As everyone knows, Barnet Council cocked up the 2016 Mayoral elections. You may think that this omnishables is a one off. Think again, here is our top 10 shambles from our flagship Tory Council!
1. Mayoral/ GLA election 2016. Voters disenfranchised for up to four hours due to incorrect lists being cieculated. Voters turned away from polls, even though registered to vote.
2. General Election 2010 - Dismore denied victory by poling station cock ups.
3. Icelandic banks scandal - Council loses millions of taxpayers money in dodgy investment schemes.
4. Aerodrome Road scandal - £12 million Bridge renewal project goes over budget by £11 million.
5. Metpro scandal - Council employs unlicensed security company for security of vulnerable people.
6. Catalyst care homes - Legionella outbreaks and suing the council for not making enough profits (you couldn't make this one up!).
7. SAP project - Council spends £24 million on an IT system that was only supposed to cost £6 million.
8. Your Choice Barnet - Council outsources adult care and a year later has to bale out the private company running it with millions.
9. Barnet CPz fiasco - Barnet hiked the cost of CPZ zones. Residents took them to court and had the decision overturned. Barnet had to pay millions back to residents and hundreds of thousands in legal costs.
10. Abolition of Pay and Display parking. Barnet Tory parking svengali Brian Coleman was on the rampage in 2011. Bouyed by the Tories election victory in 2010, he embarked on a war on motorists. He took on residents with the CPZ price hike (see item 9 above) and High Street retailers in the Borough by abolishing pay and display parking. Coleman paid the price losing the plumb job at the GLA in the 2012 election and pay and display meters reappeared. The council lost millions on the cost of scrapping the old ones and installing new one.
There are plenty of other cock ups, but these are the top ten. Every Barnet resident has been affected by the ineptitude of the Tory administration. The millions lost could have been spent on many things to improve our Borough, the business damaged by the CPZ problems could have employed hundreds of local residents and the vulnerable, disabled and elderly could have had a better quality of life. All rather sad, isn't it>
Showing posts with label Catalyst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catalyst. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 May 2016
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
What do you have to do to not win an outsourcing contract with Barnet Council?
Care homes for the Elderly in Barnet are provided by a company called Catalyst. This contract has been outsourced for a number of years. In this period we have seen the following:
Catalyst sued Barnet Council and won £8 million. The council incurred approx £2 million in legal fees. The reason for the case? Catalyst believed they weren't making big enough profits out of the taxpayer.
A resident at a Catalyst care home fell out of a window and died.
Barnet Council health inspectors found legionella in the water at a care home.
The council are taking enforcement action against the company.
The contract was recently up for renewal and Catalyst are being re awarded the contract. We don't know why because the council has restricted the paperwork
Catalyst sued Barnet Council and won £8 million. The council incurred approx £2 million in legal fees. The reason for the case? Catalyst believed they weren't making big enough profits out of the taxpayer.
A resident at a Catalyst care home fell out of a window and died.
Barnet Council health inspectors found legionella in the water at a care home.
The council are taking enforcement action against the company.
The contract was recently up for renewal and Catalyst are being re awarded the contract. We don't know why because the council has restricted the paperwork
http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/mgReasonsRestricted.aspx?ID=9236&OID=4824&OT=D
So the Barnet Eye has to ask. How bad do you have to be as a supplier, before Barnet Council say "enough". Sadly no one at Barnet Council seems to know. Clearly failing in your duty of care to elderly people is not deemed serious enough to matter.Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Barnet Council - Memo to Nick Walkley
Dear Nick,
I have a suggestion. Please have a chat with someone within the legal department, preferably the person who you trust most and think is best qualified. Ask them this :-
"Please explain to me in words of one syllable the term 'duty of care' "
I think you'll find doing a little bit of homework on the subject may come in very useful. I've just had a very interesting chat with someone who is rather well qualified on this very subject. I found it rather fascinating. We walked through a couple of scenarios related to Barnet Council. I wonder if any of my legion of readers could guess what those could be? As the old saying goes, you learn something every day !!!!!
I have a suggestion. Please have a chat with someone within the legal department, preferably the person who you trust most and think is best qualified. Ask them this :-
"Please explain to me in words of one syllable the term 'duty of care' "
I think you'll find doing a little bit of homework on the subject may come in very useful. I've just had a very interesting chat with someone who is rather well qualified on this very subject. I found it rather fascinating. We walked through a couple of scenarios related to Barnet Council. I wonder if any of my legion of readers could guess what those could be? As the old saying goes, you learn something every day !!!!!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Barnet Council - legionella outbreak in Catalyst run care homes
There has been an outbreak of Legionalla in Barnet Council care homes run by Catalyst. This dangerous disease threatens the health of some of Barnets most vulnerable people. Reports reach the Barnet Eye that Barnet Council has issued an "Improvement notice" to Catalyst. This blog believes that the elderly and the infirm should be cared for with dignity and compassion. They should not be left to rot in homes where their are clear and present risks to their health. I have these questions for Barnet Council
1. Has the Nick Walkley, CEO of Barnet who gets paid £250,000 of taxpayers money to stop this sort of cock up occurring visited the homes to see for himself what is going on?
