LIVERPOOL IN A MESS?

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL TO BE TAKEN TO THE HIGH COURT FOR BREAKING THE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT 1995

2008-11-05T19:42:00.004-04:00

JUST HOW MANY LAWS WILL LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL, BREAK BEFORE SOMEONE SOMEWHERE PUTS A STOP TO IT?????

Another example of Liverpool City' Council's total disregard to the laws of the and when it suits them.

To deny a disaabled person the basic right of transport to enable them to lead an independant life as possible is an absolute discrace, which is why I am alerting readers to this issue.

Wheelchair groups challenge council in High Court

Nov 5 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post
DISABILITY campaigners have won the right to take Liverpool City Council to the High Court in their battle for safe taxis.
In March, licensing chief Malcolm Kelly sparked outrage from local disability groups when the committee he chairs refused to license the wheelchair-friendly Peugeot E7 taxi.
More than 300 cabbies signed a petition in favour of the E7.
Now the High Court has granted wheelchair user Alma Lunt the right to challenge this ruling though a judicial review.
John Bruce of the Liverpool Wheelchair Users Group, said: “We are delighted the High Court in London has ruled on the importance of this legal challenge for accessible transport.”
Liverpool’s wheelchair users, including Merseyside Coalition for Inclusive Living, say they have to travel unsafely, unsecured, facing sideways, and leave room for only one other passenger. They claim the council is failing to abide by The Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Mrs Lunt said: “We are confident the discrimination we face will be acknowledged when our case does go forward.”

EX LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL EMPLOYEE STARTS E-PETITION TO END BULLYING IN THE WORK PLACE

2008-07-29T19:33:00.004-04:00

An Ex Liverpool City Council Employee has started an E-Petition to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking for a change in the law in how Bullying and Harassment complaints are investigated.

Vicky Gray the petitioner claims she was bullied for 12 Months by a manager of Liverpool City Council. She compiled a grievance and found that Liverpool City Council investigated themselves and decided they were not guilty.

Vicky felt the Local Government Ombudsman should have been the investigating officer and wrote asking for this.

She was informed this is not one of the duties of the Ombudsman.See below for the full details and sign her petition.

Keep up the good and very brave work Vicky.

TORI

petition creator
I was bullied by a manager for over 12 months. I made a formal complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman with regards to the way Liverpool City Council dealt with my Grievance and Appeal. I was informed that they were unable to investigate personnel matters. The Grievance was based on Bullying and Oppressive Behaviour the witness’ where not questioned on these matters. There are 34 County Councils and 238 District Councils in England, 32 in Scotland and 22 in Wales. How many employees have been subjected to Bullying and Oppressive Behaviour by managers who have in effect dealt with the matters internally and reached the required result the council wishes to achieve. Local councils investigate there own complaints, which I feel is a conflict of interest. I feel this matter needs addressing and the way to achieve this is through Legislation in the House of Commons, by introducing a Local Government Bill, or Parliament to extend the powers of the Local Government Ombudsman to include personnel issues.

This is why I have started this petition. The law needs to be changed.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/08Bullying/

Current signatories

Vicky Gray, the Petition Creator, joined by:
Philip Glover
Hannah Gray
Mrs F Gray
Mr G Gray
C. Gray
d.brigden
Dick King
S King
Ben Parish
Jennifer Gracher
V Gray
j webster
Andy Ashley
Simon Elliott
Richard Ascough
James
Chris
Bobi
Judith Moore
Jeff
Andrew McLeod
William Egan
Dermot McCluskey
i saunderson
James Wafer
John Howson
Alan Nurse
S. May
robert robinson
Catherine Robinson
Sandra Robinson
Hazel Jacobson
Stephanie France
Belen Carsi
Ramraj Balloo
Fiona Norris
clare khalil
Carole Hirst
Murdo MacLeod
Marina Yates
Rea McCullough
Alison Fisher
TRACY MILLER
Penny Allen
Sue Pritchard
Audrey Stevenson
Timhar Asnawi
Rosemary Perry
John Robertson
joanne irwin
Kirsty Gray
sharon davies
ORLANDA BLOOM
Gareth Davies
kelly miller
danielle glenister
Lisa Morgan
Margaret Dorsman
Raj Sethi
Sean O'Connor
Adrian Melia
Mark
Margaret King; very sorry to hear about your experience
Leoni Sullivan
Dr Howard Fredrics
Marina Yates
S Adams
Denny Tait
Martin Morton
Andy Horton
Stuart Dixon
Andrea Choraffa
William Nolan
Jo Anne Brown
sondra lieber
Nathan Thomas Trout
Owais Rajput
matthew wright
Nathaniel Mehr
Ann Whaley
rachel grogan
Sonia Colque
mike cotten
Cllr Sandra West
Mark Boardman
Scott Johnston
Daniela Andjelic
M Negus
Jeremy Bushell
Anne McAllister
Colin Welch
Andrea Vaz
William Love
Stuart CARRUTHERS LGO WATCH Supporter
Trevor Nunn LGOwatcher
P Nunn LGO victim
A Johnson PSOW
Keith Edmunds
Linda Hartley
Amanda Scarsbrook
Maria Dawson
Chris Swann
Gillian Marchant
Anthony Ashton
john mckenna
Catherine Taylor
lynda Diggins
Allie Bell
jo fisher
Helen Evans
Andy Gladwin
Paul Cardin
Mona Fayad
Ian Johnston
Vanessa Green
Jenny Brook
Victoria Lloyd
A. Warden
Mary Watson
Jayne Williams
Linzi Thomas
moira sinclair
Geoff Pope
Nicholas Blitz (former Unitary Authority Member)
Anita Smart
Stella Bernardi
David Daniels
M. Williams
H. Williams
W. Williams
B. Williams
Lorna Bambridge
jeanette ferguson
jean ferguson
josie mooney in support of jeanette ferguson and all weorkers bullied by liverpool city council
l russell
Craig Stuart - GMB
Kay B
S Aresti
Bethan Williams
Martin Stock
Bruce McQuillan
Martin Gowans
John Carnell
Phil Bishop
John Wiseman
Frank French
Christine French
Sandra Gribben
Jim Jepps
Daniel Gray
Lynne Henshall
Stephen Gray
Stephen Sellers
Lindsay Brown
Helen Marshall
Nicholas Goldberg
Susan Grisbrook
raul
James Ennis
john simpson
Alison Schofield
Mark Glover
John Wood
Tom Read
Natalie Stear
Charlotte Peters Rock
Stephanie David
Yvonne Corser
Eric Lee
Laura Lambden
Sarah Bull
Claire Gray
Kelly Parker
sarah richardson
kevin marsh
Neil Thurogood
Lynda Bruce
Jane Rees
Lin Johnson
David Fairclough
Paul C.Dyer
Ann Jones
Barry Faulkner
Richie (sign the 'With-Profits' petition also)
Justin Meadows
david thomas
gary webber
Elaine Altuccini (petitions.pm.gov.uk/Work-bullying
JOAN MAY
Wendy Hall
Neil Hamilton
Mrs Amanda Arkell
Mrs Vicki Farthing
ALICIA WILKES
addy purnell
julia allen
Sarah Murtagh
Sandra Berry
Christopher Hines
REnata Rinaldini
anthony Scott-Norman
KEVIN DWYER
Joanne Currey
Seamus McDermott
Ms Malik
sarah phillips
David Evans
Catherine White
Connor Paul Wallace
Andy Slack
Mark Collyer
Claire Cummings
mike neary
Mike Jones
Kasia Raszewska
Jenny Dixon
Paul Woods
John McDermott
Anne Greagsby
Alex Huxley
Louise Davies
Pamela Harris
Julie Bregazzi
Fran Blaxland
BEVERLY WILLIAMS
Bill van Taack
Patricia Brown
a feeley
Akhtar Ayaz
Lynn Kidwell
Matthew Finnegan
Lisa-Marie Brown
sue harvey
Marium
Phil Price
John Waters
Tori Blare

THE FUTURE OF COLIN HILTON AND PHIL HALSALL HANGS IN THE BALANCE.....

2008-07-25T08:05:00.004-04:00

WILL COLIN HILTON AND PHIL HALSALL SURVIVE THE LATEST INVESTIGATION?

HOW MUCH IS IT GOING TO COST THE PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL IN PAY OFFS?

WHEN IS ALL THIS NEGATIVE NEWS GOING TO END?

WHEN WILL SOMEONE PUT A STOP TO IT ALL AND SERVE THE PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL, AS ELECTED TO DO SO?

As usual all credit goes to the Daily Post for the story.

Future in the balance for senior council officials

Jul 25 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THE two most senior officials at Liverpool City Council will today come under pressure as the future of their jobs is discussed by a powerful panel.

Chief executive Colin Hilton faces a call for his suspension from Labour leader Joe Anderson over alleged failings.

While finance and legal executive director Phil Halsall faces the deletion of his post and therefore possible redundancy.

Both matters will be presented to the council’s appointments and disciplinary panel this morning.

The proposal to delete the executive director for finance and legal position forms part of a restructure of the council’s executive management team by the chief executive.

The Daily Post understands Mr Hilton is also proposing to cancel the post of executive director of culture, media, and sport which fell vacant in January with the departure of Jason Harborow, who also had the dual role of chief executive of Liverpool Culture Company.

The plan, as described to the Daily Post, would see Mr Hilton take on some of Mr Halsall’s financial responsibilities, with a more junior member of staff taking up other duties.

Mr Hilton’s proposal to scrap Mr Halsall’s position came out of a review following the council being labelled the worst in the country, and is designed to give the chief executive greater management responsibility over financial affairs.

However, the idea to get rid of the post, which has its roots in the historic role of city treasurer, has caused some disquiet among sections of the council.
Last night, a senior source said: “I am surprised at the proposals which would consolidate enormous power in one person.

“It would make the chief executive more powerful than the leader of the council, and even a directly elected mayor.

“I would question the logic of getting rid of this position at one of the most trying times for the council in financial terms.”

Mr Halsall, who joined the council in 2000 from South Ribble which cov- ers Leyland and central Lancashire, last night declined to comment.

The Daily Post understands that any decision made today would have to be ratified by the full council before taking effect.

Meanwhile, the panel will make a decision on whether to sanction further investigation into Cllr Anderson’s complaints about Mr Hilton.

The complaints relate to an alleged failure to take action over two internal investigations.

The first was into the leaking of information to the Liverpool Evil Cabal blogsite, and the second was into the leaking of the medical condition of Mr Harborow.

A third complaint relates to the monitoring of Cllr Anderson’s telephone records, which he claims was authorised by Mr Hilton.

davidbartlett

HOW MANY ELDERLY DEMENTIA SUFFERERS COULD £63,000.00 FUND????

2008-05-19T17:09:00.006-04:00

EVERYWHERE WE LOOK IN LIVERPOOL, THERE SEEMS TO BE A COMMUNITY SERVICE CLOSING OR CRITERIA CHANGING, THAT DIRECTLY AFFECTS THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN OUR SOCIETY.

LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TAX PAYERS ARE OFTEN LEFT WANTING WHEN THEY TRY TO ACCESS THE SERVICES THEY SO BADLY NEED. THIS IS USUALLY BECAUSE LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL HAS CUT THE FUNDING FOR THE SERVICE THEY REQUIRE.

THE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED ADMINISTRATION OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL, HAVE VOTED TO CLOSE DOWN THE HIGHLY ESTEEMED , MUCH NEEDED HOMES FOR THE ELDERLY AND THOSE WITH DEMENTIA, LEYTON DENE AND BOALER STREET.

NADIA STEWART SET THIS DECISION IN STONE WHEN SHE CROSSED THE FLOOR MAY 1ST 2008 TO BECOME A MUCH LOATHED,(That's what she used to think), LIBERAL DEMOCRAT.

THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AND ESPECIALLY IT WOULD SEEM, WARREN BRADLEY, HAVE ALSO IGNORED WATCH DOG RECOMMENDATIONS AND INSISTED THE CITY COUNCIL TAX PAYERS ARE GOING TO PAY £63,000, TO SO CALLED "ASSISTANTS" OF THE 10 EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS.

WHAT THESE "ASSISTANTS" ACTUALLY DO FOR THEIR MONEY IS VERY UNCLEAR AS THEY DO NOT HAVE A JOB DESCRIPTION, INDEED THEIR ROLES ARE NOT CONSTITUTIONALLY RECOGNISED.

SO THEREFORE IT FOLLOWS IN A MODERN DEMOCRACY, SURELY, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EXIST?.

WARREN BRADLEY HAS CLEARLY FORGOTTEN WHAT DEMOCRACY ACTUALLY MEANS.

IT WOULD SEEM THAT WHATEVER WARREN WANTS, WARREN GETS?

WARREN WANTS HIS FELLOW BACK SCRATCHES , TO BE PAID FOR ASSISTING IN A ROLE THEY ARE ALREADY PAID FOR AS THEY ARE ELECTED COUNCILLORS.

WARREN DOES NOT WANT TO SAVE THE LIVES OF NUMEROUS ELDERLY, INFIRM AND DEMENTIA SUFFERERS, WARREN DOES NOT WANT TO SAVE 80+ LOCAL JOBS.

READ BELOW FOR DAILY POST REPORT.

BUT THINK ON IF YOUR ABLE,

EVERYBODY NO MATTER HOW GOOD, NO MATTER HOW EVIL,

EVERYBODY GETS OLD!

TORI

Watchdog says NO to £63k of payouts to cllrs, Bradley says

May 19 2008 by Ben Turner, Liverpool Echo

MORE than £63,000 will be given to Liverpool councillors, despite an independent watchdog calling for their roles to be scrapped.

Council Leader Warren Bradley has ordered that 10 executive board assistants continue to receive £6,349 yearly allowances.

The move was today attacked as “a scandalous waste of money” by opposition councillors who said the posts were not constitutionally recognised.

But a defiant Cllr Bradley insisted the staff were worth every penny and played a invaluable role.

To meet government guidelines the council employs an independent panel of officials from the business, voluntary and personnel management sector to scrutinise and advise on the annual levels of allowances for councillors.

The panel spent 18 months scrutinising the council’s assistants attached to 10 executive members whose portfolios range from education and regeneration to the council leader himself.

Their investigation concluded there was “no clear evidence to measure the responsibility which can be assessed to justify the continued payment” of their of £6,349 yearly allowances.

But Cllr Bradley refused to act on the findings and pledged the assistants will continue to be paid.

Today the moved was attacked by Liverpool opposition chiefs.

Labour deputy leader Cllr Paul Brant said: “I think this is a scandalous waste of money on manufactured roles that are not constitutionally recognised. This money should be going elsewhere given all the cuts people are seeing.”

However, Cllr Bradley pointed out that the council had also rejected the independent panel’s advice that council allowances be raised across the board – with allowances frozen this year.

He said: “The assistant executive members do a fantastic job. My own assistant Cllr Tina Gould, for example, does a tremendous amount of work, including deputising for me on occasions when I’m double booked and leading on projects such as our cultural strategy.”

ben.turner@liverpool.com

NADIA STEWART PUTS THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFINS OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

2008-05-04T16:56:00.006-04:00

BY DEFECTING TO THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS, NADIA STEWARD FORMER LABOUR PARTY COUNCILLOR, FORMER INDEPENDENT, HAS ENSURED THAT THE FUTURE OF LEYTON DENE AND BOALER STREET RESIDENTIAL HOMES FOR PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S, WILL BE BLEAK AND SHORT.

IN THE 8 PLEDGES OF LABOUR FOR THE MAY ELECTIONS THEY MADE THE PLEDGE THAT IF ELECTED THEY WOULD SAVE THE HOMES.

NADIA STEWARD HAS ENSURED THAT LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE THE MUCH NEEDED ONE SEAT MAJORITY, NEEDED TO ENFORCE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS PLEDGE TO CLOSE BOTH HOMES DOWN.

HUNDREDS OF COUNCIL WORKERS WILL NOW LOSE THEIR JOBS BECAUSE THIS STUPID WOMAN DEFECTED TO A PARTY SHE SUPPOSEDLY DOES NOT AGREE WITH.

NADIA STEWARD HAS BETRAYED HER CITY AND SHOULD HANG HER HEAD IN SHAME.

HOW MANY PIECES OF SILVER DID THIS LOUSE GET FROM THE FIREMAN?

WHAT WAS HER REWARD FOR BETRAYING HER SOCIALIST ROOTS AND THOSE THAT SUPPORTED HER WHEN THEY THOUGHT SHE HAD THE SAME SOCIALIST VIEWS, HOW WERE THEY TO KNOW SHE WAS TRULY A BACKSTABBER

AT THE TIME OF HER RESIGNATION FROM THE LABOUR PARTY, IT WAS CLAIMED BY
Cllr Anderson said: “Cllr Stewart has appalling attendance figures for both council meetings and the select committee. She has not held a ward surgery for almost 18 months and we have had numerous complaints about her commitment to the ward from voters.”

