalments plan at the council meeting that discussed the sale?
- Who agreed the plan on behalf of the City Council?
- Who actually signed off the agreement?
Yet today we still have no answers.
Firstly, let me say there is no question of wrongdoing by Stoke City Football or Peter Coates – that is absolutely clear.
This sorry saga has now delayed the City Council’s Annual Report which should have been delivered in October/ November 2009. An update from the Commission reveals that this has been delayed by the investigation into the sale of shares in the Britannia Stadium and will not be expected until January/ February 2010.
Since I requested the Audit Commission intervention, more serious questions have been raised by Cllrs Pauline and Alan Joynson – as the sale of share was agreed by councillors with the proceeds going to the regeneration of Stoke town centre. Their questions remain unanswered – their requests for minutes of meetings ignored.
Councillors have been under the spotlight for many many months now with much criticism. Yet time after time councillors are asking the right questions and getting no answers. We are being given misleading and incomplete reports with little or no action when this is challenged.
Dimensions rumbles on – tendering process undermined – misleading report on savings and proposed reorganisations.
Councillors cannot make the right decisions without having the full and accurate facts that cover the issues at hand.
I am extremely disappointed that the Audit Commission has not been able to get to the bottom of this particular issue. But more worryingly appears to have missed some of the other issues like failures in our tendering processes – yet a BBC investigation can spot it.
My confidence in the council and its reports is at the lowest since being elected in 1999. If a council report said it was sunny outside – I would have to have a look armed with an umbrella – and that’s really sad, because I think that most officers don’t deserve that, but this lack of openness, this omission of important information eats away at everybody’s trust. Is it deliberate or is it just genuine human error?
So come on Transition Board, Rosie Winterton etc – if you have to stick your nose into Stoke-on-Trent’s affairs, when are you going to intervene so that councillors get the information they need from the officers?
Under officers code of conduct officers did to reply to cllr id not you need escalate to chrid exec to take action against these officers. Has this process been followed.
Failure of tender process is now neong past on to other. Parts of budget which should have been in place long ago.
Cllr Barnes you say on constituon panel has it been used against officers or just to bully weak councillors
Could you repeat that in english?
Here we go again any excuse not to answer. Posting from phone so T9 errors slip in now and then get over it and answer the questions
I cnduo’t bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt!
Under officers code of conduct officers need to reply to cllrs in set time 28 days I believe, if not you need escalate to the chief exec to take action against these officers.
Has this process been followed. The failure of tender process is now being past on to other parts of the budget which should have been in place long ago( you may recall my email Nov
08 asking why waste tender not in place before waste trial started).
Cllr Barnes you sat on the constituon panel has it ever been used against officers or just to bully weak councillors?
Hoping you now feel able to reply. Btw questions asked of you in norscarf blog to I’d your willing to accepted my attempts at English
Ian, you have more chance of knitting fog, LOL.
I know, his posts are a poor attempt to appear to be a concerned. When in reality they are just continuation of the spin tactics he learnt on labour group. He knows he could do something but prefers to cast the responsibiliy on to others, this time transition board
Home now and hopefully typing is better, below is extract from” Local Code Governing Relations between Elected Members and Council Employees”Â. Which Cllr Barnes could have used I asked Previously if his has followed this procedure but he seemed unable to understand the question.
So Cllr Barnes can you now reply
5. Expectations
5.01 Members can expect from officers:
a. Commitment to the Authority as a whole, and not to any political group or
individual.
b. A working partnership.
c. An understanding of and support for respective roles, workloads and pressures.
d. Timely response to enquiries and complaints.
e. Professional advice, not influenced by political views or preference, which does
not compromise the political neutrality of Officers.
f. Regular, up to date information on matters that can reasonably be considered
appropriate and relevant to their needs, having regard to any individual
responsibilities that they have and positions that they hold.
g. Awareness of and sensitivity to the political environment.
h. Respect, dignity and courtesy.
i. Training and development in order to carry out their role effectively.
j. Integrity, mutual support and appropriate confidentiality.
k. Not to have personal issues raised with them by Officers outside the agreed
procedures.
l. That officers will not use their relationship with Members to advance their
personal interests or to influence decisions improperly.
m. That officers will comply with the relevant Codes of Conduct at all times.
n. Support for the role of Members as the local representatives of the Council, within
any scheme of support for Members which may be approved by the Council.
o. Not to be subject to bullying or harassment by Officers
18.04 Requests by Members ““ Procedures
A Member is free to approach any Council Department to provide him/her with such
information, explanation and advice about the Department’s functions as s/he may
reasonably need in order to assist him/her in discharging his/her role as a Member of
the Council or acting for and on behalf of the Council as an appointed representative to
another body. This can range from a request for general information or documentation
about some aspect of the Department’s activities, to a request for specific information
on behalf of a constituent.
