Barnet Procurement Scandal - Labour group to push for answers

Last week I revealed details of how Barnet Council is spending over £2 million a year on services with suppliers who it refuses to name as the information is "personal". Such things as consultancy, professional services and organising conferences are being provided by such organisations. This means that the public have no proper audit trail. I have received several emailed responses. Disgraced criminal Councillor Brian Coleman emailed me to tell me that he is not interested and doesn't want me to tell him about anything at the council where he could improve the lot of his constituents. Fortunately I've had a rather more mature response from the Labour group, here is Cllr Alison Moore's response. Lets hope that we get some proper answers. I am a little disappointed that there has been no response from the audit committee thus far.

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Dear Roger,

 

Thankyou for your email. I can confirm that I have received and read it, and will of course be asking for an explanation for redaction.

 

Regards

 

Alison Moore

 

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From: Rog T
Sent: 20 July 2013 12:31
To: Derek Dishman; Brodkin, Cllr Alex; Campbell, Cllr Anita; Cornelius, Cllr Alison; Mittra, Cllr Arjun; Strongolou, Cllr Andrew; Tambourides, Cllr Andreas; Coleman, Cllr Brian; Evangeli, Cllr Barry; Gordon, Cllr Brian; Salinger, Cllr Brian; Schama, Cllr Brian; OMacauley, Cllr Charlie; Rogers, Cllr Colin; Salinger, Cllr Catherine; Cohen, Cllr Dean; Seal, Cllr Daniel; Yawitch, Cllr Darrel; Greenspan, Cllr Eva; Cooke, Cllr Geoffrey; Johnson, Cllr Geoffrey; Old, Cllr Graham; Sargeant, Cllr Gill; Rayner, Cllr Hugh; Hart, Cllr John; Johnson, Cllr Julie; Tambourides, Cllr Joanna; Tierney, Cllr Jim; McGuirk, Cllr Kathy; Rutter, Cllr Lisa; Braun, Cllr Maureen; Shooter, Cllr Mark; Houston, Cllr Ross; Thompstone, Cllr Reuben; QuigleyTurner, Cllr Rowan; Khatri, Cllr Sury; Rajput, Cllr Sachin; Sowerby, Cllr Stephen; Zubairi, Cllr Zakia; Ioannidis, Cllr Andreas; Finn, Cllr Anthony; Hart, Cllr Helena; Prentice, Cllr Wendy; Harper, Cllr Andrew; Hutton, Cllr Anne; Moore, Cllr Alison; Schneiderman, Cllr Alan; Slocombe, Cllr Agnes; Sodha, Cllr Ansuya; Perry, Cllr Bridget; Rawlings, Cllr Barry; Farrier, Cllr Claire; Longstaff, Cllr David; Thomas, Cllr Daniel; Cohen, Cllr Jack; Marshall, Cllr John; Scannell, Cllr Joan; Cohen, Cllr Melvin; Palmer, Cllr Monroe; CoakleyWebb, Cllr Pauline; Cornelius, Cllr Richard; Rams, Cllr Robert; Palmer, Cllr Susette; Davey, Cllr Tom
Cc: Travers, Andrew
Subject: Urgent - Barnet Council spending over £1 million a year with undisclosed service providers

Dear Barnet Councillor,

 

It has been brought to my attention that Barnet Council is spending over £1 million per annum with suppliers who it refuses to reveal the name of as it is "personal data".  Now whilst some of these, there are clearly good reasons for redacting, such as insurance payouts to private citizens, I can see no justification for withholding the name of companies providing services such as training, consultancy or professional services. In fact the very definition of "professional services" defines it as a business arrangement.

 

It strikes me as disturbing that Barnet Council is seemingly using such redaction to avoid transparency. Please review the list of payments below, available from the council website at the following URL - http://www.barnet.gov.uk/downloads/download/786/expenditure_over_500_2012-13 -  and see whether you agree that taxpayers money should be spent in this manner with this lack of transparency. I am of the opinion that it is impossible for the Council Taxpayer of Barnet to receive value for money when so much money and so many services are clearly being provided by companies and providers who are unwilling to disclose their details. I can think of no justification at all for withholding the details of companies providing professional services to Barnet Council, being funded by the taxpayer in this manner.

 

I expect the CEO of Barnet, Mr Andrew Travers, to review this situation as a matter of urgency and insist that unless there is a clear case of risk of identification of a vulnerable individual in Barnet, then the payment details must be disclosed. Furthermore, I call on the Audit committee to instruct the head of Audit to immediately investigate these payments and provide a clear and concise explanation of what is going on here.

 

It is the duty of councillors to ensure taxpayers money is well spent. With such a lack of transparency, I am sure that you will be alarmed to see these figures. I have requested a read receipt. I will be publishing details of all councillors who delete this email unread. I would also request a response to confirm that you have received this email and whether you agree that this is a matter of concern to you.

 

I have copied the CEO, Mr Andrew Travers into this email, as one would assume he should also share my concerns.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

www.barneteye.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

Barnet Council - Metpro Scandal - The Audit report is published

Just read this from the Audit report into the Metpro Scandal :-

Award of contract and review of contract service specification

No procurement exercise had been undertaken to appoint MetPro, in accordance with the Council’s CPR.

No written contract between the Council and MetPro could be found.

There is no record of an approval and authorisation for the use of MetPro for providing security services.

In the absence of a formal procurement exercise, we could not locate the following documents/confirmation for MetPro, which the CPR require:

·           Financial viability of the company

·           Equal Opportunities Assessment

·           Criminal Records Bureau checks

·           Confirmation of company’s Public Liability Insurance arrangements

·           Confirmation of the company’s Health and Safety registration

·           Confirmation on the SIA licence status of the Company Officers

·           An agreed specification which outlined the service to be provided

·           An agreed schedule of rates for payment of invoices

·           A process for monitoring performance of service delivery to establish if the Council was receiving value for money

There has been a failure to comply with the Council’s Policies and Procedures with regards to roles and responsibilities. Officers interviewed had assumed a corporate contract was in place and relevant checks on MetPro had therefore been undertaken. Recently, from September 2010, assurance was given to officers we interviewed that a corporate contract was being procured by the CPT as they were aware at that time that no contract was in place with MetPro. At the time of writing this report this procurement exercise had not started, however a detailed specification existed.

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This is a catalog of failure. Nick Walkley as CEO and Andrew Harper as acting leader for the last six months have to carry the can. Do I need to tell them what an honourable management team would do?

And having read the report, it is clear that a full independent investigation of the way Barnet Council procures services is required. This council is rotten. It is not a political issue anymore, it is a full blown scandal. I call on all Tories, Labour and Lib Dem Councillors to read this and SORT THIS MESS OUT. The various bloggers of Barnet have uncovered this mess, pushed to have the truth exposed and now we know what the story is with Metpro, we need to see evidence that the whole way the council does business is being reformed. This will quite clearly save the council and you and I an absolute fortune.

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