Barnet Council and the stupidity of Brian Coleman who hasn't learned from the Metpro fiasco

Had a rather interesting chat with one of our rather esteemed Barnet Tory Councillors yesterday (Saturday). Bumped into him as he was procuring his weekly supply of truffles, beluga caviar and champagne (they know how to live these Tories). He's not one of my regular informants, but he's not totally devoid of humour either.

"You rather upset Brian, did you hear about it?". Now always the master of the bluff, I thought I'd better find out. "Yes, I got  a few whispers". Apparently Brian Coleman took exception to the fact that he thought one of the Tory Councillors had leaked the news to me that Leader Lynne Hillan had a suntan and threw a paddy in the Tory Councillor meeting. It seems he had a right pop at  "one of your Mill Hill Councillors".  My new informant signed off with "Mind you, I suppose you've already written a blog all about it". Well I hadn't but thanks.

Anyway hapless Mill Hill Councillors are not the only people Brian Coleman has been insulting. He's also been insulting his own Council officers. The following is a question from Lib Dem leader, Jack Cohen to Coleman for the forthcoming Council meetings :-

Question 4 Councillor Jack Cohen

At the February Council meeting, I asked you a question and a supplementary about residents
parking permits and visitor vouchers. I asked you to explain the discrepancy between the figures in
the current schedule of charges i.e. £12 per book of ten vouchers and £42 for a 1st permit and
what residents are actually charged i.e. £10.00 per book and £40.00 for the permit. When I asked
you if this meant that the Council had lost out on revenue you responded "I never knowingly
undercharge."

Can you now explain why despite the decision of the Cabinet Resources Committee
on the 23 April 2009 PARKING FEES AND CHARGES (Report of the Leader/Cabinet Member for
Resources and the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport – Agenda Item 8):

For the reasons set out in the Cabinet Member’s report
RESOLVED –
(1) That the fees and charges for the parking section, as detailed in the associated appendices of
the report be approved to take effect as soon as practically possible.
(2) That the relevant Traffic Management Orders and Variation Notices are made to reflect the
fees and charges as set out in the relevant appendices to the report.2 and whilst in the associated appendices the permits are increased to £42.00 and the vouchers increased to £12 .00 this appears not to have been implemented"

Answer by Councillor Brian Coleman
Sheer incompetence and inefficiency by Council Officers.

Of course it's never Brian Colemans fault, is it? Even though he's in charge. One of Brian Colemans pet projects is the outsourcing of parking control. UNISON rep John Burgess was told by  senior Council officer that this contract will not be referred to the scrutiny committee. Brian Coleman asked Jeff Lustig (Barnet Council Legal chief) if it was possible to  avoid scrutiny and award it without overview and Lustig said yes.

This was in the week when Barnet Council executive went into meltdown over the Metpro scandal. The whole Metpro issue was the most clear example possible that private contractors need proper oversight and control when acting on behalf of the Council. Sadly Coleman has learned nothing.  When a private army of contracted out Parking enforcement officers start fleecing residents to meet their  bonus targets, who will Coleman blame then? His rude and ignorant outburst in the Tory Councillor meeting showed his contempt for his colleagues. His attempt to circumvent scrutiny is another example. Porkychops thinks he knows best.

What Coleman doesn't understand is that his boorish behaviour demotivates staff and colleagues. It is called poor management skills. When you lack the basic skills to do the job, your staff productivity  gets worse. It isn't incompetence and inefficiency on their part, it is bad management. Of course in Brian  Colemans little world, it's never his fault. I often wonder if when Brian Coleman wakes up the second decision he makes every day is "How can I make a complete arsehole of myself today". It  seems like this week, he's excelled himself.

Oh by the way, as I parted company with our esteemed Tory friend, I commented on his shopping basket "You should have a word with Brian, maybe he could sort you out an Assett Co hamper?" He gave me a rather puzzled look. I wonder if he knows?

P.S Click on the picture for a great diet for pigs !!!!!

Barnet Council Scandal : Metpro update - Who else is spying?

I have today submitted the following FOI request to Barnet Council.

----- Original Message -----

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Freedom of Information Act

Cc: John Burgess ; vickimorris@btinternet.com ;Adam Langelben; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative ; cllr.a.moore@barnet.gov.uk ; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat ; Nick.Walkley@barnet.gov.uk ; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative

Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 11:21 AM

Subject: FOI - request

Dated 9th April 2011

 

Dear Barnet Council,

 

Please provide details of all external contractors involved in the following activities on behalf of Barnet Council.

 

1) Filming residents/employees/councillors without their permission

2) Recording residents without their permission

3) performing any other covert survelliance of residents

4) Monitoring personal blogs/twitter/facebook pages on the internet

 

To minimise cost, please provide details from April 2010.

