Wednesday 20 April 2011

Barnet Council :Metpro scandal - response to my email

They work for you.
----------------------------------------------------------

To: Roger.Tichborne
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 11:50 AM
Subject: Metpro Rapid Response inquiry

Dear Mr Tichborne,
Further to your e-mail dated 19th April, please note that Maryellen Salter (Assistant Director of Finance, Audit and Risk Management) is currently on annual leave and I am  deputising in her absence.
The terms of reference and conduct of the inquiry are a matter for the Audit Committee.
Regards
Manjeet Bhania
Senior Principal Auditor, Finance Directorate, Audit and Risk ManagementLondon Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Tel: 020 8359 7155      Mobile: 07961 *** ***     Fax: 0870 889 6792    Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was the response from Barnet to the Email I sent yesterday and posted on this blog. Anyway, it is clear that I didn't make myself clear to Mr Bhania, so I sent the following email, hopefully so he now knows what I am asking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr Bhania,

Thank you for your helpful and informative reply. Sadly it doesn't answer the two questions I asked. For the purposes of clarity, let me rephrase them.

1) Please can you tell me what the terms of reference are for the inquiry. I realise that these are a matter for the audit committee but I would like you tell me what they are (unless they are a secret). If they haven't been set yet, please can you tell me when they will be set and when you can tell me what they will be. If for some reason you are unable to provide this information, please can you forward it to the appropriate person who can.

2) Please can you inform me whether myself and other concerned residents will be able to address the committee. Again if you cannot answer this, please forward to the person who can.

I hope this email clears up any perceived misunderstanding as to what exactly I was asking

Regards

Roger Tichborne
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not sure whether the staff of Barnet Council realise that their is a crisis of credibility and trust in their competence, following a seemingly unending series of cock ups. They do have the opportunity to sort this out, by being open and honest with the people of Barnet and gviing proper answers to reasonable questions.

And as an aside, why is it that whenever there is a crisis in Barnet, the relevant person always seems to have just gone on holiday?

3 comments:

Mrs Angry said...

Yet another example of the contempt with which this council regards its duty to be accountable to the people it is supposed to serve: are we not owed, at the very least, full access to the timetable of the audit procedure we ahve been promised?

baarnett said...

And that includes the crucial audit each year, since the council is supposedly a reputable statutory organisation, given its authority under the Local Government Acts by Parliament, and which must validate who is, and who isn't, an authorised council contractor.

Otherwise Barnet Council itself might be considered a rather dodgy operation itself.

Anonymous said...

Please someone tell me how could the council not know metpro didn't have cameras on them for five years . What I found hard to understand is for five year sharkey and his team did a lot of good things for the council which has never been said . I really feel sorry for these guys nobody hasn't said anything good about them I think the council has something to hide and they are putting the blame on metpro.