Barneteye Weekly Roundup - 10/1/2012

What a week it has been. On Monday we had the shop owners of Finchley holding a protest against Barnet Council's parking policies. The parkimng fiasco, overseen by Barnet and Camden GLA superemo Brian Coleman (who is up for re-election for his £50K a year part time job in May - hint, hint) has not only pushed many traders all over Barnet to the brink of bankruptcy, it has ACTUALLY COST THE COUNCIL NEARLY HALF A MILLION QUID IN LOST INCOME ! My fellow Barnet blogger Mr Mustard has done an excellent expose of just how much the fiasco has cost - http://lbbspending.blogspot.com/2012/02/permits-figure-differences-mr-mustard.html. You can see a video of the protest if you scroll down and look in the sidebar. It was a good humoured event, despite the snow! The North Finchley traders are a resilient bunch and any sane council would harnessing their energy for the good of Barnet, not indulging in a slash and burn policy of destroying their businesses.

On Tuesday we commemorated the 200th Borthday of Charles Dickens. Barnet was an inspiration for Charles Dickens, his experiences of the workhouse in Wellhouse Lane inspired perhaps his best known novel, Oliver Twist. Dickens was a staunch fighter for social justice and this was a permanent theme through all of his work. The Barnet Eye wonders what he'd make of a character such as Brian Coleman and his recent outburst against the disabled "Why should the Council subsidise transport for these people", which would be a bad enough thing to say without Colemans penchant for free taxis at the public's expense  - http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Brian_Coleman_2010_2011.asp. I have wondered if the reason Brian Coleman and his chums in the local Tory party are so keen to shut all of the museums in Barnet is purely because they associate with the type of character Dickens used to lampoon ni his works and they want to erase all memory of one of our greatest authors links with the Borough. I can think of no other reason why the historic workhouse building would be demolished.

On Wednesday, the Barnet Eye stats counter showed that our website had been inundated with hits from recruitment companies and headhunters searching for a very well known (to readers of this blog) figure at Barnet Council. What was intriguing was that there was a splurge of them in the afternoon and then another splurge of hits in the evening from private emails. It rather looked to me as if people had been checking the individual out and then decided to dig deeper later in the day. Is someone planning to jump ship? Only time will tell.

Yesterday, the big news was the strike in Barnet by Council workers, against outsourcing, redundancies and cuts to services. To ensure their time was not wasted, they volunteered to put a shift in at a local charity. There is an excellent write up in the Edgware and Mill Hill Times -
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9523342.Strikers_fighting_council_s_outsourcing_plans_help_out_charity/ - as ever the story has the obligatory inane comment from Councillor Daniel Thomas.

"Any staff who move as part of the restructure will remain in the local government pension scheme, keep the same level of pay and have a job guaranteed for 12 months at the very least from their move.  I'm sure many of our residents would envy that level of certainty in the current financial climate."

At present, many staff are being forced to relocate to Croyden. All of this for a job which is likely to only last 12 months. Does Daniel Thomas really think that for mothers working part time for the council with children in local schools, this is enviable? The man is quite clearly a blithering idiot.

There are also a couple of big national stories. Of most interest to this blog was the news that Fabio Capello had resigned. My 11 year old son ran in excitedly and announced "Capello has just resigned". He was not a fan. I suspect that the England job is an impossible task. Harry Redknapp seems to be the man for the job. He has transformed Spurs from mid table mediocrity to Champions League contenders. Whilst he's made some shrewd signings, he has developed players such as Gareth Bale beyond recognition. He clearly is a great motivator and a man who understands the way British players play. Spurs play great football, which is something any purist such as myself would say should be paramount.