 

Please summarise the cost to the taxpayer of Barnet for these services.

 

Please specify which senior officers and councillors accessed to this information.

 

Please specify who signed off the contract at Barnet for the provision of these services and when this contract was signed.

 

Regards

 

Roger Tichborne

 David Miller (AKA retired/resting blogger Don't Call Me Dave) submitted a whole string of FOI requests regarding activities conducted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) act. As I recall, Barnet Council stated that they were not covertly filming anyone. It is abundantly clear from the Metpro scandal that people have been covertly filmed by contractors working for Barnet Council. The question which no one else has asked is this - Who else is spying on us for Barnet Council?


As several Barnet bloggers have experienced all sorts of odd activities on their IT equipment this week, I also submitted this FOI request

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Freedom of Information Act

Cc: John Burgess ; vickimorris@btinternet.com ; Adam Langleben ; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative ; cllr.a.moore@barnet.gov.uk ; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat ; Nick.Walkley@barnet.gov.uk ; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative

Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 11:37 AM

Subject: Re: FOI - request

Dated 9th April 2011

 

Dear Barnet Council,

 

 

Please provide all details of Council employees or contractors working on behalf of Barnet Council employed in the following activities :-

 

1) Electronic hacking activities (ie accessing the IT equipment of third parties without their permission)

 

2) All council emails regarding hacking activitites, either of Barnet Council computers or of other computers where Barnet Council has been involved

 

3) Any details of third party IT specialist engaged by Barnet Council who have been involved in the disruption of third party IT equipment

 

4) Details of any phone tapping activities undertaken by Barnet Council

 

5) Details of which Council Officers and Councillors were aware of this activity and who had access to any information derived from it.

 

To limit costs please limit the enquiry for the period from 1st January 2010 to present.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

It should be interesting to see what the responses are (if we ever get them).

Barnet Council Metpro Scandal - A huge conflict of interest

Let me explain to Barnet Council CEO Nick Walkley, the well suntanned Leader of Barnet Council Lynne Hillan and her equally well suntanned and relaxed Deputy Leader Andrew Harper, why an Independent public inquiry is necessary into the Metpro Scandal.

Mr Walkley feels and "internal audit" will do the trick. Mr Walkley as CEO allowed this mess to occur. He's also the boss of the people investigating the issues. Now if you are investigating and you find out something which portrays your boss in a poor light, what do you do? I've no idea what the investigator will do, but I do know that he will have a dilemma. I presume that the vast majority of Barnet Council staff need a job and don't want to upset the boss. Will they turn the place upside down searching for evidence to incriminate their friends, colleagues and bosses? I think we all know the answer.

And just suppose, for one second that the holy trinity of Walkley, Hillan and Harper don't think it's serious, even the Metropolitan Police seem to have "huge reservations" about what happened. Neil Seabridge, one of Barnets top policemen said the following to the Press newspapers :-

"I can state categorically that Police did not authorise any intrusive surveillance at the Council Meeting. Nor did we tell anyone else they could use covert or intrusive surveillance, which is a highly regulated area which requires specific written authority by a police superintendent or above when police initiate it for very specific reasons linked to investigation or prevention of crime. Such a meeting at the town all would not fall under any of these categories"

My question is this, for the Walkley, Hillan and Harper. When will the penny drop? If you have done nothing wrong and MetPro were a maverick company acting without instruction, be open and clear your name. If you were up to your neck in the scandal, do the decent thing and resign. It really is that simple. It is quite unprecedented to have residents, council staff, police, press and even your own councillors being so upset about an issue. Get a grip, show some leadership and most importantly - SORT THIS MESS OUT NOW IN A MANNER THAT RESTORES TRUST

Yet another Barnet Blog appears

Yup, first we had The Friends of Freer dedicated to the excellent (hur hur) Mp for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer. Not to be outdone, Hendon Tory MP Matthew Offord's friends have set up their own website to show just what a diligent and hardworking MP we have.

http://offordwatch.wordpress.com/

I've no idea who is behind this hagiographical site. I'm taking bets.

Robert Rams  Evens
Andrew Dismore 2/1
Mike Freer 4/1
Brian Coleman 7/1
Don't Call Me Dave 50/1
The Pope 200/1
The Dalai Llama (Offords facebook friend) 1000/1

Of course this blog has Matthews Twitter feed in the sidebar. Who needs irony, when you have a wonderful MP like Matthew Offord. Anyway as ever we welcome the newcomer

Barnet Council Conservatives group meeting

The Barnet Conservative group met this evening to discuss the chaos at Barnet Council the plans for the future. I'm pleased to say a rather sun tanned leader, Lynne Hillan is back from her holiday. It will be interesting to see if Councillor Daniel Thomas keeps his nerve and tells her to her face what everyone (apart from her) seems to know. He's been rustling up support for a leadership challenge. It will be interesting to see if he holds his nerve.