“We were going to sack her this week and she knew that. This is simply a case of her jumping before being pushed to try and save face.”

WHAT HAS CHANGED?
SHE STILL DOES NOT ATTEND MEETINGS AND SURGERIES, SHE DOES NOT CONSULT THOSE THAT SUPPORTED HER BY VOTING FOR HER!

NADIA STEWART IS IN POLITICS FOR HER OWN GAINS AND NOT TO HELP PEOPLE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.

IF ANY OF YOU FIND YOU NEED CARE YET CANNOT FIND ANY?
YOU HAVE THE STUPID WOMAN WHO CAN'T DECIDE WHAT SHE BELIEVES IN TO THANK FOR IT!

NADIA STEWARD PUT THE FINAL NAIL IN MY DEMENTIA COFFIN.

LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS USE THE DEATH OF RHYS JONES AS A MEANS TO WIN VOTES !

2008-03-31T19:26:00.005-04:00

LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE STOOPED LOWER THAN LOW THIS TIME AND NO LIVERPOOL CITY RESIDENT SHOULD ALLOW THEM TO CONTINUE DISRESPECTING OUR CITY.

Current Liverpool Liberal Democrat, Councillor Elaine Allen, has used the death of Rhys Jones and a Government funding issue over allocation of funding for safer communitee's, to trick Liverpool residents into believing that voting for her in the Local Elections will make a difference to Central Government and Gordon Brown

Envelopes have been stuffed through peoples doors with their names and addresses clearly marked on an opening letter from Councillor Elaine Allen.

In her personally addressed letter, she asks the reader if they are worried about knife and gun crime?

Well of course we are Elaine, please tell us your plan?

She tells us, she too is worried.

She is discusted after the death of Rhys Jones the Government have cut funding, she also claims however that she can somehow change this if we vote for her on May 1st 2008.

She fails to mention that local councillors cannot alter Central Government funding in any useful way, that is what our MP's are there for.

At the end of her letter she gives us a nice P.S. stating we have a choice between a Local Liberal Democrat and a Labour Government?

Has the woman lost her mind, does Gordon know we are having a General Election?

Or is this a way on playing on peoples political ignorance?

If that wasn't enough she has also enclosed a petition for residents to return to her freepost!
The title of the petition?

NO TO LABOUR'S CRIME FUND CUTS!

Residents are invited to sign and post free of charge to oppose labour's plan to cut such funds, at no point in this petition does is state it is the Labour Government that are making these proposals, ( not completely true by the way), they hope we all believe that Joe Anderson and his nasty reds are cutting our services.

The woman should be done for slander!

LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRAT HOUSE OF CARDS STARTS TO CRUMBLE

2008-03-27T07:54:00.007-04:00

EACH DAY THE NEWS OF ANOTHER LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRAT RESIGNING OR BEING DE-SELECTED BRINGS THE HEAT NEARER TO BRADLEY'S DOOR!

SHOULD WARREN BRADLEY NOW RESIGN TO SAVE HIS PARTY?

OR SHOULD HE CARRY ON CLAIMING HE HAS PASSION FOR LIVERPOOL SO HE CAN DO OR SAY AS HE WISHES?

BRADLEY SEEMS TO THINK IT'S ALRIGHT FOR HIM TO SEE A TOP RATED SHOW IN LAS VEGAS AND CHARGE THE COUNCIL TAX PAYERS FOR THE PRIVELAGE!

IN FULL COUNCIL LAST NIGHT HE WAS ASKED TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF ON A NUMBER OF OCCASSIONS, HE TURNED THE QUESTION BACK TO LABOUR WITH INUENDO'S.

WE WANT A YES OR NO BRADLEY, THE FACT YOU WILL NOT GIVE US THE ANSWER OUR COUNCILLORS HAVE REQUESTED OF YOU, GIVES RISE TO CONCERNS OF YOUR ABILITY TO TELL ANY FORM OF TRUTH?

TAKE A LOOK WHAT YOUR OWN PARTY MEMBERS THINK OF YOU BRADLEY.

LONG STANDING COUNCILLOR HAS DECIDED TO QUIT HIS EXECUTIVE ROLE, SADLY NOT THE COUNCILLOR ROLE, TO GIVE A STRONG AND LOUD MESSAGE TO BRADLEY TO GO.

IF YOU ARE A LABOUR SUPPORTER THEN YOU WILL HAVE, LIKE ME, A BIG SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

BELOW IS TODAY'S DAILY POST HEADLINES.

#PLEASE NOTE TONY PARRISH FOLLOWERS BROKE THIS NEWS WEEKS AGO#

Warren Bradley in row over Las Vegas show tickets

Mar 27 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

Warren Bradley Cirque de soliel row

LIVERPOOL council leader Warren Bradley was last night accused of failing to declare his attendance at a Las Vegas show at taxpayers’ expense.

Cllr Bradley privately asked Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow to buy him tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s Love Show, it was alleged yesterday.

At the full council meeting, Labour group leader Cllr Joe Anderson asked Cllr Bradley to confirm he had sent a text message to Mr Harborow asking him to purchase the tickets while Cllr Bradley was on a private holiday in the American resort. He asked if the Lib-Dem leader had then declared the tickets as hospitality.

Cllr Bradley refused to be drawn on the specific issue, but said he was “meticulous” in declaring hospitality.

In the council chamber, Cllr Ander-son said: “Could you confirm to me that in 2006, while on holiday in Las Vegas, you attended a show called the Love Show and requested the Culture Company pay for tickets and sent the following text message: ‘Jason, can you arrange for the show? If you manage to do it, let me know’.”

Cllr Bradley responded: “I am met-iculous in declaring hospitality that I receive from the council and I have the scruples to do so – unlike some who failed to declare gifts since 2003. Certain members failed to declare certain football matches – both before, during and after.”

Cllr Bradley claimed Cllr Ander-son’s question was based on informa-tion gleaned from a “defamatory and ill-informed” blog site.

The Labour opposition has called for an internal council investigation into the matter.

The controversy comes as Stand-ards Board for England investigators are in the city interviewing protagon-ists in an investigation into allega-tions that Cllr Bradley conspired to remove Mr Harborow from his post.

Mr Harborow officially left the employment of the city in January with a £230,000 pay-off.

His complaint to the Standards Board about the way he was treated in a bitter falling-out with Cllr Bradley is subject of a separate investigation.

It is understood the Culture Com-pany and executives from Cirque Du Soleil were in discussions two years ago about bringing the Love Show to Liverpool in 2008, but the talks stalled when it was discovered it would have been too expensive to remove the show from its home in the Mirage.

Earlier this week, Cirque du Soleil brought its Delirium show to the Echo Arena but it is understood this was not a result of previous negotiations over the Love Show.

Unlike Love, Delirium is specifically designed to tour and is run by a different arm of the international company.

Prior to last night’s meeting, Cllr Bradley said: “On the advice of the Culture Company, I took time out from a private holiday to view the Cirque du Soleil show in my official role as vice chairman of the Liverpool Culture Company and leader of the city council.

“Tickets were arranged because at the time we were negotiating with the Cirque production company to bring the show to Liverpool as part of our European Capital of Culture celebrations.”

Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson last night said he had raised the issue with council chief executive Colin Hilton and requested an internal audit investigation into the matter.

davidbartlett

Liverpool Council's education chief quits

Mar 27 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Councillor Paul Clein _320

LIVERPOOL city councillor Paul Clein has resigned as executive member for children’s services in the wake of the row about the deselection of a Liberal Democrat colleague.

Cllr Clein, who had been on the executive board for ten years, said he had been "unhappy with the leadership of the council for a while".

He is not resigning as a councillor.

He said: "The deselection of my friend and colleague Cllr Kevin Firth was basically the last straw.

"It seems to me there is a strong perception by all and sundry that Kevin was deselected because of his attempts to hold the leadership to account over the Mathew Street business.

"I just felt no-one else was going to stand up and say that is wrong, so I am."

Cllr Clein sent a letter of resignation to the city council leader effective as of today.

WONDER IF THEY WILL NOW DE-SELECT CLEIN FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE POWER CRAZY LEADER OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL?

BULLYBOY BRADLEY ! THE ICE CREAM MAN COMETH!

2008-02-13T16:45:00.004-04:00

WARREN BRADLEY HAS BEEN INDIVIDUALLY NAMED AND NOW SHAMED BY FORMER LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL EMPLOYEE, JASON HARBOROW AS A BULLY.

NEVER I HEAR YOU CRY.. BUT YES IT IS TRUE FOR THE ICE CREAM MAN SAID IT WAS SO.

AS USUAL I REFER YOU TO ANOTHERS WORDS, FOR I ONLY GUIDE YOU TO THE TRUTH,.

SEE BELOW FOR DAILY POST REPORT

Probe begins into claims of council leader’s bullying of ex-Culture chief

Feb 13 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

AN INVESTIGATION into claims Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley bullied the city’s former Culture Company chief executive was last night getting under way.

It comes as the Standards Board confirmed it will investigate complaints from Jason Harborow against Cllr Bradley.

But the watchdog said it would not be investigating similar allegations against regeneration leader Mike Storey.

Cllr Bradley and Cllr Storey are still being investigated by the board over separate claims they conspired to remove Mr Harborow from his post, after a complaint by Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson.

It comes after the Daily Post exclusively revealed Jason Harborow made an official complaint against both men to the board on January 30.

Last night the 37-year-old declined to comment, describ-ing it as a “private matter”.

But the Standards Board confirmed that potential breaches of the code of conduct which led to the complaint against Cllr Bradley being referred for investigation include:

Not treating others with respect.

Bringing your office or authority into disrepute.

Bullying “any person including other councillors, council officers or members of the public”.

Mr Harborow last week spoke about how he had felt bullied and intimidated during times at the Culture Company.

Cllr Storey told the Daily Post: “I really think the Stand-ards Board is now being used for party political purposes where people can refer any-thing on a whim to try to get a newspaper headline and try to besmirch the character of individuals.”

Last week Mr Harborow spoke about behaviour he had considered “unacceptable”

He said: “My day has gone, but it could be done to some-one else. I want to highlight that type of behaviour some-times takes place, and sometimes in Liverpool.”

Mr Harborow, who resigned last month with a £230,000 pay-off, said he felt sorry for his team after a “blame culture” sprang up over the axed Mathew Street festival.

It is likely the new investi-gation will look at the way he was treated after the cancellation of the outdoor festival.

At the time Cllr Bradley called for Mr Harborow to be “relieved of his duties” in an email to council chief executive Colin Hilton.

The Standards Board said: “We received an allegation relating to Warren Bradley on January 30. Our referrals team assessed the complaint and it was referred for investigation on February 7.”

davidbartlett

CHILDREN TO PAY FOR LIVERPOOL'S BUDGET DEFECIT

2008-01-31T16:27:00.000-04:00

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL PLAN TO SACK 67 MEMBERS OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES STAFF, TO PAY FOR THE £230,000 GIVEN TO JASON HARBARROW TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT

FROM COMMUNITY CARE ON LINE

Gladstone House to close with loss of 67 staff: YJB blames council

Posted: 11 January 2008

writes Caroline Lovell

A secure children’s home in Liverpool will close in March over a £1m funding issue between Liverpool Council, the Youth Justice Board, and Ofsted.

Last week, compulsory redundancy notices were issued to 67 staff at Gladstone House secure children’s home in Fazakerley after the YJB decided not to renew its contract because of increased annual rates.

The secure unit opened in 1981 and can accommodate 18 young men from the North West in two units, Gladstone and Norris, but it subsequently lowered its operating capacity to 16 beds.

In 2007, Ofsted recommended that the council employed extra staff so that there were two members of staff to every child at the 24-hour facility, a council spokesperson said. The council also decided to increase its capacity to 18 beds.

To meet these two requirements, the council told the YJB last September they would have to increase annual rates by an additional £1m because of “difficulties over funding”.

But the YJB, which purchases places for children and young people in custody at secure children’s homes in England and Wales, said that after careful consideration it decided not to renew its contract because the new annual rates exceeded other local authority prices in the area.

“We regret that Liverpool City Council has taken this decision,” said an YJB spokesman.

Closure concerns

The Secure Accommodation Network, which represents and promotes the work of secure children's homes in England and Wales, is concerned that another home has closed.

Jon Banwell, chair of SAN, said that in recent years the number of secure children's homes has fallen from 31 to 20 leaving a “patchy picture” across the country where some areas are left without provision for very complex and vulnerable young people. SAN is urging the government to develop a national strategy for secure care to prevent further closures.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families are currently carrying out research, through Deloitte, to review the local authority demand for welfare beds in secure children’s homes.

Gladstone House closure

Liverpool City Council has announced the closure of Gladstone House secure unit on or before March 31 st 2008 following its failure to get an extension to its current Contract with the Youth Justice Board.

SAN is yet again concerned about the closure of another Secure Children's home and the lack of a National strategy for secure care despite its repeated calls for one to be developed. Without the development of the strategy SAN fears that there will be further closures. This issue should also be considered , in SAN' s view, by the newly created Joint Youth Justice Unit as the closures are directly impacting on the quality of care available for those young people who have to be secured.

Union outrage over plan to close Liverpool children’s home

Jan 31 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

ANGRY union protesters chanted with banners outside a full council meeting last night against staff losing their jobs.

The Joint Trade Union Committee (JTUC) crowded outside Liverpool Town Hall blaming the cost of Capital of Culture activities for 67 staff at a children’s home facing compulsory redundancy.

The JTUC claims the difference between offering the staff voluntary severance and redundancy is around £230,000 – the same amount given as a pay-off to former Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow.

A JTUC spokesman said: “People are effectively being sacked because of the incompetence and wastage of this council.”

The redundancies follow the council’s decision to close Gladstone House, an 18-bed secure home in Fazakerley.

Officials blamed rising costs, empty beds and overspends of £1m a year for their decision.

Funded by the Youth Justice Board for England (YJB), the board refused to renew the funding contract and the council said it could therefore “not justify subsidising a centre for children from outside the area”.

Labour spokesperson for children’s services, Cllr Jane Corbett, said the council was “shortsighted” for closing an excellent facility with dedicated highly trained staff.

She said: “There have been no guarantees how many staff will be redeployed.

“They haven’t been offered voluntary severance like they should have been, as only a few are likely to be offered suitable positions elsewhere.

“It is shortsighted to close Gladstone House after the new chair of the YJB only recently said young offenders should be placed in local authority secure homes where the outcomes are better than other options.”

Cllr Corbett argues the YJB failed to sign a new funding contract because Live rpool council had included two welfare beds into the contract, pushing costs up from £597.50 per night per bed for 16 beds up to £708 per night, per bed for all 18 beds.

The YJB decided funding 18 beds instead of 16 would cost them an additional £1m.

Cllr Corbett said: “Liverpool City Council should have done more to attract neighbouring local authorities to use the welfare beds.

“Gladstone House is used by young males from Liverpool and Merseyside, and with such big problems of drug crime and gangs in north Liverpool I can’t believe we are planning to close one of the best homes in the country.”

Cllr Corbett submitted a list of questions surrounding the clos- ure at a meeting of the Children’s Services Select Committee.

In their response finance and legal services at Liverpool council blamed declining occupancy levels of the welfare beds from 89% in 2004/5 to 22% in 2007/8, with the council budget relying on the income they generate.

It says efforts were made to promote Gladstone’s facilities but the trend continued.

In response to the question “If the council were not facing such a grave financial crisis would Gladstone House be closing at this time?” the answer reads “There are other budget pressures in social care services for children and action is being taken to address all of these.”

laurasharpe

THE COST TO LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TAX PAYERS FOR LIBERAL DEMOCRAT SUCKING UP TO THEIR PARTNERS IN CRIME

2008-01-18T08:37:00.000-04:00

FOLLOWING ON FROM THE CITY OF THE DEAD EXCLUSIVE THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE GRAVY TRAIN, WE HAVE LOOKED AT EACH PERSON/COMPANY, TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND WHY THE SAME PEOPLE ARE GIVEN COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO EVENTS THAT MOST WOULD SELL THEIR GRANNY TO ATTEND.

FIRST UNDER THE MICROSCOPE IS MARTIN JOYCE/ENTERPRISE.

MARTIN JOYCE AND HIS POSSE ARE OFF ON A GOOD FEW WEEKS OF BOOZING, BRAWLING AND MANY OTHER B'S, ALL COURTESEY OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL TAX PAYER'S.

What Boxing, Racing, Wirral Football, Musical events and The Lion King has to do with the built environment and housing needs, one can only imagine.
Exactly how many times do you have to wine and dine the same person before they agree to help Liverpool? Martin Joyce needs a lot of attention
it would seem?
LETS GIVE HIM THE ATTENTION HE SO CRAVES.