Then there was the Harry Redknapp tax trial. I have some sympathy for Harry Redknapp.  Many footballers and rock stars do not have a great education and end up with pots of money. Many end up skint, due to the fact that they really don't understand tax. I would like to see all footballers and other short career/high earners have to be enrolled in a scheme whereby their tax affairs were managed by a competent professional, otherwise the football club/ record label would bear the tax liability. This would soon stop the situation where young people earn a lot of money in a short time, spend it and then get bankrupted because they can't pay the tax. For the taxpayer, the worst thing is usually by the time the Inland Revenue take action, the money has been spent, so they bankrupt the individual and never get the money back anyway. That is clearly a ridiculous situation. I don't blame the tax authorities, they are just doing their job as best they can. If we didn't pay tax, the country would fall apart.

One Barnet bidders Serco's MD takes Brian Coleman to lunch

You'll never guess what. I just happened to be researching the very latest installment of the Brian Coleman Free Dinner register, which is officially the most popular series of blogs ever to grace the Barnet blogging scene when, guess what? My old friend Mrs Angry had the audacity to pop up a nice shiny new blog all about outsourcing in Barnet. Well I'm always keen to see what the competition are up to, so I pootled off for a mosey.

( http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-barnet-up-for-sale-welcome-to-house.html )

Now sadly for once, dear old Mrs Angry is not quite as up to speed as she could be on the subject of Brian Colemans views on OneBarnet. She is labouring under the misapprension that our beloved Councillor Brian Coleman who is also a £53 Grand a year GLA member and the £25 grand a year chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning authority wants to stick a spanner in the works of the One Barnet program. Now maybe beloved Brian may find it useful to give the impression that he's agnositic on One Barnet, but a quick look at the LFEPA gifts and hospitality register (The Brian Coleman Free dinner register as it's known in these parts), show that the last entry is this :-


31/08/2011 Lunch at Livebait, 43 The Cut, London SE1 8LF. Estimated value: £30.00.Jeroen Weimar - MD, Serco Group plc

(You can see the whole register here - http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/gh_brian_coleman.asp )

Now I've no idea what they discussed. For all I know, they spent the whole of their lunchtime discussing whether Torres is a good signing for Chelsea, but the fact of the matter is that Serco are bidding for hundreds of millions of pounds worth of business in Barnet and their boss is taking a senior Barnet Cabinet member out for a cosy lunch. Now if I was Jeroen Weimar and my company was bidding for such a massive contract and I've got one of Barnets most senior politicians eating lunch, I'd say "Well Brian, is this OneBarnet project a go'er or not". Given that he clearly thought our Brian was worth having lunch with, and Serco Ltd havent pulled out, it seems fair to conclude that any negativity attributed towards OneBarnet from Brian is purely for public consumption.

One has to conclude that if Coleman seriously wanted to scupper One Barnet (at least with Serco) he had the ideal opportunity. As Serco are still participating in an exercise which clearly will cost them a fair bit of money, we have to conclude that Brian didn't advise Mr Weimar to grab a bargepole and run.

It seems to me that a reassessment of the role of Brian Coleman and Council Leader Richard Cornelius in the One Barnet fiasco is highly called for by the assorted blogs of Barnet. Have we been spun a line? Well if we have, I suspect that some people may regret it sooner rather than later

The One Barnet pledge

As you know, Barnet Council is planning to outsource huge swathes of Council functions. There are two massive contracts. One is worth £750 Million and the other is worth £250 Million. These contracts are likely to be copper bottomed, guaranteed profits +. Anyone familiar with the situation in previous Barnet Council contracts - Catalyst got another £9 Million because they weren't making enough money. Aerodrome Road Bridge contractors got another £11 million, will know how this will go. When I back a horse, I check it's form. Barnet has form with contracts and contractors.

Now this blog most certainly doesn't give financial advice. It does however occur to us that in the event these contracts are placed, it would be a rather good thing to have as many shareholders in Barnet as possible, who could attend. Maybe we should set up a pledge on pledgebank to get 500 small investers from Barnet, who are prepared to attend the shareholders AGM and hold the companys to account.

I believe that in a capitalist democracy, small shareholders should get organised and make sure companies behave honestly and responsibly. I think it would be a great thing if the companies bidding knew we'd be joining them at their next AGM, should they win.

