Everything Must Go

The mystery of why the privatisation of public services has been embraced  so enthusiastically by the current Wirral Council administration – despite it being ideologically against everything a Labour administration should stand for – has puzzled us for sometime.

However we had a Homer Simpson ” D’oh” moment  when we realised exactly why outsourcing is the perfect solution for an organisation wracked  with incompetence , dishonesty and corruption.

Consider this :

• No more Freedom of Information requests – it’s commercially sensitive and exempt from FOI legislation !
• No  more whistleblowers  – malpractice has nothing to do with us guv!
• No more direct public accountability – private businesses become accountable to their shareholders and profit always takes precedence over the public !

Now consider these recent Wirral Council tenders. Firstly :

Now wouldn’t it be handy if the Wirral Chamber of Commerce continued their empire building ways by bidding for this contract at Cheshire Lines Building ?. They’re only round the corner and Chief Executive Princess Paula  Basnett could send one of her rellies in to keep an eye on facilities. Win- Win !.

Meanwhile another source asks us about a tender that has gone well under the radar. Wirral Council have outsourced their cash in transit services to G4S based in Bootle, they gave the long serving and loyal staff no notice of this decision and they  didn’t even know their jobs had been put out to tender !.

This service was actually in profit and apparently G4S are the costliest cash services provider around . As the council are in such a financial mess it would seem a very odd choice if you didn’t consider the position we have set out above

However by far and away the most intriguing is this “Due Diligence” tender for consultants to cross the i’s and dot the t’s when it comes  “to the integration of Adult Social Care services into NHS Community Services” .

 

 

Wirral Council leadership must be licking their lips in anticipation at the prospect of finally offloading the toxic , dysfunctional and perennially overspent Department of Adult Social Services onto the NHS.

If it does go ahead we can only hope that the provision of Adult Social Care services adhere to the principles of the NHS and that they should be free at the point of delivery.

This should mean no more punitive charges should be placed on vulnerable people for essential services – but you can bet your life that when it comes to “due diligence” that the consultants will be asked to find a way to continue with these charges.

We shall be observing developments with great interest and we advise those who believe that public services do not belong in private hands should do the same.

Staff Care

Part of the pleasure of the winter solstice is the opportunity to stuff your face and catch up on videos you may have missed out on.

Consequently besides”Elf” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th St” we’ve been watching recent videos by John Brace.

We we’re particularly drawn to some tedious meeting where Labour councillor Christina Muspratt asked some searing questions of leading lame Human Resources yes man Tony Williams.

Her Ladyship commented :  ” I like the cut of the jib that woman” as Musky Muspratt asked perfectly reasonable questions as to why Wirral Council managers were not following procedures and were not undertaking appraisals of their own staff.

Our guess is because a) they can’t be arsed or b) they can’t spell apprayzal upraisal

Now we don’t know Tony Williams background but judging by his grovelling  Joe Blott-style apology we suspect he’s one of those retirees from the police/fire service who litter (and we use the term advisedly) upper management at Wirral Council and is therefore quite happy to act as you would expect a Wirral Council HR manager to act whilst he’s sitting on a comfortable pension for being a complete yes man.

Now we’d like to throw our £48,000 worth in here free of charge but somebody at Wirral Council needs to make the connection between a £ 2 million overspend ( yes that’s you again Department of Adult Social Services) , the lack of appraisals and sickness absences.

However it is reassuring to know that some Wirral councillors take their staff care responsibilities seriously.

One of our reputable sources informs us that a certain councillor  :

” Has been  making a lot of unrecorded visits to the council’s control room down in the vaults of Cheshire Lines.They do have a visitors book but she will leave no trace of her visits – strange she hasn’t noticed all of the cameras still positioned around the building.

These could be harmless visits to check on the well being of council workers or the role they are carrying out but the strange thing is the same person is always on shift alone when she makes her visits and I know councillors are quite committed but Friday and Saturday nights are beyond the call of duty.

It does help that the person she is visiting is familiar as he was once seconded to be the mayors chauffeur when she was the mayoress – just coincidence maybe but I can feel a big payout on the way.”

Now we can’t think why such such cynicism prevails but nevertheless we are quite happy to report it!.

Yet More Piss Poor “Corporate Governance” Wirral Council Style..

From the Wirral Globe

“ASTONISHING parallels have emerged between a highly critical investigation into Wirral Council’s inadequate ethics and governance in 2005 and an equally damaging inquiry conducted six years later.

A review by local government watchdog the Audit Commission published in August of 2005 found Wirral guilty of alarming errors at the most senior level as it sought to transfer its highways administration centre from Bebington to the Cheshire Lines building in Birkenhead”

Here’s the Audit Commission Report (CLICK)

We think his comment on the Wirral Globe web site sums it up best 😉

“I bet they’re Green around the gills in Canning Street.

PS. The “new chief executive Jim Wilkie” was formerly the “deputy chief executive” mentioned in this report, wasn’t he?

The highways director is STILL the highways boss.

The finance boss is STILL the finance boss.

No doubt they will all come rushing forward waving their £100k salary cheques insisting they’re the right men to investigate themselves, in a statement issued by the furious Sultaness of Spin.

And on and on – and on – we go.”

We are imagining an apoplectic Frank Field Mp running toward Town hall rather like Bishop Brennan from Father Ted 🙂