Rumour has it that Brian Coleman is planning to graciously stand down from the Cabinet, to concentrate on his bid for the GLA (as if - ha ha). It will be interesting to hear what the leadership have to say about Metpro. Watch this space.

Barnet Council : Big Brother strikes again

Would someone from Barnet Council be so kind as to inform me WTF is going on. It seems that I have been struck by the same problem as local blogger, Mrs Angry. For some rather strange reason, when I email  Labour Councillors they don't receive the emails. Is this down to a strange technical glitch or is it part of a more sinister agenda? I don't know, but I do know this. If it turns out out that Barnet Council have interfered with my democratic rights, I will be contacting a rather sharp suited lawyer and Barnet will be very deep in doo doo.

Barnet Council Metpro Scandal : Nick Walkley - How can we shut this down

First  the good news. Barnet Council have finally admitted that something has gone badly wrong with their procurement process, in regards to the Metpro Rapid Response contract and how the public were dealt with. This has been reported by the Hendon Times :-


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/8957885.Council_will__audit__MetPro_contract/

Now the bad news. It appears that Barnet Council CEO Nick Walkley is trying to play three card brag with the people of Barnet. By sanctioning an "audit" which reports to the Audit Committee, he has in effect stated that he believes the problems with the contract are merely ones of financial governance. By calling such a narrow enquiry and not publishing the terms of reference, he has rather craftily tried to put the issue to bed. He can say to the public "we are investigating". No doubt, in three months time a report will come out which will say that financial arrangements can be improved and that will be that.  It is simply not good enough. For such an important issue, the council should have put out a proper press release on their press enquiries site. Instead an unnamed official seems to have issued a statement to a select few friends in the press. Vicki Morris, who was co-ordinating the campaign received nothing.

We are currently working on a formal response to Barnet and Mr Nick Walkley. To have any credibility the investigation must :-

A) Publish its terms of reference.
B) Publish details of the investigators and their competencies for such an investigation
C) Examine all paperwork related to MetPro and put it all in the public domain
E) Explain what happened in relation to an apparant breach of the Data Protection act
F) Prove that the council had paperwork verifying the CRB checks of all Metpro staff for the term of the contract
G) Prove that the Council had performed due diligence on the SIA status of staff.
H) Produce any available evidence as to the councils knowledge of the filming of staff
I) Produce all risk assessments regarding the use of such a company
J) Produce the DDA assessment done with regard to the use of the company
K) Produce all details of safeguarding measures in relation to the use of such a company at sites housing vulnerable people
L) Examine the Councils policy as to vetting the financial status of subcontracting companies

The Evening Standard tonight carried a report on the issue :-

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23938906-council-guards-used-hidden-cameras-to-film-protesters.do

I have been told (and I have no idea whether this is true - although I personally believe my source) that the Audit investigation announced today was the result of a crisis meeting.  The meeting brief was to devise a strategy to "shut this issue down". A certain person rather high up in the chain stated that "We are in the shit" and "We need to be seen to do something before it gets completely out of hand" (or words to that effect).

As ever, when this blog makes statements which cannot be proven and are quite clearly hearsay, we give a health warning. We also invite the CEO, Mr Nick Walkley or his Deputy Mr Andrew Travers to write a guest post (which as ever will be printed without editing or comment) to clarify the matter and state exactly what was said at the meeting where the "damage limitation strategy" was discussed. They could also clarify the points raised above.

I can assure Mr  Walkley and Mr Travers that there is deep unease at the highest levels of the Council about this issue and many senior officers have grave concerns (which I assume they are keeping to themselves in meetings). If there is nothing to hide, then do this in the open. If there is something to hide, then it needs exposing.

Let me just explain something to Mr Walkley and Mr Travers. People ring up bloggers such as myself, when they feel they are put in a position where they are defending the indefensible or being asked to act against the interests of the people who pay their wages. Generally they are very uncomfortable and nervous about talking about such things. It is generally quite easy to tell when people are genuine. The whole purpose of the press release issued on Monday wasn't to get people sacked, get people into trouble or to make trouble. It was to ensure that Barnet Council acts in an open manner in the best interests of the people of Barnet and the democratic process. If you cannot understand that, quite frankly you are not fit to do the job and you should resign.