This blog has referrred to the OneBarnet project as the "Toxic One Barnet project". I suspect that the private companies bidding may find that they too may suffer from the Toxic Shock Syndrome associated with it.

Barnet Council Datagate Scandal - "Not none of them really know what there role is on any of these projects"

One of the reasons the bloggers of Barnet have proven so effective in exposing the utter crapness of Barnet Council, is because we work together and share information. I am endebted to Mrs Angry at the Broken Barnet blog to pointing out something that little old me missed whilst reviewing the "action plan" from Barnet Council, which was disclosed in response to a (sort of) FoI request last week.


If you want to know just how bad things are at Barnet Council, the title of this blog forms part of an action plan, written to address the mess which the Barnet Conservative administration has landed us in.

You can read the whole action plan here - http://barnetfutureshape.blogspot.com/2011/07/barnet-council-scandal-foi-documents-is.html - the text in the title is in the issues section. It forms part of the second bullet point in the application support section. The whole text is as follows :-

Staff and Team Leaders involved in a huge amount of projects  with the business not none of them really know what there role is on any of these projects.

 Lets consider this a bit more carefully. I'm dyslexic, so I missed the awfulness of what was written, until pointed out by Mrs A. I then showed my wife, who has a language degree. Her response? "Did you write that?". No, I replied, that is part of an official council action plan. Now just think this through. Who wrote the action plan, which is dealing with some of the most fundamental problems in the council? Now I'd hope that such an important report would be written by a senior council official. Maybe it was written by a highly paid, expert consultant on £1,500 a day? I don't know, I've asked the question in a follow up FoI question. Whoever wrote it, I'd say it's pretty worrying, wouldn't you. But that isn't the half of it. This report was issued to address fundamental problems within the Council. Again, I don't know what they do with these reports, but one would assume they circulate them for review, prior to issue. Presumably people are paid to check them and make sure they are correct. Who reviews them? Highly paid Council officials? Highly paid counsultants? Now I'd assume that they would want to get the report right, wouldn't you. What does this report tell me? That either the people who reviewed the document are all semi literate or that they didn't actually bother to read it. Now consider this. All of these people are PAID by the taxpayer to write reports and review them. What does this tell you? My assumption is that the report was reviewed by senior people on high salaries. Wouldn't you?

This action plan is meant to be the answer to the IT problems in Barnet Council. Who recieved it when it was issued? The senior manager who commissioned it should have read it and sent it back with red ink all over it. He should have checked the timesheet of everyone who was meant to review it and called them to account. Did Barnet Council CEO, Mr Nick Walkley read the report? Did he think it was ok? Do we have a Council who are so shoddy that that this is OK? Well Mr Walkley, do you think it's OK? I don't.  Did the senior officers who get paid over £100,000 per annum and saw it think it OK?

I sent the following FOI request to Barnet yesterday, because this is important. We are paying people a fortune and they are clearly not doing their job to a professional standard, are they? I want to know exactly who they are. I want to know how much they were paid. Why? Because I am a taxpayer and I'm paying them. Is it too much to ask that the people who's wages I pay do their job properly?

I've long suspected that teams of highly paid consultants spend all day writing reports, knowing no one will ever read them properly. I've no idea if this is true, but can there be any other explanation for such a grammatically awful sentence in one of the most important documents produced by Barnet Council.

When it comes down to it, accidents happen when people don't pay attention to detail (Iceland, Aerodrome Road, Metpro). I've long wondered why the OneBarnet project has achieved so little and cost so much. I happen to believe I now know the answer. I ask one question. If this is action plan shows the level of accuracy Barnet are prepared to accept in such an important document, what on earth will happen when they start writing contracts for the £750 million One Barnet contract, which is currently being tendered. Lord help us all.

This is my FOI request (and apologies for all the bad grammar above)

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

From: Roger Tichborne

To: FOI Barnet

Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 2:04 PM

Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request - Council Action Plans

Dear Ms Humphreys

 

Thank you for the information.

