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 sap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sap. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 May 2016
Saturday, 6 October 2012
The Saturday List #18 - The disasters of Mr Nick Walkley ex CEO Barnet Council
As Mr Nick Walkley, Barnet Council CEO, has decided to do a bunk and leg it to Haringey, I thought I'd collate a list of the high points of his rule in Barnet. Unfortunately there weren't any, so here are the disasters instead.
1. Metpro Security. No contract, No CRB checks, No SIA accreditation, No Tax paid and £1.4 million of your cash. Kerching !!
2. Tax Dodging Contractors. At a recent Parliamentary hearing, a GLA spokesperson said that there were only 13 people in the UK working for local authorities on tax dodging contract. Funny that we know of 14 in Barnet.
3. SAP Procurement. Started in 2006 (pre Mr Wankley) with a budget of £6 million, costs have now risen to £24 million.
4. RM Countrysides Ltd. Barnets favourite charity. £2.4 million in work, no proper contracts and no control.
5. Helen Michaeal reported to police for producing a poster campaigning against parking charges.
6. One Barnet. So far £9 million spent on consultants (as best we can ascertain). Total savings £0.
7. NSL parking contract. The first One Barnet project. Losses so far £1 million.
8. Friern Barnet Library shut and reopened by Anarchists (Please note Mr Wankley is an admirer of the Sex Pistols motto "Anarchy for the UK")
9. Your Choice Barnet. Another Wankley special, set up to deliver care packages. Over half a million in the red since April.
10 My Favourite, the installation of his mini me, tax avoiding deputy, Mr A. T. Ravers as his deputy and replacement.
They say you learn by your mistakes. If this is true, then Haringey Council have got the cleverest new CEO on the planet. Thanks Mr Wankley for your efforts in Barnet. We hope you have spent the £700,000 we've given you for presiding over this period of unprecidented and unmitigated disaster well. We hope you've had lots of fun at our expense and you look back on your time at Barnet Council with warmth. We hope this because no one else here will.
1. Metpro Security. No contract, No CRB checks, No SIA accreditation, No Tax paid and £1.4 million of your cash. Kerching !!
2. Tax Dodging Contractors. At a recent Parliamentary hearing, a GLA spokesperson said that there were only 13 people in the UK working for local authorities on tax dodging contract. Funny that we know of 14 in Barnet.
3. SAP Procurement. Started in 2006 (pre Mr Wankley) with a budget of £6 million, costs have now risen to £24 million.
4. RM Countrysides Ltd. Barnets favourite charity. £2.4 million in work, no proper contracts and no control.
5. Helen Michaeal reported to police for producing a poster campaigning against parking charges.
6. One Barnet. So far £9 million spent on consultants (as best we can ascertain). Total savings £0.
7. NSL parking contract. The first One Barnet project. Losses so far £1 million.
8. Friern Barnet Library shut and reopened by Anarchists (Please note Mr Wankley is an admirer of the Sex Pistols motto "Anarchy for the UK")
9. Your Choice Barnet. Another Wankley special, set up to deliver care packages. Over half a million in the red since April.
10 My Favourite, the installation of his mini me, tax avoiding deputy, Mr A. T. Ravers as his deputy and replacement.
They say you learn by your mistakes. If this is true, then Haringey Council have got the cleverest new CEO on the planet. Thanks Mr Wankley for your efforts in Barnet. We hope you have spent the £700,000 we've given you for presiding over this period of unprecidented and unmitigated disaster well. We hope you've had lots of fun at our expense and you look back on your time at Barnet Council with warmth. We hope this because no one else here will.
Friday, 25 February 2011
The latest Barnet Council Bombshell - Proof Barnet is not spending money wisely
My thanks to Councillor Andrew Harper for (albiet inadvertently) pointing me in the direction of the latest Barnet Council Scandal. You can read the whole sorry story here :-
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=10084
It details (albiet in a nice sugary way) the fact that Barnet Council has lost control of the way it spends your money. Now maybe you don't think that matters, but I do. This is the reason why Childrens Centres are being chopped, Sheltered Housing wardens sacked and 800 Council workers threatened with redundancy.
Turn to the conclusions on page 15 and you will find this :-
This couldn't be more clear and the conclusion couldn't be more stark. Barnet Council are not spending our money wisely. The computer systems they use are not set up properly. This blog recently exposed how during the reign of Mike Freer, a SAP system was implemented. Mike Freer trumpeted in 2006 that this would "modernise procurement" and save Barnet Council millions of pounds. The system is outsourced (what Barnet want to do to everything else they run). This report says it doesn't work properly. Mike Freer said the system would cost £6 million. Some estimates say it has cost £15 million.
This is a scandal. Council workers are facing the sack, children are being cut loose. Vulnerable adults are losing their wardens. Today one of my friends in the Barnet Alliance for Public services asked me what I have been doing to save those affected by the cuts. I'll tell you what? I've been reading reports like this. I just hope that all of our useless, ineffective Council Leaders such as Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper have been reading them as well. I just hope that they understand what the reports are saying. If they don't they should be sacked and be replaced by people who do. They cannot keep sweeping these disasters under the table. Just what does CEO Nick Walkley do for his money (£200,000 PA + perks) ? He certainly doesn't make sure our money is spent wisely. His own council report says so
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=10084
It details (albiet in a nice sugary way) the fact that Barnet Council has lost control of the way it spends your money. Now maybe you don't think that matters, but I do. This is the reason why Childrens Centres are being chopped, Sheltered Housing wardens sacked and 800 Council workers threatened with redundancy.
Turn to the conclusions on page 15 and you will find this :-
This couldn't be more clear and the conclusion couldn't be more stark. Barnet Council are not spending our money wisely. The computer systems they use are not set up properly. This blog recently exposed how during the reign of Mike Freer, a SAP system was implemented. Mike Freer trumpeted in 2006 that this would "modernise procurement" and save Barnet Council millions of pounds. The system is outsourced (what Barnet want to do to everything else they run). This report says it doesn't work properly. Mike Freer said the system would cost £6 million. Some estimates say it has cost £15 million.
This is a scandal. Council workers are facing the sack, children are being cut loose. Vulnerable adults are losing their wardens. Today one of my friends in the Barnet Alliance for Public services asked me what I have been doing to save those affected by the cuts. I'll tell you what? I've been reading reports like this. I just hope that all of our useless, ineffective Council Leaders such as Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper have been reading them as well. I just hope that they understand what the reports are saying. If they don't they should be sacked and be replaced by people who do. They cannot keep sweeping these disasters under the table. Just what does CEO Nick Walkley do for his money (£200,000 PA + perks) ? He certainly doesn't make sure our money is spent wisely. His own council report says so
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