Martin Joyce - enterprise
15 March 2005
VIP tickets to 4 nations boxing event - 25/3/05
hospitality

Enterprise
16 May 2005
tickets to Tranmere Rovers play off semi-final - 10/5/05
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
10-12/6/05
3 dbls to Mersey River Festival launch & 10 single invites to swing concert
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
16 & 17th July
20 hospitality lounge passes for HUB
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
30 June 2005
4 x VIP tickets to Summer Pops
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
20 July 2005
6 x tickets boxing - England V Canada
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
29 July 2005
6 x tickets boxing - multi-nations
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
20 & 21 Aug 2005
10 tickets - Honda Racing

sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
27 - 29th August 2005
10 tickets - mathew street festival
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
16 September 2005
10 tickets - city of light
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
18 September 2005
16 tickets to start of Clipper
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
27 September 2005
4 x empire tickets for Jungle Book
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
18 October 2005
4 x boxing tickets - world junior finals (plus additional 2)
sponsorship benefit

Enterprise
05 November 2005
20 x tickets for fireworks
sponsorship benefit

HD, UU, RC, Ent, NWDA, ALCB, sayers
27 January 2006
Sports strategy launch
sponsorship benefit

HD, UU, RC, Ent, ALCB
30 January 2006
Liverpool performs launch
sponsorship benefit

IT IS NOT POSSIBLE AT THE MOMENT TO PUT A COST TO THIS HOSPITALITY TO MATIN JOYCE,(former Liverpool City Council Employee, blamed by many for the total decimation of Liverpool City Council's housing maintenance, parks and gardens etc etc etc etc... good friend of Macca ldl).

WHAT IS CLEAR HOWEVER IS MOST PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL COULD NOT AFFORD TO ATTEND SUCH HIGH PROFILE EVENTS, INDEED THE EVENTS ARE ONES THAT WOULD BE WELCOMED BY THE PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL, ONES THEY WOULD LOVE TO ATTEND.
THE PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL HOWEVER ARE NEVER OFFERED SUCH TREATS, WE JUST PAY FOR IT ALL VIA OUR COUNCIL TAX!

Enquiries: Enterprise, Martin Joyce, Managing Director of Public Sector Services: 01772 819000

http://www.enterprise.plc.uk/News/Pages/Liverpool800thBirthday.aspx

NEXT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE WILL BE HILL DICKINSON SOLICITORS!?

THE ORANGE MAN IS GOING AND THE DYNAMIC DUO FIB DEMS BRADLEY AND STOREYTELLER ARE INVESTIGATED

2007-12-19T07:41:00.000-04:00

HAS JASON ORANGE LEFT THE CULTURE CLUB?

According to the Daily Post Jason is in the process of getting a pay off, at the expense of Liverpool tax payers.
Bradley and Storeyteller are under investigation yet again!
LETS HOPE THEY ARE SUSPENDED AND NEVER ALLOWED TO HOLD OFFICE AGAIN.

See below for Daily Post report

Council duo face investigation as culture chief departs.

Dec 19 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

EMBATTLED Liverpool Council leader Warren Bradley is to be investigated by the Standards Board over allegations he asked officers if they had information he could use about Culture Company boss Jason Harborow.

The news comes just hours after the Liverpool Daily Post revealed that Mr Harborow, who has had a difficult relationship with council leader Cllr Bradley, was set to leave the culture company with a £200,000 pay off.

The Standards Board investigation was prompted after the Daily Post revealed that Cllr Bradley held a secret meeting with Leee Forde, the former city events manager who was one of the main people to be blamed for the Mathew Street fiasco.

Previous council leader Mike Storey, who was present at the meeting, will also be investigated. The Standards Bord will be looking to see if they broke the councillor code of conduct and if their actions brought their office into disrepute.

It comes as the departure of Culture Company chief executive Mr Harborow is expected to be ratified today – just 12 days before the start of Capital of Culture year. Council chief executive Colin Hilton will ask an Appointments Panel for permission to broker a deal with Mr Harborow’s lawyers which is likely to cost tax-payers a pay-off of around £200,000.

It is understood Mr Harborow’s legal team have told the council his position was made “untenable” by Cllrs Bradley and Storey.

Cllr Bradley has publicly criticised Mr Harborow in the fall-out from the cancellation of this year’s Mathew Street Festival.

The pair both sit on the panel, but are likely to be barred from the meeting when the deal with Mr Harborow is raised.

It is believed the council’s external solicitor will tell the meeting why it would be in their best interests to reach a deal.

Cllrs Storey and Bradley face being disqualified from office for up to five years if the Standards Board finds they have broken the councillors’ Code of Conduct and refers the matter for adjudication. Last night they declined to comment.

An investigation would be Cllr Storey’s second in the space of three years. A previous case centred on allegations he encouraged former council spin doctor Matt Finnegan “to undermine” then chief executive Sir David Henshaw.

In November, 2005, he was found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute, losing the leadership of the council as a result.

Mr Harborow earns £150,000 for his role at the Culture Company and as executive director of Culture, Media, and Sport at the city council.

It is thought the deal is worth around £200,000, and would see Mr Harborow technically stay in employment for a few more weeks.

Acting chief executive Kris Donaldson, operations director Bernice Law and chairman of the Culture Company board Bryan Gray are likely to assume Mr Harborow’s responsibilities.

Last night, a source said: “The council have taken legal advice and been advised they should make a settlement with Jason Harborow.

“There is a meeting tomorrow and the chief executive will ask for per-mission to enter into negotiations with Jason Harborow’s legal team.”

Mr Harborow returned to work at Millennium House on December 4, after eight weeks off sick, but has not been back since, although he has still been carrying out work.

The problems between him and senior councillors became known after the high-profile cancellation of the Mathew Street Festival.

In August, Cllr Bradley demanded, in an email to Mr Hilton, that Mr Harborow be relieved of his duties.

In November, after the release of the Mathew Street report, which cleared Mr Harborow, Cllr Bradley criticised the culture leader in an interview with the Daily Post.

When asked if Mr Harborow should resign, he said: “There has got to be some responsibility should-ered by senior management.” He also said problems with Mathew Street had arisen because of a lack of communication. Asked if he was referring to Mr Harborow, he said: “Absolutely. If there was a breakdown in communication, the chief executive of the Culture Company should have been aware.”

Last week, Cllr Bradley requested the email requesting Mr Harborow be relieved of his duties be sent out to the council’s 90 elected members.

Last night, Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson said: “I expect the Standards Board to look seriously at my complaint. I believe the only conclusion they can come to is that this sorry saga needs to be investigated. Not just for Liverpool’s reputation, but because it appears it could have financial implications for the city.”

A city council spokesman: “We do not discuss publicly any private and confidential matters concerning individual employees.”

JASON HARBOROW joined the Liverpool Culture Company in February 2004 in the role of tourism director.

The 37-year-old was brought in after his experience as commercial general manager for the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

He quickly rose to become one of the top figures at Liverpool city council.

Last year he was appointed as the Culture Company’s chief executive.

He secured some major events for the Capital of Culture celebrations including the MTV awards and the Liverpool Nativity. But his style did not please all in the city, and many movers and shakers have privately questioned the way he operated.

Originally from Chorley Mr Harborow cut his teeth in local government at Chorley Council and Wigan Council.

davidbartlett

LABOUR PARTY TO THE RESCUE IN CAPITAL OF CULTURE SHORTFALL

2007-12-15T07:25:00.000-04:00

LIVERPOOL LABOUR MP'S HAVE JOINED FORCES WITH OUR OWN LEADER OF LIVERPOOL LABOUR PARTY JOE ANDERSON, TO TRY AND GET FUNDING FROM GOVERNMENT TO FILL THE EMPTY WAR CHEST.

below is report from the daily post, the only local paper that reports what is actually going on in the City.

Will our crown jewels be sold to pay for the event?

OR WILL BRADLEY'S CROWN JEWELS BE CRUSHED FOR MAKING SUCH A MESS OF THE WHOLE EVENT?

see below

Labour MPs vow to fight for more culture cash

Dec 15 2007

LIVERPOOL’S Labour MPs have pledged to do all they can to help the city council plug a £20m black hole in next year’s Capital of Culture finances.

It comes after four of the city’s five MPs joined Labour opposition leader Joe Anderson in meeting council leader Warren Bradley yesterday afternoon to discuss how to solve the problem.

The city council now hopes to convince the Government to allow it to raise the required money by selling off land and buildings or allow it to re- mortgage council property –buildings, under a process known as capitalisation.

Cllr Bradley and council chief executive Colin Hilton have met ministers and government officials on numerous occasions to lobby for the right to break current financial rules.

But so far the Government has not agreed to budge.

It is understood the MPs’ support could prove vital in convincing the Government to allow the council to break fiscal rules that do not allow capital sales to be used for ongoing revenue expenses.

Last night, after the meeting, Liverpool Garston MP Maria Eagle said: “It was useful, I think. In the sense that it’s quite clear that Capital of Culture is going ahead full strength.

“They are preparing a great programme, I think Phil Redmond and Bryan Gray are getting to grips that side of things. It’s apparent, and the council have admitted it, that they have some financial difficulties.”

Ms, Eagle, who is justice minister, said the MPs asked detailed questions about the state of the finances.

“We want to make sure Capital of Culture and 2008 is a great success for the city, it needs to be for the city and for the country.”

“We are going to do what we can to help on this problem that they have got themselves into.

She said rules were there for a reason, so careful consideration would have to be given to the matter.

Riverside MP Louise Ellman, Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle, and Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy were also present at the meeting.

Cllr Anderson said: “The MPs and I have committed ourselves to do everything we can. From my point of view I was glad that the council admitted that it had not prepared its funding for 2008.

“We can either cancel 2008, which is not a course of action I suggest we take.

“Therefore, I will be trying to support the council by persuading the Government to get ourselves out of this mess.”

A council spokesman said: “The meeting was a very positive discussion about how the city’s MPs could assist the council in resolving funding issues for the next financial year.

“It was a very fruitful and useful discussion and a further meeting is planned in January.”

Warren Bradley Lies to Daily Post and get's his arse publically kicked

2007-12-14T07:59:00.000-04:00

Warren Bradley has been shown in a variety of ways, that he lied about a secret meeting at his home with Lee Forde.

This it is claimed by lee, was an attempt to get him on side to get rid of Jason Harrowboy.

Bradley has well and truley been caught out and has dug a hole of deciet and lies, he has given so many versions of the event that it is hard to establish if he really knows what the truth is?
Below is the Daily Post's comment in responce to Bradley going public in council chambers, where he claimed the Daily Post were the one's telling lies!

The Daily Post to many Liverpool readers is one of the only local newspapers that actually are not in the pockets of Liberal Democrats, they report the news as they find it.

Bradley has, in going public about his complaint, brought out a powerful enemy.
Political bloggers such as myself and Tony Parrish, will have a field day on this one and now have a new ally to assist in getting the truth out to the people of Liverpool.

RIP BRADLEY AND GOOD RDDANCE

Comment: We stand by our version of events

Dec 13 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

Generic Liverpool daily Post logo _320x160

LIVERPOOL council leader Warren Bradley last night chose to make public a very private issue he has raised with the Liverpool Daily Post.

He chose the forum of the council chamber to reveal that he has complained to this newspaper about our coverage of the secret meeting that he held at his home with the city’s former events chief, Lee Forde.

We accept that his words came in response to a written question from the Labour opposition, but he could have dealt with the issue without his overt and unfair criticism of our journalism.

Cllr Bradley has written two private and confidential letters to the Liverpool Daily Post, insisting that he had never denied to our reporter that this meeting took place. He demanded that we publish a retraction, and suggested that he would pursue a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission unless we did so.

He also said that he would no longer take telephone calls from our journalists, and would only provide written quotes at his convenience in the future.

Last night, Cllr Bradley saw fit to take this issue into the public arena, and we are only too happy to respond in kind.

For the record, our reporter spoke to Cllr Bradley at 6pm on the evening of November 29 this year. We have a verbatim shorthand note of that conversation, which would be admissible in any court in the land.

Cllr Bradley was asked by our reporter about his meeting with Mr Forde, and replied: "Which meeting?"

Our reporter then told him that he was referring to a meeting at Cllr Bradley’s home on November 18. Cllr Bradley’s unambiguous response was: "I never had a meeting with him."

We have pointed this out in a private letter to Cllr Bradley in response to his two letters to us.

Cllr Bradley’s recollection of his conversation with our reporter is quite clearly different, but, unlike us, he does not have a verbatim record to rely upon.

Cllr Bradley is under huge political pressure at the moment, and perhaps it is understandable if his recollection of every detail is not all it might be. Followers of the Mathew Street controversy will recall that Cllr Bradley claimed to have told city chief executive Colin Hilton about the meeting with Lee Forde "in the first couple of days after the meeting". Mr Hilton has made it abundantly clear in a letter to council Labour group leader Joe Anderson that he has no recollection of any such conversation.

In the circumstances, however, it is regrettable in the extreme that Cllr Bradley has sought to publicly challenge the Daily Post, in such a high-profile way, on what was a perfectly fair and accurate report of his two interviews with us.

We will not be issuing any retraction of the articles we have published, and nor will we be deterred from continuing to report on this issue of considerable public interest in the future.

Warren Bradley Whimpers as Liberal Democrats prepare him for the Sacrificial Roast at the Christmas Dinner 2007

2007-12-13T12:59:00.000-04:00

Warren Bradley has once again opened his mouth in protest at being caught out having secret liaisons with Lee Forde.

He has publicly lied and lied again over this issue, to such an extent that the Liberal Democrats of Liverpool find him to be an embarrassment and make plans to remove him from office.

Lee Forde has prepared his fight well, he has documentation that Warren and Co cannot shred away from existence.

Bradley has been stupid in following Mike Storey's road into corruption, he gets the blame for Storey's mistakes.

Mike Storey has remained very quiet on the subject of meeting with Lee Forde.

Lee Forde has provided more evidence showing that Mike Storey was behind the cut in budget for Mathew Street Festival, which led to the cancellation of all the outside events booked for the Mathew Street Birthday of Liverpool Edition 2007.
See below for latest revelations thanks to Liverpool Subculture

LEE FORDE'S MATHEW ST DOSSIER: THE BATTLE BETWEEN STOREYTELLER AND THE HARBARROWBOY

The following emails between Councillor Storey and Jason Harborow illustrate the rising tensions between the two over budgets, but also that Councillor Bradley; the Lord Mayor, Councillor Paul Clark; and Mr Hilton were also all aware of the problems faced by Mathew Street in March 2007.

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

From: Fogarty, Sandra On Behalf Of Harborow, Jason

Sent: 12 March 2007 11:39

To: Storey, Mike

Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Hilton, Colin (Chief Executive); Green, Chris; Forde, Lee

Subject: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival

Dear Mike

I understand that a meeting took place between yourself, Warren, Colin and Chris Green on 21st February. At that meeting the Son et Lumiere was discussed and also Mathew Street Festival. As you are aware, the planning for one off events for 2007 took place in the second half of last year. At that time the Son et Lumiere event was not being considered. Following a request to look at this a more accurate budget was produced highlighting that £160k would be required to deliver the event, we were asked to look at the budget to see if this could be found and to increase the budget for the pageant and square activities on the 28th August.

Following a thorough review of the budget I regret to inform you that it is impossible to find this budget without looking to reduce the budget for the fireworks on 28th August, however, this would undoubtedly create a serious PR issue if a decent display did not take place.

I felt it was important to inform you of this as soon as possible.

In relation to Mathew Street Festival, there are other issues which I will highlight as soon as discussions with my colleagues are concluded. These do include serious logistical issues around the closing of major roads and the utilisation of space not normally used for Mathew Street Festival, these issues of course do not have an impact on the event taking place but may have on the duration.

I will provide this information as soon as possible.

Best Regards

Jason Harborow
Chief Executive

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

From: Storey, Mike

To: Harborow, Jason

Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Clark, Paul; Hilton, Colin(Chief Executive)

Sent: Mon Mar 12 17:11:47 2007

Subject: RE: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival

Jason

Not happy about this. wondered why nobody was talking to me about this!

Amazing how we can fin £50,000 for Summer pops in Sefton and other non essential items yet the opportunity for Liverpool folk to celebrate the opening of St Georges Hall is pushed out. Would want to meet up tomorrow morning to discuss this and to go through the Budgets to find the money. This will happen

Regards

Mike

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

From: Harborow, Jason

Sent: 12 March 2007 20:18

To: Storey, Mike

Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Clark, Paul; Hilton, Colin(Chief Executive); Green, Chris; Molyneux, Lorraine

Subject: Re: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival

Mike

Thank you for your note.

I am afraid I am not available tomorrow but chris green is.

The issue is we don't have this type of budget without cutting other events, which chris has already propised to you. Chris will contact you tomorrow to discuss

Best regards

Jason

Jason Harborow

Chief Executive

So Storey and the Harbarrowboy were at each other's throats in March 2007, in the familiar Liverpool battle for power between councillors and officers.

Storey wanted one thing - his Son et Lumiere pet project - without any notice and without any money being identified to pay for it.

And the Harbarrowboy was refusing to let him have it.

The scene was set....Storey's pet project would eventually get the £100,000 it needed, while the Harbarrowboy would then, in petty revenge, slash the Mathew Street budget by £100,000. The games people play with public money....