 

I have a further request. Please can you supply the following information regarding IS Plan action Final (redacted).pdf

 

Please can you supply the following (regarding the source document, not the redacted one you supplied me) :-

 

Who prepared this report

What costs were incurred in preparing the report

Who was on the original circulation list for the report

On what date was the report issued

Would the document have been seen by the Leader of the Council, Barnet Council CEO, Head of Audit, Head of Legal, prior to being released in redacted form to me as an FOI request

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

Friday Roundup - Barnet Council, the Metpro Scandal, One Barnet and basic competence

The Conservative Councillors of Barnet Council are currently going through the process of choosing a new leader. Now the more naive amongst us may possibly think they will choose based on who they think will do the best job. Sadly those of us who know how these things work, know better. A game of "name your price" is going on. The contenders do the maths and it works like this. Tot up all the people who hate your guts. Discount them. Then make a list of all of the others and work out what you have to offer them to vote for you. This usually involves a promotion or a bit more money. As you can kick out all of your opponents big supporters, there are usually a few cabinet posts up for grabs and a few committee chairmanships. The biggest gift is the deputy leadership. This is generally offered to someone who leads a faction and can bring a few extra votes in. Back room wheeler dealers such as John Marshall are past masters at using this process to secure maximum personal advantage and ensuring the stitch up works well. In the last election, he suckered Mark Shooter into standing and managed to get a nice juicy promotion, getting his hands on the wheels of power to save Lynne Hillans neck (allegedly).

This time round? My money is on Richard Cornelius because a) He isn't Brian Coleman and b) he isn't Andrew Harper. Sadly he is what is known as an invertebrate (doesn't have a backbone), so he won't actually stand unless he's sure of winning. If he bottles it, the it's who has upset less people, Coleman or Harper. That's one battle I couldn't call, but I reckon Coleman would be knobbled, because the Tories would prefer someone weak, mallable and stupid, to Coleman who may well destroy the whole group with is enormous, overbearing ego.

The sad thing is that whoever comes in, will immediately have a crisis. You see a few days after they have the election, the Audit committee will report on it's findings. This is likely to reveal a train crash (if it doesn't then, judging by the documents I've seen) the council will unleash a storm the likes of which has never been seen in Barnet. Myself and a group of Barnet residents concerned about this, recently had a meeting and you will soon see the fruits of that discussion. It was a small group, and all I can say is that we have access to some very interesting information and we have some big hitters in our group (nope, not me). Watch this space (and the blogs / press).

One thing is crystal clear. The Metpro scandal has proven beyond doubt that Barnet cannot effectively manage even the smallest contract or contractors. In a sane Council, it would spell a top to bottom overhaul and immediate abandonment of the One Barnet Outsource the world program. Sadly, dim idiots such as Councillor Robert Rams, who clearly don't read council reports, are still marching forward, proclaiming that such a broken model is the way to go. At our meeting, we saw how the Metpro Scandal was flagged up in 2009 and yet here we are in 2011 and they did nothing. More will be revealed here and in other blogs. We are co-ordinating and liaising as to how best to ensure that we can emsure Barnet Council meets it's statuatory obligations. Again watch this space.

Having seen and heard all that I have as I researched this, over the last couple of months, I can say this without fear of contradiction. The Metpro Scandal will fundamentaly change the way Barnet Council conducts it's business and some senior officers are likely to lose their jobs. I recommend that all Conservative Councillors bear this in mind when they choose their leader, because they really do need someone on top of their game. The Metpro scandal inquiry/audit will have national press coverage (especially if it is a cover up). They will need someone to save their bacon.

Barnet Council - Open letter to all councillors from concerned Barnet residents

Time to pull back from the One Barnet Programme

Dear Councillor

Next Tuesday 17 May is the Council’s Annual General Meeting. As residents we see this as an opportunity for the Council to do some stocktaking and signal a change of direction.

The One Barnet Programme was initially presented as the new and innovative approach to the future of Council services. However, as soon as the first reports were published it became clear that there was little evidence behind many of the exaggerated claims being made by the consultants paid to advise on the programme.