The following procedure should be adhered to when requesting
documentation/information:
a. Initially, the Director or Head of Service of the Department concerned should be
approached.
b. If access is denied or the Director/Head of Service is in doubt, the matter must be
referred to the Proper Officer in consultation with the Monitoring Officer for
decision. The Proper Officer is the Head of Member Services.
c. Where the Officers have refused access, then the matter can be referred to the
Council for consideration.
d. Any requests for information made by Political Assistants on behalf of Members
of their Group should be treated in exactly the same way as if those Members
had made the request themselves. The Political Assistants, when making such
Part 5 – Codes and Protocols
5:56
requests should clearly indicate on which Member’s or Members’ behalf they are
acting.
e. Requests for information not readily accessible will not be acceded to where the
cost is unreasonably high or would unreasonably disrupt the work of the Council.
Members will be asked to submit a written request for information which is either
confidential (as defined), exempt (as set out in Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act) or
which it will require significant resources to provide.
18.05 Access to formal meeting Papers (including background papers
Hang on a minute. That’s a bit harsh.
All the blokes doing is trying to hang on to his cozy existence as a Labour(!)councillor.
I ask his detractors; faced with getting a job out in the big cruel world or fighting your corner, hoping to once again fool… What would you do?
Ian,
I find your posts and questions bitter, narrow minded and biased. I find anything I say to you, you would twist into an attack so much so that you are filtered in my email to go straight to junk mail along with banking phishing mails etc, as I consider it potentially harassment. You clearly have a problem.
There are few across the political spectrum, who would try and accuse me of being weak or a shrinking violet where seeking information or holding officers to account is concerned(I am currently in trouble, as you may recall, for taking this perhaps too far!). Perhaps you would be better actually attending some of the meetings to see for yourself instead of sitting on your backside.
The Constitution, no matter how it is written, is useless, where the CEO does not act or refuses to agree with the complaint.
Most, if not all councillors, would say I put my commitment to democracy and the rights of councillors way above party politics or spin, so much so that I was the only active Labour member to be invited to a City Independent Group meeting regarding the constitution.
I have made many mistakes over my lifetime and during my time in politics – you would do well to focus on those if you wish to continue your pursuit of me, rather than trying to pull apart those things that most would would view as my strengths.
I don’t sit at the pc all day waiting to respond to your questions as I have other things to do. In fact I would rather stick red hot pins in my eyes.
And still you do not answer id you have followed above procedures,Has the ceo failed to act when you have contacted him
Most of my questions I ask directly to the CEO anyway – any advice Norris?
id you have then gone to council and ceo still refuses to provide information then information then disciplinary action should be taken. And without a pay off
In an ideal world Ian – Yes.
In the real world it don’t happen. Believe me I’ve tried, and it doesn’t happen. Others see it as the “nuclear option”.
thank you cllr Barnes, that was my original question if you had used officers code of conduct.
You say you have and its failed, can it not be tighten up so as to be of use to cllr, instead of relying on transition board that no one wants
See my latest blog Ian.
See what we are up against.
fully aware of FOI problems see links at side to Whatdotheyknow.com
Its not just Councillors officer make life dificult, they have even had the nerve to inform the Information Commissioner concerning my complaint about approx costs for in-vessel tender that “that there is no more information relevant to this question to provide you at this point in time“
Despite the below PUBLIC Documents showing that the Approx cost of in-vessel tender has now increased for £750,000 to £1million, I would be gratefully of you could re-consider this part of my complaint
http://www.moderngov.stoke.gov.uk/Published/StdDataDocs/1/0/2/0/SD00000201/ForwardPlanIssue3Sept2009Dec2009.pdf
Page 13
Award of tender for the provision of recycling services for mixed
green waste, food waste and cardboard waste collected from
domestic properties in the city.
Cost will be approx £750,000 pa funded from the Revenue
budget.
http://www.moderngov.stoke.gov.uk/Published/StdDataDocs/1/0/2/0/SD00000201/ForwardPlanIssue6Dec09Feb10.pdf
Page 22
Award of tender for the provision of recycling services for mixed
green waste, food waste and cardboard waste collected from
domestic properties in the city.
Cost will be approx £1 million pa funded from the Revenue
budget.
But as a Councillor you could be using Officer Code of Conduct but if thats isn’t working strenghten it, but waiting for others
The public can only lobby their local councillors, leaders and senior Cllrs in the hope they take action, but if senior Cllr delete email (as allowed by Standards board) the public are left speechless
Cllr Barnes is it not time councillors “pushed the button” on Officer rule
Agreed – but I can’t do it on my own.
These are not numpty bean counters.
Those that want change in this area have to unite and make a real difference.
No bullshit. No spin. Just determination.
Birlalint and so ture.