And of course that £100,000 budget cut then triggered the entire Mathew Street fiasco.

MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL CRISIS GETS WORSE

2007-12-03T05:24:00.000-04:00

Crisis looms over leader's secret meetings

Dec 3 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

Mathew Street Warren Bradley

THE chief executive of Liverpool City Council last night appeared to question the explanation given by the authority’s leader, Warren Bradley, about a secret meeting with a former council official.

Colin Hilton said he was unaware Cllr Bradley, who denies any wrongdoing, had met at his home with the city’s ex-events manager, Lee Forde, and former council leader Cllr Mike Storey on November 18.

The Daily Post exclusively revealed on Saturday how the meeting took place just two days after the publication of the Mathew Street Report, which in part blamed Mr Forde for its cancellation in August.

On Friday night, Cllr Bradley told the Daily Post he had informed Mr Hilton and senior Culture Company staff in the “first couple of days after the meeting” about some “startling things” that had arisen in the Wavertree rendezvous on Sunday, November 18.

But, in a leaked letter, obtained by the Daily Post, from Mr Hilton to Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson, the chief executive said he was unaware of the meeting.

Mr Hilton said he was also unaware of any of the inform-ation about the meeting that Mr Forde had set out in a dossier, which has now been sent to the Standards Board for England for investigation.

When originally approached last week, Cllr Bradley denied meeting Mr Forde, but on Friday night admitted meeting him at his home. The three sat and drank Peroni lager in a meeting that lasted around two hours.

Cllr Bradley and Mr Forde disagree about who requested the meeting.

Cllr Bradley has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, and said that Mr Forde said he had information, and he felt it was incumbent on him to hear what Mr Forde had to say with a witness present.

Mr Hilton wrote: “I can confirm that I was totally unaware that Lee Forde had met with Cllr Bradley and Cllr Storey, let alone any of the information contained in the account of that meeting set out in the dossier.

“Over the intervening period between the date of that meeting, which I understand Cllr Bradley now accepts did occur, and our discussion on Friday, I only had one enquiry in relation to Lee Forde from the leader, who asked me to establish with legal services whether Mr Forde had made a formal offer to settle his industrial tribunal case.”

Last night, Cllr Anderson said: “It’s amazing that this is the second time that Cllr Bradley’s and Mr Hilton’s version of events has clashed.”

The Mathew Street report highlighted a “difference in recollection” between Mr Hilton and Cllr Bradley over who knew what and when about problems with the festival.

“I think this whole episode really questions whether this council has lost its moral compass,” added Cllr Anderson.

“It leaves serious questions to be asked about whether the Lib-Dems are fit to govern.

“I think we have got a serious credibility issue now with both Cllrs Bradley and Storey.

“Coming so close to Capital of Culture, I think both men have to stand down for the good of the city. I hope the Liberal Democrats move decisively to remove the two men.”

Cllr Bradley did not respond to a request for comment on the matter last night.

davidbartlett

Colin Hilton's letter > > >

Dear Cllr Anderson,

Thank you for your email and attached letter. As you clearly saw for yourself, I was both surprised and shocked by the information thatŠ you gave me after the Liverpool Vision Board meeting on Friday. I can confirm that I was totally unaware that Lee Forde had met with Cllr Bradley and Cllr Storey, let alone any of the information contained in the account of that meeting set out in the dossier.

Over the intervening period between the date of that meeting, which I understand Cllr Bradley now accepts did occur, and our discussion on Friday, I only had one enquiry in relation to Lee Forde from the leader, who asked me to establish with legal services whether Mr Forde had made a formal offer to settle his industrial tribunal case. That information was obtained and conveyed on by email. There was no further reference either to it or to Mr Forde in any other discussion.

I have not been made aware of any discussion between senior officers of the Culture Company and Cllr Bradley about Mr Forde. Naturally, in the light of the comments in the press, I shall now ask Cllr Bradley to whom he is referring, and I will have to ascertain from them what may have been discussed.

To answer your specific points, I am not aware of any official or unofficial approach by officers or members to Lee Forde since the Mathew Street Report (MSF) was published, other than the allegations in the dossier and the official contact through representatives of Mr Forde of officers in legal services dealing with his IT case. I can confirm that the City Solicitor wrote to Cllr Bradley as leader prior to the publication of the MSF report, and prior to Cllr Brant's email that you refer to. In addition, the City Solicitor wrote to Cllrs Bradley and Storey about comments attributed to them in the press following the issuing of the MSF Report, and that the letters made clear the implications of any statements or actions which might be perceived as a thinly-veiled threat against the employment of a senior officer. I understand that you have submitted a formal complaint to the Standards Board and it would help if you could confirm this. In terms of next steps, the City Solicitor will be contacting the Standards Board to seek advice. I am sure that you will agree that nothing must be done to prejudice any fair and independent enquiry which they may decide to initiate.

I have asked the City Solicitor to consider whether any other information in the dossier is of material relevance in respect of the Mathew Street investigation.

Beyond that, I am meeting with the City Solicitor and Section 151 officer to consider the most appropriate way forward at the start of next week in the light of feedback from the Standards Board. Finally, I note that you have repeated your request for sight of the original MSF report. In the light of these circumstances, I am asking the monitoring officer to consider a facilitated reading of that document on a strictly private and confidential basis in his presence and that of the Chair of the Standards Committee.

Yours sincerely,

Colin Hilton

THE man behind a bid to get an elected mayor for Liverpool last night called for council leader Warren Bradley to give answers to some “serious” questions over the secret meeting.

Liam Fogarty, chairman of amayorforliverpool.org, said: “I thought I’d seen it all when it came to council shenanigans in Liverpool.

“But these latest revelations in the Liverpool Daily Post simply beggar belief.

“The official report published on November 16 was supposed to be the council’s definitive version of the Mathew Street debacle, its final word.

“Yet, just hours after unveiling it to a sceptical public, Cllr Bradley effectively disowned the report in his astonishing e-mail overture to event organiser Lee Forde, one of those singled out for blame.”

This information revealed today in the Daily Post is quite different to Bradley's version of events in the previous days issue of the Post, see below for this report and decide for yourself?

Regardless of a persons political alliance, it is unacceptable that a person proven to be a compulsive liar and utter buffoon, should not be allowed to continue to rule Liverpool!

If we as the people of Liverpool, the people who suffer lack of decent housing, the people who have found local services no longer exist, the people who pay the wages of ALL council employees and Local Councillors, Warren Bradley and his puppeteer Mike Storey, if we accept the corruption and fail to shout out then they will continue to lie to us all and smurk with contempt at the people of Liverpool.

Below is a copy of the actual emails sent to Lee Forde, from Warren Bradley, courtesy of City of the Dead.

The emails clearly show that it was indeed Warren Bradley, who requested the meeting.
Bradley has made claim to various text messages and other emails he claims that Lee Forde sent to him, however, unlike Forde, he cannot provide any evidence for these claims.

The emails:

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

From: wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk [mailto:wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk]

Sent: 17 November 2007 13:49

To: leeforde

Subject: Re: FW: Capacity issues>

Lee,

Really need to speak to you, to discuss the next steps. I am as pissed off as you, I really do think we need to get together to talk?

Warren

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

From: wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk [mailto:wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk]

Sent: 17 November 2007 13:50

To: leeforde

Subject: Re: FW: Capacity issues>

Lee,

Really need to speak to you, to discuss the next steps. I am as pissed off as you, I really do think we need to get together to talk?

Warren

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

From: wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk [mailto:wj.bradley@blueyonder.co.uk]

Sent: 17 November 2007 13:52

To: leeforde

Subject: Re: FW: Capacity issues

Lee,

Really need to talk to you and discuss the next steps. I am as pissed off as you regarding this whole episode, and how the report can finger people and not others?

Warren

WELL JUDGE FOR YOURSELF READERS, WARREN BRADLEY HAS PUBLICLY ACCEPTED THE FINDINGS OF THE DODGY FESTIVAL REPORT, YET HE PRIVATELY DISAGREES WITH THE FINDINGS?

WHICH COMMENT IS THE TRUE ONE?

DOES HE ACCEPT LEE FORDE WAS TO BLAME?

OR DOES HE KNOW QUITE WELL THAT THE REPORT ISSUED TO THE PUBLIC IS NOT A TRUE REFLECTION OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

Liverpool subculture blog spot has hosted a statement from Lee Forde, on his version of events of the Wavertree meeting.

Friday, November 30, 2007

MATHEW ST SENSATION: WORLD EXCLUSIVE: LEE FORDE BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON BRADLEY AND STOREY'S PLOT TO OUST THE HARBARROWBOY

MATHEW ST scapegoat Lee Forde has blown the whistle on a conspiracy by Fireman Bradley and Storeyteller to oust bungling Culture chief Jason Harbarrowboy.

Forde has compiled an astonishingly detailed and shocking dossier which reveals how:

Bradley emailed Forde a day after the Mathew Street report was published

After blaming Forde for the Mathew St debacle, a desperate Bradley had the gall to then beg him for a meeting to discuss 'next steps'

Bradley disowned his council's own offical Mathew Street report - after supporting it publicly

At a secret meeting on Sunday in Bradley's home in Wavertree, the council leader was joined by partner in crime, former council leader Mike Storey.

The pair of politicians then begged an astonished Forde to hand over to them confidential documents and emails to help them get rid of the Harbarrowboy!

A shocked and horrified Forde decided to expose the pathetic pair for their dishonest, unscrupulous and immoral plotting.

The Forde dossier - which runs to 15 extremely readable and gripping pages - has now been deposited with the Daily Post and the Liverpool Echo, whose heavily censored versions you will be able to read tomorrow (if you can be arsed, eds).

But the full, glorious text of the dossier is now being reproduced here in yet another World Exclusive for the Liverpool subCulture blog.

And, we can reveal, Labour Leader Joe Anderson has already reported Bradley and Storey to the Standards Board and demanded a full-scale investigation into their plot and their shocking behaviour. We believe the Lib Dem pair have shown, in their disgusting treatment of Forde and their attempt to manipulate him for their own ends, that they are unfit to govern the great city of Liverpool.

Lee Forde, on the other hand, has consistently shown tremendous strength of character, a formidable determination to clear his name and admirable honesty, principle and integrity.

The Harbarrowboy of course, may take temporary comfort from Bradley and Storey being shopped trying to do him in. But, rest assured dear readers, the Harbarrowboy's days are well and truly numbered - and will be over very quickly indeed.

Bradley's 'pissed-off' emails to Forde can be found on a separate post on the aptly-named City of the Dead blog.

Liverpool deserves better - why Lee Forde blew the whistle on Bradley and Storey is on your left.

Part 2 of the 15-page report, which includes new email evidence about Mathew Street, will follow shortly (well, we need a glass or two of bubbly first to celebrate, eds)

So pull up a seat, settle down and read, in Lee Forde's own words, how the city of Liverpool's Lib Dem leadership are a couple of lying, cheating, dishonest bastards....

The Background

“Out of the blue on Sunday afternoon (November 18th), I received five separate e-mails from Councillor Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool city council.
The emails, virtually identical, had all been sent on Saturday in the space of three minutes from his private email address. Each of the emails asked for a meeting with me regarding the Mathew Street report which had been published two days earlier.
I was absolutely stunned by this approach from the Leader of the Council - the last time I had seen him was two days before, as he gave numerous interviews to the press, radio and TV in support of the findings of the city council’s report into Mathew Street. I had not expected to ever hear again from someone who had publicly condemned me so unfairly.
I was still extremely angry both about the publication of the council report and the Leader of the Council’s own comments in support of the report, which had questioned both my professionalism and my integrity. I had been blamed for the cancellation of the Festival – even though I was innocent.
Since Friday, I had been attacked by the full weight of the council machine, which had deployed considerable staff and resources to try and trash my reputation.
Its report was a complete whitewash and a disgraceful cover-up of the true circumstances which had lead to the decision by the Culture Company chief executive, Jason Harborow and city council chief executive Colin Hilton to cancel the Mathew Street festival in early August 2007, almost three months after I had submitted my resignation as Events Manager with the city council.
I had done all within my power over a period of almost a year previously to repeatedly notify my superiors in the Culture Company of the problems in staging the Mathew Street festival in 2007, as a result of the loss of the Pier Head and big cuts in funding.
I knew too that Councillor Bradley had been aware of these difficulties and my strenuous attempts to try and save the Festival. This information was noticeably absent from the council report, which had taken almost three months to produce and which had been drastically amended at the Leader of the Council’s insistence.
As a former employee, I was a convenient scapegoat, while the real culprits escaped.
Once my shock and surprise at seeing the emails had subsided on the Sunday afternoon, I agreed to Councillor Bradley’s invitation to meet, although I informed a number of people in advance. I decided that I had nothing to lose from a meeting - I wanted to find out what ‘next steps’ referred to and what his motive was.
I also intended to use the opportunity to press my case for the council’s report to be retracted and for me to be given a public apology.
Through text messages, I arranged with Councillor Bradley to go to his home on Sunday evening.
Ironically, the first and last time I had been to his home was in early August, when he had asked me to put together a rescue plan for the cancelled Mathew Street Festival, while I was serving my notice.” (See later emails)

The Meeting

Date: Sunday 18th November, 2007 - two days after the publication of the city council’s Mathew Street Report.
Venue: Councillor Warren Bradley’s home in Wavertree.
Present: Lee Forde, former Events manager, Liverpool Culture Company; Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool city council; Councillor Mike Storey, Executive Member for Regeneration and Liverpool’s 800th Birthday celebrations.