We are aware that many councillors doubt whether the One Barnet Programme can deliver the savings and improved services Barnet residents expect. We share those anxieties.

Last week saw the publication of a number of articles in the mainstream press supporting the view that mass outsourcing does not save money, is high risk, and has a negative impact on staff morale. We hope you will take the time to read the extracts from some of those articles which follow.

The fate of Suffolk County Council

Suffolk County Council last September declared its intention to become the first “virtual council”. The Chief Executive pushing this programme, under the name New Strategic Direction, was being supported by Max Wide, on secondment from BT. As you know, Mr Wide was one of the architects of Future Shape / One Barnet.

Since announcing their intention to outsource most services, Suffolk has been dogged by controversy. In December they were accused of ignoring a £100 million overspend on a deal with BT. (See article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/dec/16/suffolk-council-bt-overspend.)

In the last few days there have been big changes in the Conservative Party in Suffolk as a result of concerns about New Strategic Direction, and the scheme has been halted. The Guardian newspaper reports:

The previous council leader, Jeremy Pembroke, who helped oversee the plans... stepped down in April amid concern about the deeply unpopular changes. An inquiry was begun into morale at the council's legal department after an anonymous whistleblowing letter, sent to councillors, and believed to be from an employee, alleged staff there had been put under "unbearable pressure". The letter refers to "the poisonous atmosphere that exists at present" in the council.

(Full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/04/suffolk-virtual-council-plan.)

The BBC has reported on its website:

MPs were concerned that Suffolk County Council chief executive's policies threatened to "rip the heart out" of local communities. Negotiations are reported to be going on between the council and its chief executive Andrea Hill who has not returned to work after a holiday and is now reported to be on "extended leave". Suffolk Central Conservative MP Dr Dan Poulter said he and fellow MPs had been worried about the direction the council was taking under Ms Hill.

(To see the BBC interview with Poulter visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-13312597.)

Outsourcing should not be the automatic response to austerity.

The public sector IT managers’ association SOCITM has published a research briefing called Costs of outsourcing: uncovering the real risks.

The report’s author, Martin Greenwood, warns:

Outsourcing should not be considered an inevitable response to austerity. Even smaller organisations that need to gain economies of scale, and struggle to keep up with technological development, should consider collaboration and sharing with other local public services as a genuine alternative. If they do take the plunge into outsourcing, they should make sure they are aware of the pitfalls and know how to avoid them. ...It is a myth that outsourcing is cheaper, across most areas it is more expensive and people outsource for a range of reasons other than cost.

The report reveals that “when comparing the costs for any service, most elements will be more expensive if outsourced. The risks associated with benchmarking begin at the tender stage when suppliers will benefit from being experts at the process of negotiating contract terms, in contrast with the local authority that will go to market only rarely for a major outsourcing.”

(More details:
http://www.socitm.net/news/article/76/new_briefing_highlighs_outsourcing_risks.)

The government is rowing back on mass outsourcing of public services.

The BBC reported a recent meeting between the CBI and the minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, where the minister explained:

...the government is committed to transforming services, but this would not be a return to the 1990s with wholesale outsourcing to the private sector – this would be unpalatable to the present administration. The government was not prepared to run the political risk of fully transferring services to the private sector with the result that they could be accused of being naive or allowing excess profitmaking by private sector firms. [Note of meeting by CBI]

(Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13273932.)

The articles above point to the folly of schemes such as the One Barnet Programme.

In the last two months the Council’s poor procurement and contract monitoring capacity has been demonstrated by the MetPro, Catalyst (legionella bacterium) and SAP cases. These have all harmed the Council’s reputation. Yet these are small contracts when compared to what the One Barnet Programme is proposing. With the One Barnet Programme the risks will be much higher.

We are asking the Conservative administration to bring the One Barnet Programme to a close before it is too late.

Millions of pounds of public money has already been spent on consultants, with no discernible savings achieved, and the losses could well be multiplied many fold going forward. Residents and Barnet Council staff are increasingly anxious about the future of Barnet Council services. Councillors should be too.