Barnet Council announce new corporate symbol following Metpro scandal

Barnet Council today announced a new corporate symbol, following their handling of the Metpro rapid response scandal. A spokesman said "We need a symbol to sum up our relationship with residents and to display our commitment to openness and honesty". Leader of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan was contacted for a comment and she replied "Crisis, what crisis. I'm on holiday, leave me alone" (well actually we couldn't get hold of her, but she might have said this if we had, or she might not - we're artists here and its called artisitic license).

The whole Metpro scandal has, from start to finish been a case of corporate lying. The Council say the police have banned people from entereing the council meeting. The Police deny it. The Council claim all filming is banned in the Council chamber, then it emerges Metpro filmed the public on behalf of Barnet Council. Barnet Council deny all knowledge of the filming, even though it is part of the Metpro sales pitch.

One thing which needs to be said. Metpro are a private security firm. They are engaged by the Council. Metpro aren't the problem, the Council are, because they engaged them. Metpro should dance to the tune called by Barnet Council. If there are issues with the company, it is down to the Council to manage it. They manage hundreds of contracting companies. Metpro are just one which has come to public attention because of a council meeting. The issue is far deeper and far more worrying.

It is time for Barnet to start telling the truth.

Barnet Council Scandal : Council claims Metpro CCTV footage has been destroyed

The Barnet Council / Metpro scandal gets weirder by the minute. The Hendon Times reports that the Council says the MetPro footage has been destroyed.
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/8955409.Secret_MetPro_footage__destroyed__says_council/

They claim to have contacted Metpro when they found out covert and "unauthorised" videoing had taken place and destroyed it. A few questions (I know a little about videoing & editing)

a) How do they know all copies have been destroyed.
b) Have they destruction records from a recognised company
c) How long between the realisation that "unauthorised" videoing and the Council sacking Metpro.

All of this correspondence needs to be in the Public domain. It is quite clear that an Independent public enquiry is the only credible way forward. I note that Barnet have awarded the contract to Blue9. I wonder what sort of tendering process took place for this contract? Perhaps Leader of the Council Lynne Hillan or CEO Nick Walkley would like to tell us?

Barnet Council - Metpro Rapid Response scandal - Email from Metpro director to local resident

The following email was sent to a local resident who left a comment on the Metpro Rapid Response website following the ill fated recent council meeting. I'd suggest that Mr Jeff Lustig, Borough Soliciitor and Mr Nick Walkley, CEO read it - as well as the Councillors who are meant to oversee the executive.

Dear Mr Clayman, I am writing in response to your enquiry posted on our website regarding the events in Hendon Town Hall last Tuesday.

 

We have provided our services to Barnet Council since March 2006; we have worked extensively for all areas of the council including public offices and receptions, Children’s Service, Council Hostels, and Libraries across the borough, contact centres and the Town Hall. In this time we have successfully provided a flawless 100% safety record to both staff and public with no allegations of misconduct against any of our Officers.

 

As a matter of course we normally provide 4 officers to the Town Hall, however due to recent events in other Boroughs of London where town halls were over run and damaged by protesters it was decided to supplement our officers with a further 3 from our emergency response section of our company.

I believe these are the ones you refer to in your complaint?

 

Firstly I would like to point out that the Officers in question were wearing approved personal protective equipment which is required as part of their job role and is an insurance requirement. Not to mention that as with the nature of their job their physical fitness is a requirement. The Response Officers dealing with the events in the Town Hall were equipped with state of the art body worn surveillance equipment recording both video and audio. At all times the Officers were supervised by the Police to ensure that they operated within the Law and guidelines laid out by the Council.

 

After revue of the recordings it is clear the members of the public were requested to comply with instructions politely and using the correct address such as Sir or Madam, There is an abundance of footage to show the Officers being shouted at sworn at and one was even hit repeatedly with a rolled up newspaper and was ignored when he requested that the gentleman stop.

 

My finding is this, I feel there is resentment by certain members of the public that they were not permitted to do as they wanted and enter the main gallery despite the reason for this being explained many times. As a result they have taken to blaming Staff of this company even though we were acting according to the rules laid out by the client and Police prior to the event. The only complaint I can see is that you don’t agree with the issued uniform that we provide to our staff or that you are judging the character of the officers based on their physical appearance which in today’s day and age I must frown upon this type of prejudice. If you have a specific complaint of the Law being broken in any way I would be more than happy to investigate further, alternatively I would urge you to report it to your local Police station, however I’m sure that in the presence of so many Police Officers if the Law had been broken I trust they would have acted accordingly and arrested the staff member in question.

I Hope you find this satisfactory to your complaint and please feel free to contact me if it is not.

 

Kind Regards,

 

SO K Sharkey