“I arrived at Councillor Bradley’s house, slightly later than we had arranged, at about 8.20pm on 18th November. I must have been a bit agitated because I had got lost several times and had to phone him to get directions. I was feeling very nervous – I did not know what to expect, or what I was walking into.
I was greeted at the front door by Councillor Bradley who shook my hand, called me ‘mate’ and ushered me inside. He thanked me for coming and offered me a drink – tea, coffee or a beer. I told him I would feel better with a beer and he fetched me a bottle of Peroni.
When he returned, he told me he had also invited Councillor Storey to attend and asked if I “was alright with that?” I told him I had nothing to hide.
Councillor Bradley explained that his wife Pauline had already gone to fetch Councillor Storey in their car.
At this stage, although outwardly calm, I was confused and completely gob-smacked at the turn of events. I could not fathom Councillor Bradley’s motive for the meeting. Nor did he immediately explain the purpose of the meeting.
While my mind raced, I could not help observe to myself that the Leader of the Council had not yet had the good grace to apologise for his role in the publication of a biased council report which had caused me, my family, my friends and colleagues so much personal upset by trying to damage my professional reputation and integrity.
Councillor Bradley then asked me how I was and mentioned that he had ‘felt sorry’ for me on Friday when, as he was giving interviews to the media at Liverpool Town Hall, he had seen me standing outside.
I had been trying to defend my reputation and integrity to the media after he had helped attack them. Councillor Bradley said he really ‘felt’ for me. This was the closest he ever came to apologising for his conduct and for the council’s report.
Just as Councillor Bradley began to explain how ‘disappointed’ he was with the report’s findings – although he had not expressed this to the media at the time - Councillor Storey arrived.
Councillor Bradley invited Councillor Storey to join us in having a beer and left the room to fetch a bottle. I and other colleagues had been told that the two men had fallen out some months before, but they appeared to be on good terms. While Councillor Bradley was out of the room, Councillor Storey asked me how I was. I told him, with some understatement, that “I have felt better” and how disappointed I had been with the council’s report.
Councillor Bradley returned and explained to Councillor Storey that he had invited me around to discuss the report’s findings, as he was unhappy with them.
Again, I wondered why he had not expressed this unhappiness to the media when he had the opportunity?
Councillor Storey (now in terrified hiding below, eds) volunteered that he had spoken to me recently and understood that I still wanted to be involved in events in Liverpool. I was not sure of the relevance of this observation.
Councillor Storey then observed that it was “ironic” that I had been attacked in the council’s report as “Lee was responsible for transforming Mathew Street from a disorganised event to a national Festival.”
Councillor Bradley immediately agreed and observed that he felt the report identified the wrong people as being responsible for the cancellation of the Festival.
I was very angry. I told him that I felt the council’s report was “full of lies”, fatally flawed and fundamentally wrong. I had been scape-goated even though I had been a loyal servant of the city, had never played any political games and had done everything to the best of my ability.
Councillor Bradley asked me why I thought the event had been cancelled.
I thought this was a bizarre question for the Leader of the Council to suddenly ask - his own council had spent three months investigating what had happened and had just published its findings! To me, it showed he had no confidence in the report and was now effectively dis-owning it. This came too late for me of course - I had been publicly attacked by his council on Friday.
I told him that the Festival had been cancelled because of poor management by senior officers of the Culture Company who had failed to replace me when I had resigned three months earlier. They had never taken Mathew St seriously and didn’t realise the value of the event and how much people in Liverpool felt about it.
I also informed Councillor Bradley that, on at least two previous occasions, Culture Company Operations Director, Chris Green had told me and members of my Events team that he would be pleased if Mathew Street was cancelled as he could use the budget elsewhere.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had been shocked when I first heard Mathew Street had been cancelled. I had not expected it.
I reminded him that at his request in early August, I had tried to put together a rescue plan to get Mathew Street back on track but that the Chief Executive of the city council, Colin Hilton had abruptly refused to allow me to go ahead. I still did not understand why he had done this.
I pointed out the obvious - that far from being responsible for the cancellation of Mathew Street - I was the one who had done all in my power to try and save it.
I told him that I had been placed in ‘an impossible situation’ because of the battle between Culture Company chief exec, Jason Harborow and Councillor Storey over funding.
I was the ‘piggy in the middle’. There had been an attempt to ‘strip the budgets out’ – reduce the funding for Mathew Street - to prevent Councilllor Storey from getting what he wanted.
I also reminded both men that I had been replaced at meetings by Mr Harborow and that the Culture Company Steering Group regularly arranged pre-meetings in order, it seemed to me, to ensure only certain information was passed to Councillor Storey.
I said that during April, while trying to sort out the problems with Mathew St, I had also been producing the major Son et Lumiere event to celebrate Liverpool’s 8ooth birthday. This was a week-long event which Councillors Bradley and Storey had both wanted and which had forced an extremely damaging £100,000 cut in the Mathew St budget. Councillor Bradley asked me how many tickets had been sold for the Son et Lumiere shows. It had been a virtual sell-out - two shows a night for seven days, attracting between 5-6,000 people. Councillor Bradley asked where the proceeds had gone from ticket sales. I was surprised that he apparently did not know the established procedure for Culture Company ticket sales.
I explained that the tickets, which were priced at £2.50 each, had been sold through the 08 Place and Liverpool Direct (LDL). Originally LDL had wanted to charge the Culture Company an administration fee, per ticket, of £2.70. In other words, the cost of admin would have been higher than the ticket price itself.
The Culture Company had therefore agreed that LDL could take all the proceeds from ticket sales as their admin fee. Both Councillor Bradley and Councillor Storey appeared genuinely shocked. I was astonished that they appeared so out of touch and ignorant of what was going on.
Councillor Bradley then asked me if I had any information that would prove senior people in the Culture Company were involved in events leading up to the cancellation of Mathew Street.
He said: “Is there anything you can get us, to get rid of Harborow? To get him out? He must have been involved in it - although the report exonerates him.”
Councillor Bradley also asked if I could access Mr Harborow’s leave records – I assumed that he believed Mr Harborow was taking more holidays than he was entitled to.
I told Councillor Bradley that I had given a huge amount of information - in the form of emails and other documents - to the council’s inquiry, which had been ignored.
I had compiled a dossier as part of my claim for constructive dismissal which was now with my legal advisor. It would come out in public when a hearing took place.
I explained that I was also currently in negotiations with the council, through ACAS. If an out of court settlement was reached, the documents might be made available. I was non-committal about this – I needed to think it through – but told them I would consult my solicitor.
As I sat in Councillor Bradley’s living room sipping my beer, I remember being completely astonished that, two days after the council had tried to destroy my own reputation, the Leader of the Council and the former Leader of the Council were now trying to involve me in a conspiracy to remove the chief executive of the Culture Company.
I was shocked that such underhand dealings could go on. It seemed to be political skulduggery of the worst kind. I have never been involved in anything remotely like this at all before. Something was clearly seriously wrong and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I felt as though my integrity was being compromised and that undue pressure for information was now being placed upon me by people who had already once tried to destroy my reputation.
I did not have an axe to grind with anyone – I had resigned because I did not believe that Mathew Street could be delivered safely for the allocated budget and that the public were being put at risk. Now I was being drawn into something else - a conspiracy. I felt I was being used to try and get rid of someone and that there was a good chance that, if their plan ever went wrong, I would again be hung out to dry as the perpetrator. Neither Councillor Bradley nor Storey had been truthful and honest with me before – after Mathew St was cancelled, Councillor Bradley told me he was going to ensure that the council report would not blame me. He had not kept that promise, even though I had tried to rescue Mathew St.
On reflection now, I believe they must have both thought I was a complete ‘sucker’ and soft touch and that they could drag me into their conspiracy to get rid of Jason Harborow.
But at the time, I was a bit bewildered, totally confused and had extremely mixed emotions - I must have been in a state of profound shock.
Councillor Bradley then questioned me about a number of matters concerning Mr Harborow and Mathew Street and also asked what I knew about a company called Solutions and if Jason Harborow was involved with them.
I told him that Mr Harborow had told me that ‘Solutions’ – a merchandising company - were friends of his and that he had worked with them in the past.
I told the councillors that Solutions were now a preferred supplier to the city council. This meant that we had to use their services, even if we could get the same or similar goods cheaper from elsewhere – there was a general understanding about this within the Culture Company.
Councillor Storey remarked: “It’s just like Liverpool Direct.” I understood him to mean by this that he thought it was a corrupt or suspect arrangement, although I personally do not know of any evidence for this.
I finally agreed that I would look and see if I had any other documentation about Mr Harborow. I left the meeting after almost two hours and we tentatively agreed to meet again.
The following morning, Monday 19th November, I telephoned Councillor Bradley and informed him that I had consulted legal advice and was unable to release any documents to anyone unless and until my case was satisfactorily settled.
I the undersigned, Lee Forde, declare this to be a true and faithful account of my meeting on Sunday November 18th, 2007 with Liverpool Council leader Cllr Warren Bradley and Regeneration leader Cllr Mike Storey.

FESTIVAL REPORT IS A WHITEWASH? YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

2007-11-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

THE DEBATE IS WELL AND TRULY OPEN ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CANCELLATION OF THE OUTSIDE EVENTS OF MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL AUGUST 2007.

Since the publication of the report 15th November 2007, public opinion has been showing a belief, that the whole report is a whitewash.

The blame has been laid well and truly at the doors of Mr Forde and Mr Green.

The report however has numerous contradictions and blatant omissions of the truth.

See below for copy of official report.

You can have your say by writing to the council, writing to the papers, writing to your councilors, signing the 2 petitions on line debating the truth behind this disgraceful affair in Liverpool's history.

If we allow them to lie to us, they will continue to lie and treat the Liverpool people with utter contempt.

On line petitions

Lee Forde is being made the scapegoat of the festival scandal petition

Is the Mathew Street report a whitewash?

Nov 20 2007 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

Mathew Street festival (320)

The report into the Mathew Street ‘fiasco’ still left many unhappy. Alan Weston reports

THE 11th-hour cancellation of the outdoor element of the Mathew Street festival was generally reckoned to be one of the biggest PR disasters in Liverpool’s history.

But the way the much-delayed report into the fiasco was handled has come a close second for some.

Following a lengthy investigation, the original report was changed after concerns over alleged “inaccuracies” were raised by council leader Warren Bradley.

This in turn led to accusations from council opposition leader Joe Anderson that the report – event-ually made public at the end of last week – was a “political cover-up,” and to demands to release the controversial first draft.

In the event, blame for the embar-rassing collapse of the festival, one of the key events in the city’s 800th birthday year, was laid principally at the door of two senior officials at the Culture Company. Both have since left their jobs, meaning there will be no disciplinary inquiry.

Cllr Warren Bradley, council chief executive Colin Hilton and Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow largely escaped censure in the 30-plus page report. But the report into the cancellation of the outdoor stages of the festival high-lighted “serious mismanagement” in the Culture Company.

It blames former operations director Chris Green and events manager Lee Forde for not realising or not communicating the serious-ness of the problems affecting the festival to their superiors. Mr Forde has already defended his actions.

Cllr Bradley has never considered resigning but said lessons needed to be learned.

The Daily Post asks: Was the Mathew Street festival report a whitewash?

* OUR planned debate on airport-style security at our stations has been held over.

alanweston@dailypost.co.uk

YES: The Case For - Inside job leaves everyone waiting for answers

by Liam Fogarty, chair of amayorforliverpool.org.

SCRAPPING the outdoor festival hurt Liverpool badly. This report adds insult to injury – it’s an insult to our intelligence.

On August 10, Cllr Bradley ordered an inquiry into the Mathew Street fiasco. Asked who he thought was to blame, he said, "It’s down to officers who are paid through the public purse to deliver events."

Having pre-empted the verdict, Cllr Bradley got the outcome he must have prayed for. But the rest of us are right to be sceptical. The report lacks credibility.

We deserved a truly independent inquiry. Instead, we got an inside job.

This council is happy to pay huge sums to outsiders for spin and good PR. Yet, faced with a PR disaster of its own making, it opted for an internal investigation. No wonder Liverpudlians aren’t convinced.

Whatever mistakes Messrs Forde and Green may have made, to see more senior figures escape criticism simply beggars belief.

In Parliament, ministers are responsible for the mistakes their civil servants make. The consequences can be career-ending. It may not be fair, but it goes with the territory.

But in Liverpool, responsibility is something you dodge, not something you take. The report confirms that nobody was in charge as Mathew Street unravelled. Remember, this is not some school fete we’re talking about.

It is a huge, international showcase for Liverpool. If the threat to such an event didn’t show up prominently on our civic leaders’ radar, it ought to have done.

Mathew Street exposed Liverpool’s crippling lack of leadership. The festival needed someone to take the reins and take the rap.

Cllr Bradley’s lack of support for Culture Company chief Jason Harborow is telling. The bookies will give you long odds on Mr Harborow seeing out his contract.

Predictable calls for us all to "move on" ahead of 2008 just don’t wash. Our key arts institutions won’t let us down. Great events will take place. But the city’s decision-makers can’t simply shrug off the Mathew Street debacle.

"Lessons must be learnt," say the report’s sponsors. Too right. Liverpool’s seat-of-the-pants style of management is no way to run a great city. Internal enquiries can never restore public trust in the Council. And without real, accountable leadership, Liverpool will always be just a headline away from the next fiasco.

A meaningful apology from those who claim to lead our city is the least we deserve.

NO: The Case against - Liverpool can shake the world by working together

by Cllr Mike Storey, executive member for regeneration at Liverpool City Council

THE Mathew Street Festival should never have been allowed to get to the position it did, because of health and safety concerns, which brought about the cancellation of the outdoor stages.

I have to say I find it slightly galling to see Labour councillors huffing and puffing; remember in the ’90s, when the Labour council refused to give any money to the Mathew Street Festival and wanted to charge the organisers for the licences.

It was left to the new Liberal Democrat council to save the Festival and year on year, we have seen the Festival grow and expand to become the internationally acclaimed event it is today.

It is this poor behaviour that must stick in the throat of those who have organised the event, with the very same politicians never thanking the officers publicly for their incredible work.

Political point scoring to them is more important than real concern and support.

The Mathew Street report into the reasons for the cancellation is not in my mind a whitewash, but it is extremely vague in certain areas, crucially around important factual information. It is very easy to blame others, and I find it sad that those very same officers who have worked tirelessly, morning noon and night, have become the focus of everybody’s attention, instead of the process and procedures which allowed the situation to arise.

I feel certain subjects within the report received too much coverage at the expense of quite fundamental information:

Why did the report not question the overall senior management of the Capital of Culture Company?

What is the point of having a highly-paid management team to have overall responsibility for staff and events, if there is a lack of internal control, which was clearly identified within the re- port?

Why was the budget for 2007 realigned and events cancelled with no information being dis- seminated about these decisions, either to the elected members, Board members or the chief executive of the City Council?

Whitewash no, lessons learned, yes.

The time has come to move on, there is a new team in the Culture Company who have a record of delivering change. Liverpool has an opportunity to shake the world; the team working in unison will ensure that happens.

UTTER BOLLOCKS FROM STOREY TRYING CHANGE THE SUBJECT AND POINTING HIS FINGERS AT THE LABOUR PARTY!

send your views to the Daily Post?

Forde comes out fighting

“I've been made a scapegoat,” says the city's former events manager as the Mathew Street Festival report is finally released. Read it in full, here....

by Angie Sammons

One of the two people to be blamed for the cancellation of the Mathew Street Festival today came out fighting by turning up outside Liverpool Town Hall - supported by the city council's former spin doctor - as journalists packed the building to hear the findings of the long awaited report into the shambles.

Lee Forde, the Liverpool Culture Company's former events manager, who spoke exclusively to Liverpool Confidential at the end of August to reveal why had quit his post (click here) was flanked by Matt Finnegan who today announced that he is acting as Mr Forde's unpaid press representative.

Lee Forde outside the Town Hall

The Mathew Street report, which has been beset by delays in publishing for various legal reasons, cites Mr Forde and his former line manager, Operations Director Chris Green (who has also since left the Culture Company) for either not realising or not communicating the seriousness of the problems affecting the MSF to their superiors, and says that both would have been subjected to disciplinary action had they still been in post.

However, Mr Forde claims to be in possession of a thick dossier of emails, many of which, he says, indicate that senior council members and officials were made aware of potential operational concerns as far back as February.

And as the city council officials and its leader, Warren Bradley, fielded questions from the local media inside the Town Hall, Mr Forde told us outside: “I haven't had the advantage of reading the report in any form, and I haven't had the opportunity to edit, or alter it in any way during the last three months, but it now seems clear that the city council is trying to use me as a scapegoat.”

Mr Forde went on: “I did the best within my power and within the reporting structure to make people aware - at the highest possible level - of the issues we were continually raising. To pretend otherwise is a travesty of the truth.

“There was a serious battle over funding for the birthday year celebrations between the Culture Company and senior councillors - sadly Mathew Street Festival lost out. I did not want people to become the physical casualties of that battle.”

“Both my staff and I repeatedly warned there were serious problems of public safety and funding over Mathew Street, but nothing was effectively done even after I resigned. I have no intention of hiding away – I have done nothing wrong and nor have my team. I ran Mathew Street successfully for five years and my team won awards for their work.

“We were proud to work for the city. But I am ashamed now of what the city council has done. They know exactly who was responsible for the cancellation of the Mathew Street festival.”

Mr Finnegan, the city's former media chief who resigned from his £65,000-a year-post after an 18-month suspension during the well documented David Henshaw-Mike Storey feud, said: “I worked with Lee for six years, he always struck me as one of the most professional of the council's employees and had the utmost integrity.

“I do not like seeing people hung out to dry and made a scapegoat for something that was not their fault and not their responsibility.

“ I believe him when he says that he repeatedly told people what the problems were with Mathew Street and the danger to public safety. The responsibility for cancelling the event doesn't lie with him but with much more senior people in the Culture Company and the city council. Of course they won't come out and defend their reputation, but Lee has to do it and I am here to help him."

Warren Bradley: "A fully open and transparent investigation"

Mr Finnegan added: “There are very serious issues at stake here. This is not the last you are going to hear of this. I think there will be more stuff that will emerge over time because it's about the way that the city is being run and it's about the future of Capital of Culture.”

In a statement, Councillor Warren Bradley said: “I promised a fully open and transparent investigation into the cancellation of the outdoor stages and I am pleased that the report has now been published for everyone to read.”

Read the report in full, here....

IF LINK TO REPORT DOES NOT OPEN FROM HERE GO TO liverpool confidential for full details.

Mathew Street Festival Coverup Revealed

2007-11-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

Home News Liverpool News

REVEALED: How Mathew Street fiasco began a year ago

Nov 16 2007 Daily Post

Mathew Street festival (320)

A long-awaited report into the Mathew Street fiasco today lifted the lid on what went wrong in the months leading up to the event’s shock cancellation on safety grounds just weeks before it was due to take place.

As the Daily Post revealed today, event manager Lee Forde and Culture Company operations director Chris Green are blamed.

Both would have faced disciplinary action if they had not already resigned.

But the chain of events appears to have started in February when council leader Warren Bradley and regeneration boss councillor Mike Storey took money from the festival’s budget to help pay for a son et lumiere show and enhanced 800th birthday celebrations

Opposition councillors today branded the report a “political cover-up” saying officers no longer employed by the council were being used as scapegoats.

The report says:

£400,000 was allocated for this year’s festival, £200,000 less than the cost of the 2006 event, after council leaders diverted funds.

Mr Forde blamed staffing and budget issues for not making progress with the festival plan but a definite budget was not agreed with Mr Green at an early stage.

Early warning signs that Mr Forde’s work was not up to scratch were not identified or acted on by Mr Green.

Mr Green did not act quickly enough to replace Mr Forde when he handed in his notice on June 4 even though he was due to quit the Culture Company days before the Mathew Street Festival.

Council chief executive Colin Hilton and Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow were not told of the police’s concerns and the work needed to hold the event until July 11.

Mr Hilton says he told Cllr Bradley of police concerns before he went on holiday on July 21 although the council leader disputes this.

The report reveals it was “widely known” in November 2006 that the Pier Head - previously the main stage site - was no longer available.

But the problems with this year’s festival appear to have stemmed from an un-minuted meeting on February 21 – attended by Warren Bradley, Mike Storey, council chief executive Colin Hilton and Chris Green.