Last September the Leader said “I would always listen to the community” when she reversed the decision to increase councillors’ allowances. We are asking you to listen now.

There is still time to put the brakes on the One Barnet Programme. We urge you to do so.

Yours sincerely

Derek Dishman
John Dix
Vicki Morris
Theresa Musgrove
Roger Tichborne

The privatisation of Barnet Council

Click this link - http://onebarnet.co.uk/ - You will get a web page with the Barnet Council on top, a message from the CEO - Nick Walkley and the following text at the bottom of the page

Registered office: 71 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, SW1H OXA Registered in England. A part of the Capita Group Plc. Veredus 2009.

 
Has Barnet Council been taken over by Capita? Apart from the detail at the bottom, there is nothing on this website to indicate that it is anything other than an official Barnet Council website.

Here is an extract from the One Barnet page on this website

Next Steps – A ‘One Barnet’ Approach

We have already acknowledged that Barnet residents deserve and expect high quality, efficient public services. As a council, we accept that we are not best placed to deliver everything. These services will be delivered more effectively, efficiently and with greater quality by our public sector partners but also in the private and third sector.

Interestingly, they've also just signed a deal with Brent Council

http://www.capita.co.uk/media/Pages/LondonBoroughofBrentsigns%C2%A315millioncontractwithCapitatoadministerrevenuesservice.aspx

The Capita/Brent Council press release announces the following :-

Capita will be helping the Council to improve processes and support the objectives of its ‘One Council’ programme which is designed to deliver value for money while ensuring excellent service delivery. 

Just in case you didn't realise, Brent Council is a Labour Council. Different Council, different party running it, same old bullshit.


Oh and by the way, Capita set up the OneBarnet website in 2009. Guess how much money has been saved with the One Barnet program in the intervening two years?

Barnet Council : Metpro Scandal - FOI response

Was forwarded this response today from a reader of the blog who asked if Barnet monitor the financial status of suppliers. Given that Metpro Rapid Response Ltd went bust and the council only found out when bloggers alerted them, it doesn't bode well for the Future Shape/OneBarnet/BarnetTrack project where the whole council will be outsourced, does it?  Another reason why Nick Walkley needs to call an independent inquiry
-----------------------------------------------------
From: Olagbaju, Ade
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:20 PM
To: ***** **********
Subject: FW: Monitoring suppliers financial strength

Dear Mr. Dishman,

Please accept my apology for not respondig to your enquiry sooner.
Further to your enquiry about Barnet's monitoring system, the Council has a system for monitoring suppliers' financial strength which involves the use of Experian reports and detailed financial assessments where appropriate.

I hope this answers your query; please let me know if it does not.

Regards

Ade Olagbaju
Finance Manager Strategic Projects
-----------------------------------------------

Bungling Brian Coleman - The King of the Barnet Future Shape ballsup

Councillor Brian Coleman, who also happens to be our GLA rep is a man of unique talent. Let me share with you some of the things he's best at :-

Sending residents rude emails and getting into trouble with the Standards Committee
Running up expenses - Unrivalled at the GLA and LFEPA (sadly he won't allow Barnet to publish his)
Eating free dinners at the expense of those seeking acces to people of power and influence and those who can give him a holiday

Yet again he's got his ugly mug on the Times website.  As the man who boasted he never knowingly undercharges, you'd think he'd make sure his underlings did the paperwork properly. As a result, the increases in Parking charges, of which he's so proud have been deemed illegal and the council has had to go back to square one. Read all about it in the Barnet CPZ blog, which is listed in the sidebar. Congratulations to David Attfield, leading the campaign, for this victory.

Brian Coleman is the man who ushered in the Future Shape/One Barnet/EasyCouncil/BarnetTrack era, when he organised the coup which deposed the last sensible Tory to lead the Council, Brian J. D. Salinger. For all his many faults, Salinger was a competent administrator, who was running a tight ship. Coleman decided that Salinger wasn't bonkers enough, organised a coup and put Mike Freer (now Finchley MP) in charge. Freer then launched the Future Shape / BarnetTrack program. If you read Mr Reasonables blog in the sidebar, you'll see how this project is falling apart at huge expense. We (the sane and sensible) of Barnet have now engaged the services of a forensic accountant, who will shortly get to work on the Business Case / Made up figures (delete as appropriate) which Barnet are trying to use to justify this.