2. Has Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan Visited the homes to see what is going on?
3. Has the Deputy CEO of the Council, who is a Contractor (on £17,000 a month) , Mr A Travers visited the homes to see what is going on?
4. Have any of the £1,500 a day consultants, who are recommending privatisation for the rest of the council, visited the homes to see what happens when their plans are implemented in the real world?
5. Does Barnet Council include issues like Health & Safety in the contract monitoring process? If not why not? If yes when were these last reviewed?
6. Are risk assessments on health & safety carried out in all of the settings?
7. As part of the contract monitoring by Barnet Council are these risk assessments reviewed? If not why not? If yes when were they last reviewed?
8. As part of good safeguarding practice have other residential care homes provided by Catalyst and Fremantle been informed about the outbreak and if so have the checks been carried out in those settings?
9. What was the cause of this outbreak and what controls have been put in place to secure the safety of the residents, staff and visitors?
10. Was a risk assessment carried out after the Legionella bacteria was discovered? If yes, what did it say and what control measures were put in place? If not why not?
And lastly, one final question. Does the fact that the most vulnerable people in Barnet are being put at risk, whilst the pockets of shareholders of private companies are being lined make me feel utterly sick (CAtalyst have just settled for an extra £10 million in fees from Barnet in a case brought because their profits were too low)? I can answer this question - Yes
1. Has the Nick Walkley, CEO of Barnet who gets paid £250,000 of taxpayers money to stop this sort of cock up occurring visited the homes to see for himself what is going on?
2. Has Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan Visited the homes to see what is going on?
3. Has the Deputy CEO of the Council, who is a Contractor (on £17,000 a month) , Mr A Travers visited the homes to see what is going on?
4. Have any of the £1,500 a day consultants, who are recommending privatisation for the rest of the council, visited the homes to see what happens when their plans are implemented in the real world?
5. Does Barnet Council include issues like Health & Safety in the contract monitoring process? If not why not? If yes when were these last reviewed?
6. Are risk assessments on health & safety carried out in all of the settings?
7. As part of the contract monitoring by Barnet Council are these risk assessments reviewed? If not why not? If yes when were they last reviewed?
8. As part of good safeguarding practice have other residential care homes provided by Catalyst and Fremantle been informed about the outbreak and if so have the checks been carried out in those settings?
9. What was the cause of this outbreak and what controls have been put in place to secure the safety of the residents, staff and visitors?
10. Was a risk assessment carried out after the Legionella bacteria was discovered? If yes, what did it say and what control measures were put in place? If not why not?
And lastly, one final question. Does the fact that the most vulnerable people in Barnet are being put at risk, whilst the pockets of shareholders of private companies are being lined make me feel utterly sick (CAtalyst have just settled for an extra £10 million in fees from Barnet in a case brought because their profits were too low)? I can answer this question - Yes
Friday, 10 September 2010
£17 F***ing million.....sums up privatisation for you!
Guest Blog by John Burgess
Incredible but true if you click on this link you can read this question going to the Full Council.
How could they justify trying to take £17 million from Barnet Council! I am not surprised, but when will councillors wake up to understand the risks to the public purse!
Read the Question below:
Question 47 Councillor Barry Rawlings
What is the latest update on the Catalyst arbitration?
What is the latest update on the Catalyst arbitration?
Answer by Councillor Daniel Thomas
The Council received the final partial arbitral award on 26 July 2010. The value of the award to Catalyst is not yet finalised, but a range of £5m to £6m is anticipated, against a claim of between £12-17m.
The Council received the final partial arbitral award on 26 July 2010. The value of the award to Catalyst is not yet finalised, but a range of £5m to £6m is anticipated, against a claim of between £12-17m.
A detailed report will be considered by Cabinet Resources Committee on 19 October on the implications of the outcome of the arbitration process. The Council is seeking to enter into a renegotiation of this contract which was created by the previous Labour/Liberal Democrat administration. The renegotiation will be led by the Deputy Chief Executive and Acting Director of Adult Social Services, to manage on-going financial and service delivery risks.
So a new contract means the Council will be looking at a number of Options. One of which will include bringing back what is left of the service in-house. Barnet UNISON will be launching a campign to return the service back in-house.
Intersting timing as I saw this article about Fremantle who are the partners with Catalyst.
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John Burgess is Convenor for UNISON in Barnet. This blog originally appeared here - http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/489 - and is reproduced with permission. The Barnet Eye always welcomes guest blogs and publishes them unedited and without comment. email me via the link in my profile
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