Evidence suggests “Chris Green proposed either cancelling the Mathew Street Festival altogether or holding it as a one-day event (with five stages) in order to produce some of the savings required to fund the son et lumiere and birthday celebrations”.

Mr Green’s recollection is that the suggestion was rejected by Cllr Bradley who said it “had to be held over three days”.

Cllr Bradley’s recollection is that he and Cllr Storey agreed a two-day festival could be held.

The report says: “With previous year’s costs at £600,000 Lee Forde put in a budget proposal of £600,000 for Mathew Street festival but received an initial allocation of £500,000.

“The councillors’ subsequent requirement that it was run as a two to three day event and then Cllr Storey’s insistence in March that an unfunded event be funded by savings being made from the festival and 800th birthday fireworks display budgets rather reduced the ability to deliver the festival to the scale required by councillors.”

It adds: “Cllr Storey insisted upon the funding of the son et lumiere event in the knowledge that such funding would result in a reduction of the funds available for the 800th birthday fireworks display and the Mathew Street festival.”

“Chris Green updated Cllr Bradley and Cllr Storey separately in May with a relatively detailed outline of the proposal.

“No evidence of any further communication to members of issues and concerns with the festival was found.”

But the budget changes were not properly discussed between Mr Forde and Mr Green.

The report says: “Without this revised budget Mr Forde claims that he could not proceed with planning the event by way of completion of the event document.

“Given the seniority of Lee Forde it is reasonable to expect that he would bring this issue to Chris Green as an example of one of the budget issues Chris Green had asked to be told about.

“At the same time Chris Green should have ensured that Lee Forde had clear information as to what his budget was and to what extent, if any, it could be exceeded.”

The report then alleges Mr Forde had “clear instructions” from the police and councillors by mid- April of what was expected but “failed to progress the plans”.

It says: “It is around May that one would expect the pace of the planning to increase, but instead it seems to have slowed down.

“Lee Forde used the budget issues as a reason for not progressing the plans, but he failed to communicate this to Chris Green, who could reasonably expect Lee Forde to have been finalising the plans.

“At the same time, given Cllr Bradley and Cllr Storey’s requirements, which Chris Green was fully aware of, one would expect Chris Green to be taking a more active role in planning for the event.

“He failed to do this and Lee Forde was left largely to his own devices.”

The report speaks of “early warning signs” that Mr Forde was “not fully focused and committed to delivering a successful Mathew Street festival”.

It says: “Chris Green failed to act on those signs even after Lee Forde resigned on June 4. “Chris Green took too long in starting the recruitment process for a replacement and should have been more decisive with Lee Forde immediately following his resignation.”

The report reveals that as early as May 2007 police were concerned enough to be considering commissioning an “independent inspection”.

But Chris Green suggested they did not proceed because the Culture Company “already used an independent safety adviser for Mathew Street”.

The cancellation could even have been avoided if action had been taken in early June, the report claims, and work requested by the police on June 5 had been done.

It says: “It was a month later when Chris Green started to appreciate the amount of work to be done. His failure to get a replacement event manager appointed, adequately resourced and briefed in time was a significant factor that led to the eventual cancellation.”

Lack of communication between Mr Forde and Mr Green is criticised by the report.

It says: “It was not until July 4 that Chris Green was fully aware of the significant amount of work to be done and the level of concern the other agencies, predominantly the police, had about the festival. He should have been aware of those problems far earlier and alerted Jason Harborow, but he failed to do so.”

Mr Hilton and Mr Harborow found out about police concerns on July 11 and took “appropriate action based partially on information given to them by Chris Green at the time”.

In late July, consultants Capita Symonds were commissioned to look at safety plans for the event amid police and Culture Company concerns.

They recommended delaying the event by six months, effectively forcing its cancellation.

The report says: “Allegedly, Colin Hilton alerted Cllr Bradley about the police concerns and that officers were taking action to deal with them before Cllr Bradley went on holiday on July 21.

“At this stage, Colin Hilton understood the concerns were not of a degree that could not be dealt with or that subsequently might force a cancellation. Cllr Bradley’s recollection of this differs.”

The report ends by saying Mr Green and Mr Ford would both face disciplinary investigations if they had not both resigned from the council already.

It also recommends the Culture Company’s communications process is reviewed “as a matter of urgency”.

What have the people of Liverpool gained from the honourable title of European Capital of Culture?

2007-10-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

Well for a start they have this huge bill paid to yet another "outside of Liverpool" PR Company!

Taken from Daily Post

LIVERPOOL Culture Company has paid more than £320,000 to a London public affairs firm to promote the city over the last two years.

Last night it emerged FD-LLM has been paid £323,758 since July 2005, almost £12k a month, for lobbying and staging networking events.

It also emerged £35,000 was paid to Kent company Strange Cargo for a giant Beatles-inspired sculpture on wheels called “Jude”, for the city’s 800th birthday pageant celebrations.

Labour group leader Joe Anderson has now called a meeting with the district auditor to scrutinise the way the Culture Company has spent money. But the council insists the work of FD-LLM was “vital” in raising Liverpool’s profile as European Capital of Cul-ture 2008 amongst influential Westminster and Whitehall audiences.

Liberal Democrat council leader Warren Bradley said FD-LLM provided engagement between senior figures from the city and London based politicians. It also established the Liverpool 2008 All-Party Parliamen-tary Group in December 2005, which included prominent politicians like former Conservative leader Michael Howard.

Liverpool Confidential - Mathew Street cancelled

2007-08-02T13:34:00.001-04:00

THANKS GO TO A SOURCE FOR THE COUNCIL VERSION OF WHY THE MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

NEED I ADD ANYTHING?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIVERPOOL

This year's Mathew Street Festival has had to be cancelled for health and safety reasons. Below you can read the full council press release.
Liverpool's 2007 Mathew Street Festival has been cancelled for health and safety reasons.

The decision follows independent advice from Capita Symonds Limited, the country's leading experts in health and safety at outdoor events.

They were employed by the Liverpool Culture Company to undertake a comprehensive review of the plans for the festival, and highlighted the loss of the Pier Head and extensive regeneration work taking place in the city centre in August, which has reduced Liverpool's capacity to host an event which regularly attracts more than 100,000 people to the city.

Their advice, backed by Merseyside Police, states that this reduction in capacity, combined with huge crowds in an open, licensed environment, means there is a significant safety risk to the public.
The detailed planning for the event, and discussions between the city council, police and safety officials, cannot fully eliminate the risk.

Chief executive of Liverpool City Council, Colin Hilton, said: "We have been working tirelessly for months to try and make the Mathew Street Festival work in the city centre. Unfortunately, it has just not been possible to make it happen this year. We have a responsibility for the safety and welfare of every single person attending the event.

"We brought in the country's leading experts to examine our plans, and look at the health and safety issues, and we have to take their advice. We are rightly proud of the festival, and were desperate for it to go ahead this year, but public safety must come first."

Merseyside police's assistant chief constable, Helen King, said: "Having had sight of the advice from the independent consultants to Liverpool Culture Company, we fully understand why they have made the decision to cancel Mathew Street festival this year. Public safety has to be the paramount consideration."

The loss of Pier Head and other regeneration work going on in the city has made planning for this year's festival an extremely difficult exercise, but staff worked right to the 11th hour to try and produce a workable plan which could accommodate the festival in the city centre.

Extra measures this year included an extensive temporary CCTV network to monitor crowd build-up, a big increase in the number of safety stewards and the use of seven stages across the city centre to spread the density of the crowds.
The festival is the only major event for which a large area of the city centre is licensed for the sale and consumption of alcohol.

However, despite these extra measures, police and safety staff still had reservations about possible crowd safety implications, particularly in light of events in Clayton Square last year.
To ensure the event provided the maximum protection for the public, organisers called in independent experts in to examine all public safety aspects of the event.

Regrettably, that review has concluded that there would be too many risks for the festival to go ahead as planned.

The advice relates specifically to the unique conditions surrounding the staging of the Mathew Street Festival this year, and does not affect the city's ability to stage other large-scale events, including the city's 800th birthday celebrations on 28 August.

Colin Hilton, added: "We have done everything we can to make sure the festival goes ahead and explored every possible alternative, but there comes a point where you can do no more, and this is it. Everyone is hugely disappointed it cannot go ahead."

Jason Harborow, chief executive of the Liverpool Culture Company, said: "In many ways, the Mathew Street Festival has become a victim of its own success this year. The huge growth in the popularity of the festival, combined with the loss of the Pier Head, presented us with a massive problem.

"Unfortunately, that problem has proved to be insurmountable. We worked hard to try and find a way to stage the event in the city centre, but even after months of planning we were still not satisfied. As a last resort we employed national safety experts Capita Symonds to see if they could see a way through these intractable problems. Sadly, they have concluded there is still too great a risk to attempt to do so."

"The festival has become an integral part of the city centre's calendar of activities. We know that businesses and the public want to keep it in the city centre, and that's why we've tried right until the very end to achieve that."

The major difficulty in staging this year's Mathew Street Festival has been the redevelopment of the Pier Head which, in recent years, has served as a focal point for the festival.

The Pier Head can accommodate up to 34,800 visitors at any one time, but visitors to this year's festival would have to be accommodated on the city streets - many of which are also undergoing regeneration works.

The works at Pier Head include an extension to the Leeds Liverpool canal link, a replacement Mersey Ferry terminal with new visitor attraction, a new cruise liner terminal and the new Liverpool Museum.

In total, these developments will deliver £260 million of new investment, attract 1.2 million visitors each year and create almost 1,000 jobs.

Liverpool Confidential - Mathew Street cancelled

LIVERPOOL CARE CRISIS GETS EVEN WORSE!

2007-07-13T07:39:00.000-04:00

Liverpool care firm collapse hits 500 patients

Jul 13 2007

by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

A HOME care agency relied on by hundreds of Liverpool’s most vulnerable people is to go into liquidation.

Lyndhurst Home Care will shut down today, leaving more than 500 service users, mostly elderly, and 200 carers uncertain of their future.

The closure comes just weeks after the company warned that controversial changes in city council contracts would drive it out of business.

Liverpool City Council last night moved to reassure the elderly people dependent on the agency that plans were already in place to look after them.

But care industry insiders say the news spells the start of a “wake-up call” for the authority. Tearful carers, who will not be officially informed by Lyndhurst, about the redundancies until a meeting at 3pm today, last night accused company directors of keeping them in the dark.

One said: “We feel used and let down. Our future has been hanging in the balance since the new contracts were signed weeks ago.

“We were encouraged by our managers to campaign against the council and attend meetings. We stuck up for Lyndhurst.

“They have been planning this for days and they have not told us a thing. We have only heard rumours.”

In a legal letter written to the council days before it went under, Lyndhurst blamed recent controversial contract changes, and asked for an urgent meeting in a last ditch-bid to avoid liquidation.

The letter said: “The implications of making staff redundant will be that some 525 service users will not receive care from the company.

“This may result in life-threatening situations for those service users that have a high degree of dependency on the care provided.

“The company has attempted on a number of occasions to raise these concerns with Liverpool City Council. Despite these efforts, no constructive response has been received.

“The company wishes to avoid any liquidation proceedings and would seek to meet with LCC as a matter of urgency to try and resolve this situation.” But this week no compromise agreement was reached, and the company will now fold.

The carers and services users are now being divided between three of the city’s other care providers, Merseycare Julianne, Homecarers and Local Solutions.

Managers at the firms and council officers are said to have been working around the clock over the last three days to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

The council says that where possible, patients will be transferred to a new company with their existing carer.

Officers were last night contacting as many carers as possible to tell them which company they will be working for from tomorrow.

Executive director of community services Tony Hunter said: “Our first priority is the safety and care of our clients.

“I am pleased that we have been able to work very closely with our other providers, who have shown great professionalism and commitment during this challenging period in agreeing to take on the additional work at extremely short notice.

“Our commitment to providing excellent services will continue throughout this transition period and the city council and its contractors will be providing advice and support, and overseeing the entire process until all of the necessary arrangements are in place.

“Every single person who receives care from Lyndhurst will be receiving a letter from the city council outlining the process and how the new arrangements will be implemented.”

The city’s home care industry warned its future was unstable after their contracts were changed.

The terms meant that carers faced a pay cut of up to 30% and in the weeks after the companies signed up, staff walked out in their droves.

But last night, one home care manager said the future would be more certain for the other companies. He said: “A major problem for all of the companies was that we were given less hours on a lower rate.

“Now the agencies left over have more hours, it means we will become more viable.”

GMB regional organiser Karen Atkinson said last night that unions and staff were still in the dark about the developments.

She said: “We asked Lyndhurst only this morning what was going on and they denied they were closing.

“The staff are very distressed. Some of them say they have not received the right wages in two weeks.”

Cllr Roz Gladden, Labour chairwoman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said: “This has been on the cards for weeks and the council did not listen and now there is chaos. This is no way to run a service.”

Last night, the director of Lyndhurst, Len Collins, was unavailable for comment.

* SERVICE users or carers who would like information about arrangements made for their care or future employment should call the city council’s Careline call centre on 0151 233 3019.

Top

CULTURE OR CARE?

2007-07-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

This article is taken from society guardian on-line.

ALTHOUGH Blair McPherson is from Lancashire Council, he speaks as a general idea based on his experiences in Lancashire.

all thoughts on the article itself is from a capital view front, however it strikes a cord given Liverpool is actually CAPITAL of CULTURE!

Support your local carers, demand that they and the vulnerable people of the City do not suffer even more, just to fund the CAPITAL in the CULTURE events of 2008.

ANYONE GOT A SPARE £30 MILLION?

Capital in culture

Councils must take seriously the social and economic value of the arts when weighing up their spending priorities, writes Blair McPherson

Tuesday June 26, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Blair McPherson: 'Culture is a fundamental ingredient in making for a better place to live'

Times are hard in local government. Big financial savings are required. Do we close a family centre or a museum; do we keep small rural libraries at the expense of closing a day centre for older people?

It's a no-brainer: services to vulnerable people come before culture. Or is there a case for cultural services being fundamental to delivering the big agendas of regeneration, community cohesion, social inclusion and wellbeing?

The significance of culture for local authorities is best understood by describing the range of services provided by local authorities that fall within the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's remit. In Lancashire, these services include libraries, museums, arts and archives.

Cultural services are not about aesthetics and taste but about the way communities describe and express themselves, how they portray themselves and about their sense of identity.

Community art can be used to help give a place an identity and a positive image by building on a place's heritage. Art projects can be used to harness the creativity of a community and to express loss, anger, celebration and aspiration in the face of economic and environmental change.

The outpouring of creative energy that was harnessed to help coal and shipbuilding industries adjust to loss and change was invaluable. Art, drama and music traditionally have been ways of rebelling and expressing dissent in a way that petitions, reports, and letters can never capture. Performing arts can provide an awareness-raising experience and connect with sections of the community that are often described as hard to reach.

An example of this nationally is the group of elderly people who have got together with a record producer to release a version of The Who's My Generation, drawing attention to the poor quality of life endured by many older people in society today.

Lancashire has its own sinfonietta, comprised of some of the country's finest musicians. Linked with the Sure Start programme in Lancashire, the sinfonietta puts on baby-friendly concerts. Classical musicians play Mozart live to young children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Cultural events such as music festivals can engage the young or showcase minority ethnic cultures through Caribbean carnivals or Asian melas. Art exhibitions can record a place's past or reflect present diversity. Plays in schools, films made by community groups and radio adverts designed by young people can engage a wider audience in addressing juvenile crime; bullying, binge drinking, graffiti and littering. In this way drama, music and art can bridge the generation gap and bring together sections of the community that might otherwise have no contact.

Libraries can provide venues for creative social activity, especially for the old and the very young. Libraries also provide access to computers to people who otherwise may not have access to email and the internet.

Museums provide the deep mines of heritage from which many communities extract their ideas about their past. In Burnley and the surrounding area, the terraced housing, canal-side warehouses and the large Asian population are all a direct result of the cotton industry. Well-preserved cotton mills that capture the noise, heat and risk to health and safety are not just interesting school history trip destinations, they are how your grandparents made a living and they explain why Burnley is different from other parts of Lancashire.

The economic benefit of a vigorous cultural services policy can equally match the social benefits. Cultural services - museums, arts and archives - attract visitors as part of tourism. It is estimated, for example, that for every £1 spent by Bolton council on its museums, an additional 60p is generated through the economic/tourism multiplier.

Arts development, including theatre, sculpture and crafts, also provides and supports an environment in which creative industries can thrive and support employment. In Lancashire it is estimated that each £1 spent on arts development generates an additional £5 from outside agencies, which in turn generates an economic multiplier.

Cultural services can influence a place's image and have a positive impact on people's view of where they live. An active cultural landscape is an indicator of whether a community is forward-looking, self-respecting and inspirational. These factors can be as important to the local economy as access to good road and rail links and a skilled workforce.