I have often wondered what Barnet Council would be like today had Brian Coleman never arrived on the scene. I have no doubt it would be true blue Tory. I suspect that it might have been reasonably well run and I have no doubt at all that our Council Tax would be far lower, as sensible administrators would have kept and eye on the detail. Many local Tories now privately dispair. Barnet has achieved national acclaim as the face of the Looney right. Promenant local Tories send me links to articles detailing how much better certain Labour Councils are doing with issues such as transparancy, with an air of resigned despair. The few sensible Tory councillors privately tell me they are embarrassed to walk down the street. As someone on the left, it gives me no pleasure to be able to say with confidence that we have the worst Tory Council in the UK. We certainly have the stupidest.

I wonder whether Brian Coleman is proud of the monster he's created. My guess is he couldn't give a damn so long as the free dinners, free holidays and free taxi's keep turning up.

BarnetTrack - The new name for Future Shape / EasyCouncil/OneBarnet

>>> BARNETTRACK >>>

Do you remember Railtrack? The company which forever destroyed the credibility of Rail privatisation? The company that took a "license to print money" and lost a shedload, requiring a taxpayer baleout. What has this got to do with Barnet Council? Well Barnet Council have studied the Railtrack model and decided that this is the way of the future. The Railtrack board wanted a "virtual company" which did nothing except commission work from contractors. They believed that outsourcing provided the cheapest price and the best quality in every case. Whole factories in the UK supplying high quality steel rail products closed as cheaper imports were sourced abroad. Hundreds of third party supplier agreements were signed. Maintenence teams were split up and sold off to companies.

Then one day there was an accident at Potters Bar. A private contractor called Jarvis had "issues" with some maintenance work. 7 people died and 76 were injured. Railtrack and it's business practices unravelled. A new company called Network rail (a not for profit Company owned by the Government) took over, to clean the mess up.

Sadly our local Conservative Council learned nothing from the embarrassing fiasco. They have emabarked (they put the bark in embark, this lot) on a program called Barnet Future Shape. When this started to unravel, the then Leader of Barnet Council rebranded it as "EasyCouncil". Being a bit dim, Mike Freer didn't realise that the public associate budget airlines with less than excellent quality. He also didn't realise that unlike Council services, airline customers have a choice. When asked to explain how it worked, a Tory Councillor explained that a local property developer had bought their own council employee to ease through development applications. Mill Hill Councillor John Hart told the Guardian that the disabled and bedridden who rely on the council for care could  "wipe their own arses".

As the scheme became more infamous, it got renamed again. It became "OneBarnet". Sadly the Borough Auditors, Grant Thorton slated it, pointing out there was no business case and no project plan. The Tories in charge said "Oh, no problem, we'll just go off and write one". This was after three years and millions of pounds had been wasted, delivering NO SAVINGS AT ALL.

Well, The Barnet Eye has decided it is time for a rebrand. We're going to refer to the whole cock up as
BARNETTRACK (the cock up formerly known as OneBarnet) in future. The leading expert on the subject, Professor Dexter Whitfield is giving a talk on why the whole project is ill conceived. If you want to know why it's doomed, please come along. Here's a few details from the BAPS press release.

Who pays in outsourcing and privatisation - the myth of strategic partnerships?”

Barnet UNISON & Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS) have organised a Public Meeting and have invited Professor Dexter Whitfield as the Guest Speaker.

The meeting takes place on Tuesday 15^th March at 7pm in the Greek Cypriot Community Centre, 2 Britannia Road, London N12 9RU.

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The Barnet Eye will be filming some of the meeting and some of the people attending. If you want to star in a fantastic low budget film, please get there early