Investing in culture and investing in an area's cultural infrastructure requires local authorities to see the links between culture, regeneration, community cohesion, social inclusion and wellbeing. It requires recognition that, far from being the icing on the cake, culture is a fundamental ingredient in making for a better place to live, work, visit and invest in. In my experience it is not the local politicians who need convincing of this but my fellow local government officers.

· Blair McPherson is director of community services for Lancashire county council.

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY, OR HAVE NO-ONE TO CARE FOR YOU IN THE FUTURE

2007-07-05T13:15:00.000-04:00

THESE PUBLIC SPIRITED AND VERY CONCERNED CITIZENS HAVE SIGNED THE PETITION I CREATED TO ASK THE PRIME MINISTER TO ENSURE THE BUDGETS FOR ELDERLY CARE GO ON THE ELDERLY AND NOT THE OVER PAID SENIOR MANAGERS WHO ARE PAID IN EXCESS OF £50,000 UPWARDS UNTIL YOU STOP AT THE HEAD OF ADULT SERVICES AT £130-150,000 PLUS 20% PERFORMANCE RELATED BONUS.
GO TO ACTUAL WEBSITE TO COMPLETE FORM, THIS IS JUST A COPY OF THE SITE.
HOME ADDRESS IS NOT KEPT OR PUBLISHED IT IS TO ENSURE YOU ARE FROM A BRITISH RESIDENCE. CLICK HERE TO SIGN

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Provide more public funding towards the care of the elderly and vulnerable in Liverpool City. More details

Submitted by Tori Blare – Deadline to sign up by: 01 December 2007 – Signatures: 53

I, sign up to the petition.

Your email:

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Your email will not be published, and is collected only to confirm your account and to keep you informed of response to this petition.

You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition.

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Or, if you're an expatriate, you're in an overseas territory, a Crown dependency or in the Armed Forces without a postcode, please select from this list:

More details from petition creator

The Liverpool City Council are £29 million pounds overspent in their budget for Capital of Culture. The Liberal Democrat controlled Administration have insisted that the Private care providers, sign a new contract for this provision of care which equates to a 30% cut across the services, having the direct effect on the staff and the vulnerable. The same administration has decided to cease the existence of the generic council run home care service. This again has a direct impact on the carers and the vulnerable. We request that the Government ensures the full budgets are released for the vulnerable and elderly citizens of Liverpool and not in the form of high wages for the senior management teams of the caring profession.

Current signatories

Tori Blare, the Petition Creator, joined by:

pat b
daniel duffy
Charlotta Jones
margaret walker
Sue Mayers
Mailytn Sheeran
John Michael Bramwell
Chris Collins
Helen Bramwell
Thomas McNiven
Pam Scrimshaw
victoria wright
Timothy Hayden
doreen watling
pat watling
Anne Campbell
MARIE THOMAS
chris austin
Katie Fowler
carol davidson
Pat Dandy
Julie Finnigan
Rob Lacy
Neil Hughes
Pat Williams
Mildred Moahner
Stori Blare
Steve Downey
Janet Jones
Matthew Eland
Helen willingham
Brenda Hincks
Wendy Smith
susan healy
Carolyn Curtis
Jenny Hincks
P. Stevens
BRENDA WHEATLEY
andrew healy
Irene Witter
Nick Wall
Liam Foster
Martin Burke
maria seanor
Sue Egan
colin hincks
kelly sweeney
Celia Waiters
Jo Waiters
Angela Stevenson
Michael JP Lawler
Caroline Jeans

Henshaw and the evil cabal: JUNE 27, 2007 - IT'S THE END OF AN ERROR AS THE GREAT MAN FINALLY STEPS DOWN

2007-06-27T19:47:00.000-04:00

IF YOU READ THIS LINK BELOW YOU WILL KNOW THAT TONY PARRISH IS ALIVE AND WELL AFTERALL!

HE'S JUST BEEN TOO DRUNK TO SEE THE COMPUTER!

IT'S BECAUSE OF ALL THE STREET PARTIES HE'S BEEN TO CELEBRATING THE FURTHER DEMISE OF SIR DAVID CUBANS HENSHAW .

HE'S GONE, HE'S GONE THE BELLS OF AIGBURTH RANG,

HE'S GONE, HE'S GONE THE REST OF LIVERPOOL ROARED!

Henshaw and the evil cabal: JUNE 27, 2007 - IT'S THE END OF AN ERROR AS THE GREAT MAN FINALLY STEPS DOWN

JUNE 27, 2007 - IT'S THE END OF AN ERROR AS THE GREAT MAN FINALLY STEPS DOWN

ONCE he strode the world like a collossus, carrying all before him.

Crowds lined the streets, open mouthed as his chauffeur-driven Jaguar sped by.

He rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, courted the glitteratti and enjoyed luxury holidays in the sun.

Some critiscised his love of the high life, his ego and his fondness for a quick and easy headline.

Even the press seemed in thrall to him.

But today, dear readers, we have witnessed the end of an error.

Sir David Henshaw has finally departed Liverpool, leaving his house at 9 Barkhill Road, Aigburth like a thief in the night.

All that is left to remind us of his evil reign of terror is an empty safe left in the attic and a huge pile of unused rubber heels found beneath the floorboards.

Sir Diddy's huge cheese plant - appropriately presented to him by an obsequious former colleague - lies forlorn and forgotten in the corner of an empty downstairs room.

His new oak and granite kitchen, paid for with his £16,000-a year expense account, is deserted. No sign of any humble pie here - of course, the beans had been spilt a long time before.

His favourite desk plaque, which he had brought from his office in the Municipal Buildings when he had been forced out, has been left discarded on the bare floor. "Sack someone today" it proclaims, underlining Sir Diddy's crude and humourless management style.

On the floor behind the letter box lies only a pile of discarded junk mail - offering homes abroad, offshore bank accounts and tax evasion strategies.

The only clue to Sir Diddy's fate is a £12,000-a-year council computer screen still left switched on. Frozen forever, for all to see, is an image of Kirk Douglas with arm raised aloft in triumph.

Neighbours were today mystified by Sir Diddy's sudden disappearance.

"We don't know where the little bastard has gone," said one neighbour, "we heard some strange sounds - like a huge pile of coins being counted - in the middle of the night and in the morning, the house was empty.

"We never liked him - he was a sanctimonious, evil little shit with a massive ego."

But official sources in the city say Henshaw has finally departed Liverpool for pastures new in mid-Wales and his luxury apartment in Manchester city centre.

"His name will be forever mud in Liverpool, "said one member of the great and the good. "No one has a good word to say about him any more - everyone knows that he was bad news for Liverpool. The evil cabal blog did him in, good style - and deservedly so."

A few miles away in a safe house, surrounded by laughing and excited friends and relatives, Tony Parrish sipped his champagne. And smiled contentedly.

LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL BLOGSPOT CREATOR HAS DISSAPPEARED

2007-06-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

Monday, 25 June 2007

TONY PARRISH, WHERE ARE YOU?

IN THE SUMMER OF 2006, A BLOG SITE CALLED LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL,APPEARED ON THE INTERNET AND TOOK LIVERPOOL BY STORM.

THE BLOG WAS CREATED BY THE NOW INFAMOUS TONY PARRISH.

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL PRESSURED THE BLOG TO CLOSE DOWN.

COLIN HILTON BANNED ANY COUNCIL WORKER FROM READING THE BLOG.OR WAS IT DR DAVID MCELHINNEY?

THE LOCAL LIVERPOOL NEWSPAPERS HEADLINED THIS BAN, THE POLITICIANS FROM THE LIVERPOOL LABOUR PARTY OBJECTED TO THIS BAN AS IT INCLUDED ANY COUNCIL COMPUTER, INCLUDING THE LOCAL LIBRARIES, THIS IN EFFECT BANNED THE GENERAL LIVERPOOL PUBLIC FROM READING THIS BLOG.

GAGGING THE LIVERPOOL TAX PAYERS IS NOT A POPULAR STANCE TO TAKE.

THIS OF COURSE HAD THE OPPOSITE EFFECT AS HUNDREDS OF COUNCIL WORKERS RUSHED HOME TO READ THIS EXCITING BLOG, JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE BANNED FROM DOING SO.

WHEN PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ AND DIGESTED WHAT THIS BLOG WAS PROCLAIMING, THEY WERE SHOCKED AT THE DIRTY DEALINGS OF THE LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL, THE VERY PEOPLE WHO WERE BANNING THEM FROM READING THE BLOG IN THE FIRST PLACE.

THE NEWS WAS OUT AND COLIN HILTON HAD HELPED IN PROMOTING THE SITE. WELL DONE COLIN!

AFTER A FEW MONTHS, THE COUNCIL SUCCEEDED IN PUTTING PRESSURE ON TONY PARRISH AND THE BLOG WAS SADLY CLOSED DOWN.

NUMEROUS PEOPLE, INCLUDING MYSELF, HAD SAVED ENTIRE PAGES OF THE BLOG,

THE NEWS WAS OUT THERE, THE COUNCIL COULD NOT STOP THE INTERNET WORLD FROM REPRODUCING THE WORDS OF TONY PARRISH!

A FEW MONTHS LATER, ANOTHER BLOG APPEARED, THIS WAS CALLED, LIVERPOOL SUBCULTURE.

THIS BLOG HAD MORE EXCLUSIVES THAN THE ECHO HAVE EVER MANAGED!

THE SUBCULTURE SITE HAD ALL THE USUAL SCANDAL THAT WE HAD READ IN THE LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL BLOG, INCLUDED IN THIS SITE WAS ,GOSSIP, CITY OF THE DEAD, POSTCARDS, REVIEWS OF CULTURE AND THE TONY PARRISH FRINGE.
AFTER A WHILE TONY TOOK THE POSTCARDS AND THE TONY PARRISH FRINGE OFF THE BLOG AND CONCENTRATED ON GOSSIP, FACTS OF SUBCULTURE AND THE CITY OF THE DEAD SITE.

OH WHAT FUN WE HAD READING THE EXCLUSIVES!

TONY RECEIVED INFORMATION FROM PEOPLE HIGH UP IN THE LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL AND EVEN HAD COPIES OF WARREN BRADLEY'S EMAILS!

TONY PARRISH HAS BECOME A NAME IN FOLK LAW AND I AM PROUD TO HAVE SUPPORTED HIM IN HIS QUEST TO OUT THE CORRUPTION OF LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL.

NOW AS SUDDENLY AS HE APPEARED, HE HAS DISAPPEARED FROM OUR INTERNET?

WHERE ARE YOU TONY?
WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

THE LAST POST TONY PUBLISHED WAS CONCERNING AN EMAIL HE RECEIVED FROM GOOGLE, WHO ADVISED HIM THAT LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL WERE NOT REALLY HAPPY WITH HIM POINTING THE FINGER AT THEM AND SUCCEEDING IN UPSETTING A NUMBER OF THE EVIL CABAL.

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL WERE THREATENING GOOGLE!

IS THIS THE REASON OUR HERO HAS TAKEN HIS BLOG OFF THE INTERNET?

HAVE THE EVIL CABAL GOT HIM?

DID THE BALD EAGLE FIND HIS SAFE HOUSE IN THE WIRRAL?

DID MACCA THREATEN HIM WITH HIS LUFFA?

THE FAMOUS "HENSHAWS EVIL CABAL" IS STILL ACCESSIBLE BUT SADLY THERE HAVE NOT BEEN ANY RECENT POSTINGS.

TONY IF YOU STILL READ THE BLOG, LET US KNOW YOU ARE SAFE?

HAVE THE EVIL CABAL MANAGED TO GAG YOU?

SOME WORDS OF WISDOM FROM OUR LIVERPOOL WHISTLE BLOWER

Tony Parrish
Posted on 15 Jun 2006 12:18 pm (Report this comment)

Tony Parrish: To anyone in Liverpool, it is absolutely amazing that Hutton has appointed Henshaw. As chief executive of the city council Henshaw mounted an attempted coup d'etat against the Leader of the Council, Mike Storey, when the city council turned down Henshaw's bid for a £360,000 pension deal. In a typical fit of pique, Henshaw announced his retirement when the council turned him down (this was in March last year) and then appears to have changed his mind. However he got rid of his media chief, Matt Finnegan (suspended on trumped up charges) because he did not like the publicity that his announcement and the council's decision had attracted. Then he got access to Finnegan's computer and used emails from the Leader of the Council, expressing his opposition to the pension deal, to try and blackmail Storey and then to try and get rid of him! Everyone in Liverpool knows Henshaw is a greedy little (literally) bully who is only interested in himself. Other MP's - former health minister Jane Kennedy - have objected to other lucrative part-time jobs that Henshaw has secured since finally retiring from Liverpool in March. Henshaw is also getting more money than the Head of the CIvil Service for this CSA job! Try icliverpool or the guardian or telegraph for more on Henshaw. It is absolutely incredible. Rumour has it that this report has been done months ago and they just want Henshaw to front it. He's an arrogant, nasty piece of work, who is full of bull.

Council leader fumes as 'evil-cabal' site is blocked

Aug 10 2006

By Larry Neild, Daily Post

LIVERPOOL council leader Warren Bradley

last night demanded to know who ordered the blocking of a controversial

internet blog set up in a war against senior council officials.

The leader's call came just hours after the council's chief executive,

Colin Hilton, revealed he had asked for a police investigation

into the so-called "Liverpool-evil-cabal" website.

Thousands of people are looking onto the site,

but council staff, councillors and visitors to internet rooms

at public libraries and one-stop shops,

have found the site has been blocked.

Last night the city council denied the site had been blocked

on the orders of Liverpool Direct,

the company jointly owned by the council and BT,

headed by former executive director David McElhinney.

A council spokesman said

the order for the blocking had been made by the city council,

and carried out by Liverpool Direct

who run the computer website servers on behalf of the council.

"The city council took the decision to block access.

Liverpool Direct runs servers for the council and the libraries

and an instruction was issued to them by the council to block it.

The council has a duty of care to its staff
and as a consequence took a decision
to block access to this anonymous site,
which makes allegations that would
not be printed or broadcast by the media.

"An increasing number of council staff, some relatively junior,

have been named and it has caused a considerable amount of distress

and upset to them."

But Cllr Bradley last night appeared to come to the defence

of the controversial site.

He said: "I had a meeting with the head of libraries Joyce Little,

and asked about the blocking of the website.

I was informed that it had been done by Liverpool Direct.

I want to know why we as a council are blocking access to sites

that people with their own computers can access without problem."

One view among councillors is that the deliberate blocking of the site

has prompted people to seek it out on external computers.

Chief executive Colin Hilton finally broke his silence

on the website by issuing a message to more than 20,000 council staff,

as well as the 90 councillors.

In his communication, issued through the council Intranet

- a site closed to the general public -

Mr Hilton reveals the council has gathered evidence

which is helping to identify the mystery author of the blog.

The website,

now compulsive reading among council staff and

many of the city's key movers and shakers,

contains many intimate details about council activities that point to information being fed by town hall insiders.

The phrase "evil cabal"

first emerged in a series of e-mails between

former leader of the city council Mike Storey

and the head of the council's media department,

Matt Finnegan, currently suspended.

The council spin-doctor has been away from his office,

on full pay since April of last year

as part of an investigation into a series of e-mails

between him and Cllr Storey

in which there was evidence of a plot

to smooth the exit of

Sir David Henshaw from his post as chief executive.

Mr Finnegan is due to fight for his reinstatement

to his Dale Street office at an internal disciplinary hearing next month.

Mr Finnegan cannot comment about his situation

at the city council because of the forthcoming case,

scheduled to be heard by a panel of councillors.

Last night his solicitor, Rex Makin, said:

"There have been numerous rumours about the identity of the blogger.

There is no evidence about the authorship of the blog.

As far as I am concerned reference to a criminal investigation is futile since criminal libel was abolished some years ago.

Those who sue for defamation, as Oscar Wilde found out,

may discover that the cure is worse than the disease."

Last night a spokesman for Merseyside Police said:

"We can confirm that several complaints have been received
in relation to the website. Inquiries and an investigation are on-going."

Hilton's letter of explanation to Liverpool Council staff

"YOU will probably be aware that some weeks ago an internet blog site

was set up to run a series of libellous articles in a journalistic format.

"The initial targets for its malicious activity were senior officers of the council,

but over time references have been made to a wider number of staff,

causing both distress and anger.

"To date, I have held back from making any public comment on the matter

in order to deny the site any credibility

and to prevent further publicising its existence.

"Behind the scenes, however,

we have been working with colleagues in audit, legal services

and the executive member for Central Services, Cllr Richard Marbrow,

to put in place steps to deal with the anonymous author of this disreputable website.

I can now inform you that we have gathered evidence
which is helping us identify the author. Today, on my instruction,
officers have started investigations on the evidence received.

I have also formally asked the police to launch a criminal investigation.

I have received a number of requests for information

from people who intend to pursue civil action against the author

and will be taking legal advice on this.

We are also attempting to have the website removed

in order to prevent further upset to colleagues.

"You will realise that I cannot give you any further information,

but I think it is important to give all employees

reassurance that matters are in hand."

Blogger to face legal action

Aug 23 2006

EXCLUSIVE by Deborah James Daily Post Staff

LEADING Liverpool council officials and others named on a controversial website about town hall dealings are preparing legal action against its author, the Daily Post can reveal.

City lawyer Mark Manley confirmed he is acting for several people who want to sue the author of the Liverpool-Evil-Cabal blog for defamation.

It is understood the group include current and former council officials and other high profile city figures named on the website, which criticised and attacked the council's former management team.

The website attracted over 80,000 visitors during July and August, but was shut down amid controversy about its contents last week.

Last night Chas Cole, who runs Summer Pops operator CMP Entertainment,

confirmed he is among those who have sought legal advice

after his business was discussed on the site.

He said he was prepared to sue the mystery author of the site,

who wrote under the name "Tony Parrish", when he is unmasked.

Privately at least one council official believes the group now have

firm evidence about who wrote the blog.

Solicitor Mr Manley, of Brabners Chaffe Street, said:

"I have received a number of instructions from a number of people

which led me to take appropriate steps to close down the blog, which we did.

"The highly defamatory comments published about a number of people

on that site cannot go uncorrected.

"I anticipate that when our inquiries are complete

the author or authors of those statements will be sued."

The website, which had a humorous tone,

listed Tony Parrish's occupation as "whistleblower" and interests as "victory".

Mr Cole said: "Whoever it may be I will sue them.

I have taken legal advice, and we are prepared to take legal action.

"We are planning action against whoever the blogger was,

whether that be one person or several people.

"I have heard all the rumours.

If they prove to be correct then I will sue the author

and his associates if there are any.

"The evidence from what I hear is in the hands of the council.

I will be interested to hear the outcome of the council investigation."

The blog is named after a comment by Cllr Mike Storey

in a dossier of e-mails between

him and the council's suspended media chief Matt Finnegan,

which led to Cllr Storey standing down as council leader.

It focused on alleged conduct by three town hall officials,

former chief executive Sir David Henshaw,

resources director Phil Halsall and Dr David McElhinney,

managing director of the Liverpool Direct call centre.

Mr Halsall declined to comment last night,

and Sir David and Dr McElhinney were not available for comment.

The site also heavily criticised the council's approach to Capital of Culture,

the departure of artistic director Robyn Archer

and an investigation into council contracts with private

firms Enterprise and BT.

Earlier this month Merseyside police were called in by

council chief executive Colin Hilton,

and he blocked council employees from viewing it on municipally-owned computers.

Police said the website did not break the law, but it was taken down 10 days ago.

deborahjames@dailypost.co.uk

Was the council right to block Evil-Cabal website?

Aug 15 2006

Action to silence the website raised issues of free speech.

Larry Neild investigates

Daily Post

VISITORS to Liverpool's libraries were banned from visiting a controversial website spilling the beans on life at the Town Hall earlier this month.

The Liverpool Evil-Cabal website attracted over 80,000 visitors during July and August as a mystery blogger, known as Tony Parrish, teased and attacked, for the most part, the former management team of Liverpool City Council.

The site closed down at the weekend with Mr Parrish, who has become known as the Liverpool Pimpernel, saying "we have now been promised that there will be a proper investigation into the allegations made on the blog".

Last week, Merseyside police, called in by council chief executive Colin Hilton,

announced that the website does not break the law.

Mr Hilton, recently installed as chief executive,

wrote an email message on the council's intranet,

breaking the council's silence on the issue.

He said attempts were being made to have the website removed

to prevent further upset to council staff.

Council leader Warren Bradley has demanded to know

who gave the order for the website to be blocked in the libraries.

Like many people, Cllr Bradley is concerned about censorship,

although he is no defender of the blog itself.

Council staff using municipally-owned computers

are also barred from visiting the site.

The contents of the blog indicate there is a source, or sources,
within the corridors of power,

willing to leak sensitive information to the mystery bloggers.

The big question, though, is does the council have any right to deny,

in a country that promotes the concept of free speech,

access to a blog site,

however uncomfortable the contents may be for those who feature?

Today the Daily Post asks:

Was Liverpool council right to block the Evil-Cabal website?

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk

NEXT YES: The case for >>>

Website is a slimy retailer of malicious gossip
YES SAYS Cllr Richard Kemp,

Lib-Dem representative on the Local Government Association

YES, the site should be blocked.

Free speech is one of the fundamental safeguards of democracy.

Tyrants and dictators close down means of communications

to help enforce their tyranny.

Too often in our history, those who have defended free speech

have appeared like

Frodo Baggins taking on the might of Sauron!

But the person (people?) behind this blog site is (are) no Frodo -

the character that springs to mind is Gollum,

the disreputable slimy creature that is evil, devious and disreputable,
and lurks in dank caves and slimy caverns.

The website is not a champion of democracy

but a sordid retailer of malicious gossip, spite, spleen and tittle-tattle.

Specific claims have been made against officers.

Correspondents have made a series of claims about leading councillors.

No-one has yet done the proper thing

- to report these allegations to the appropriate external

and independent authorities

to have them properly investigated.

If members or officers are on the take, then it is illegal

and they should be dealt with by the police and then by the courts.

If they have been doing things which are outside the standing orders

and regulations of the council,

they should be dealt with by the
District Audit Service and then by the courts.

If councillors have broken the code of conduct,

they can be dealt with by the Standards Board for England.

Indeed, a check has recently been done.

The Audit Commission has undertaken a governance review of the council.

I cannot believe that the things being described on the website

could be going on and not have been seen by these people.

The report will come out in the autumn, but I am sure that action

would already have been taken if 5% of the allegations had any substance whatever.

So remedies exist - yet none have been tried -

so that leaves the council with two quandaries.

The first is about telling the truth.

If you knowingly repeat a lie, then you too are a liar.

The council knows that these things are untrue.

British justice says they are untrue because every person is innocent

until proven guilty.

The second is how we care for staff.

We have a legal duty of care to our staff

(including former staff) to protect them from harm and abuse.

So, there we are then - gossip but no substance, allegation and no follow up.

The council should not assist with this for legal and moral reasons.

But, above all, bloggers - put up or shut up.

If you really think that there is any truth in what you say,

it is your duty and responsibility to go to the police NOW!

NEXT NO: The case against >>>

Mr Hilton may not like it, but it is called democracy
NO SAYS Rex Makin, lawyer

AT A time when our freedoms are under threat,

it takes either a very brave man, or a very stupid one,

to censor freedom of speech.

But the new chief executive of the city council, Colin Hilton,

is guilty of that in banning the Liverpool Evil-Cabal blog from computers

in Liverpool's public libraries.

Cllr Warren Bradley did not appoint Mr Hilton as Big Brother to the bloggers.

Nor was Mr Hilton appointed to decide what the people of Liverpool choose

to read or believe.

The council taxpayers of Liverpool pay for the

council's computers,

the public libraries

and the £190,000-a-year salary for Mr Hilton.

It is up to them what they do when they surf the web in their local library,

provided, of course, that no offence is being committed.

And certainly the blog's growing army of thousands of daily readers

are not committing any offence.

Nor I believe is the blogger himself, who goes under the name Tony Parrish.

What Mr Parrish and his associates are doing is,

arguably, providing a vital public service to the people of Liverpool.

Liverpool-evil-cabal is merely exposing a wider Liverpool audience

to startling allegations about the regime of former chief executive Sir David Henshaw

which have been circulating among the great and the good in the city for months.

The blog asks some serious questions about the awarding of council contracts

worth millions of pounds, and questions the relationships

and actions of highly-paid senior officers who,

we should remind Mr Hilton, are servants of the public.

Mr Hilton may not like this, but it is called democracy.

Along with the blog's serious purpose comes a fair amount of humour,

direct language, gossip and innuendo from Mr Parrish and his readers,

of the sort that might be heard on the number 79 bus every day of the week.

Mr Hilton's over-reaction has been to ask the police to arrest the bus driver.

The police should be after burglars, not bloggers.

Banning the blog from council computers

has predictably sent thousands of city council staff

rushing home to avidly log in for the next instalment.

As for Mr Hilton (if it was he who was really behind the ban),

he would better serve the people of Liverpool

if he investigated the allegations being made.

People will not tolerate a cover-up of past procurement irregularities.

They look to Mr Hilton to come clean and put his own house in order first.

For, as Mr Parrish has eloquently stated,

the genie is now out of the bottle and it can't be put back in.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE THING TONY?

WHERE IS THE GENIES BOTTLE?

COME ON LIVERPOOL CITY TAX PAYERS, GET INVOLVED IN CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE, WE PAID ENOUGH FOR IT AFTERALL!

2007-06-20T11:05:00.001-04:00

AT A TIME WHEN LIVERPOOL RESIDENTS ARE FEELING DESPAIR AT THE RECENT POLITICAL FALL OUT BETWEEN THE CULTURE BOARD, WITH TWO TOP FIGURES RESIGNING FROM THE COMMITTEE, THE REST OF THE MEDIA SIDE OF THE COMMITTEE ARE ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING POSITIVE.

GET INVOLVED IN THE CELEBRATIONS, WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE PROUD OF OUR CITY, DON'T JUST LEAVE IT TO THE TOURISTS!

How you can join the Culture club

Jun 20 2007

by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo

MERSEYSIDE’S media organisations today joined forces to encourage everyone to get involved in Capital of Culture.

The ECHO, our sister paper the Liverpool Daily Post, BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio City have come together to launch the Open Culture project.

Phil Redmond is also involved in the initiative aimed at giving Liverpudlians the chance to take part in the 2007 and 2008 celebrations.

The Mersey TV founder said: “Open Culture is for, about and drawn from the people themselves.

“It’s about simply providing platforms for people to actively take part in helping shape rather than being asked to digest culture.

“As all the projects are jointly supported by the media, as supporters of Capital of Culture. We hope it will allow anyone who wants to take part to do so – and have a bit of fun while, perhaps, helping to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.”

Open Culture starts with the BBC’s Liverpool Saga - an 800-word poem penned by Scousers to celebrate the city’s 800th birthday.

This will be followed in September by an Echo spearheaded initiative to design new benches for the city.

Radio City is launching a Liverpool song competition in November and the Daily Post a Liverpool “map” in January 2008.

ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “As the city’s media we have the means to reach hundreds of thousands of people and we want to use that reach to encourage everyone to get involved in 2008.”

Radio City MD Iain McKenna said: “One of the reasons Liverpool got Capital of Culture was because of the support of local people.

“This is a way for us to get together and do something for the benefit of Liverpool, to really engage with people so they can quite genuinely participate and have a sense of ownership.”

BBC Merseyside managing editor Mick Ord added: “The more people involved in Capital of Culture the better.

“This is a great way of encouraging as many individuals and organisations as possible to take part.”

Sing a song

Liverpool Song: RADIO City is taking the lead in finding a Liverpool anthem, folk song or ditty for 2008.

It is calling on any budding songwriters to pen an official song for Capital of Culture.

Radio City MD Iain McKenna said: "It can be anything to do with Liverpool – if you want to take a historical stance, great, look forward, great, or purely a cultural stance. Anything and everything goes."

The songs will be judged by an independent panel of judges.

Pen a poem

Liverpool Saga: RADIO Merseyside is looking for contributions to a Liverpool Saga – 800 lines of poetry to celebrate the eight centuries of the city.

Roger McGough penned the opening and closing verses - and would-be poets can provide four lines each.

Radio Merseyside managing editor Mick Ord said: "We’ve had a fantastic response via e-mail and ‘snail mail’ and our editorial team will be meeting shortly to look at the examples of poetry that people have sent in. "Most have been related to 20th century events but the saga itself, when it’s completed in September, will be concerned with the 800 years of Liverpool’s history."

E-mail your verses to liverpoolsaga@bbc.co.uk, drop them into the BBC building in Hanover Street or post them to Liverpool Saga, BBC Radio Merseyside, PO Box 95.8, Liverpool, L69 1ZJ.

Take a seat

Cultural Bench: THE ECHO is leading the initiative to design stunning new benches for the city and is currently in talks with the Culture Company and a major sponsor.

Editor Alastair Machray said: "We want people across Merseyside to come up with ideas and designs for innovative street furniture.

"There are some very creative people out there and everyone who designs something will have their work viewed by a massive number of people."

Make a map

Liverpool Map: THE idea is to define the real Liverpool, which may not conform to regulation city boundaries.

Ideas of what makes Liverpool will be translated into a physical map which will go on show in the city.

Daily Post editor Mark Thomas said: "It will determine the real map of Liverpool which might not be the same as the geographical map. And the people of Liverpool will be the judges.

"Is Kirkby a part of the real Liverpool? How about Woolton? It’s up to Scousers to decide."

Top

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL ODE TO THE ELDERLY.

2007-06-17T19:53:00.001-04:00

The frail old man, he staggers along, he hasn't got long to go.

He's rotting inside, he's just flesh and bones, he hasn't got much to show.

He fought in the war, for our country, so brave.

But where is his reward?

He's just left to rot in some cold dark corner,

Who cares about the shriveling man?

who cares if he should die?

We have no further use for him now,

he can't help himself, so he can't help us.

If he dies soon it will be one less pension to pay,

They cost us too much and for what?

Why should we help them?

They do nothing for us!

Their job was done so many years ago,

They should all be shot they make the world look ugly,

Have beautiful and youthful, hard working people,

And when they grow old and ugly and creased,

We'll shot them too.

I'll never get old, I'll just age a bit.

But I'll always remain youthful, straight, beautiful.

I'm too important to lose,

But you,you shriveled up smelly man!

What use are you?

Can you think of any reason why I should keep you alive?

You are so pathetic

You can't even go to the toilet for yourself!

Or even keep it in until it's convenient!

You just piss in your pants!

What kind of person are you?

I hate slime, you are scum man,

Yes it's true you

were of use to us once,

But you're not now, we don't need you,

GOODBYE,

The frail old man, he staggers along, he hasn't got long to go,

He's rotting inside, he's just flesh and bones, He hasn't got much to show.

We might as well kill him off now!

JUEFIN 3rd December 1984,

Reproduced with kind permission, of JUEFIN, as it is so poignant to the crisis in care 2007

Technorati Tags: Liverpool City Council, JUEFIN, Care Crisis Liverpool 2007, Poets Corner

JOINT TRADE UNIONS MESSAGE TO MEMBERS

2007-06-16T12:17:00.000-04:00

SEE MY NEW POST BELOW FOR FULL INFORMATION OF TRADE UNIONS MESSAGE TO MEMBERS

FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF REDUNDANCIES GO TO LINK CITY OF THE DEAD BELOW
City of the Dead*: CITY COUNCIL MAKES 150 CARE WORKERS REDUNDANT

JOINT TRADE UNIONS MESSAGE TO MEMBERS

LIVERPOOL JOINT TRADE UNIONS ARE KEPT IN DARK OVER 150 MEMBERS REDUNDANCIES

2007-06-16T11:24:00.000-04:00

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL JOINT TRADE UNION COMMITTEE HAVE ISSUES A STATEMENT TO ALL THEIR MEMBERS ALERTING THEM TO HOW MANAGEMENT HAVE KEPT THEM IN THE DARK ABOUT THE PUBLICATION OF THE COUNCIL'S DECISION TO PUT 150 MEMBERS OF THE HOME CARE SERVICE OUT OF WORK, IRONICALLY KNOWN AS THE PREVENTATIVE SERVICE!

WHAT THIS SERVICE ACTUALLY PREVENTS IS A GREAT MYSTERY?

SUGGESTIONS ON A POSTCARD WELCOMED.

SEE BELOW FOR THE TRADE UNIONS RESPONSE TO THIS DIRTY ACTION TAKEN BY TONY HUNTER AND SUE TRAFFORD.

IF YOU THINK YOU WON'T EVER NEED TO USE A HOME CARE SERVICE ?

THEN HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PREVENT GETTING OLD?

THINK ON EVERYONE AND GET BEHIND THE CARERS OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL AND DEMAND A STOP TO THIS DESTRUCTION OF SERVICES.

MORE TO FOLLOW SOON ON THE REAL BEHIND THE SCENES STORY OF CARING

LIVERPOOL.......

Chair:

Bobby Daniels

GMB

Treasurer:

Arthur Moss

GMB

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL

JOINT TRADE UNION COMMITTEE

Secretary:

Angela Blundell

UNISON

G.01 Cotton Exchange

Bixteth Street

Liverpool L3 9LQ

Tel: 0151 236 1944

15^th June 2007

HOME CARE STATEMENT

The following is the Statement issued to the trade unions at 3 pm on Thurs. 14^th June 2007

It is the Council’s intention to write to all potentially affected staff with offers of Voluntary Redundancy with terms consistent with the Council’s policy for early retirement of a maximum of 5 added years.

This will result in each employee – including those over the age of 50 and up to the age of 65 – having entitlement to a “one-off” redundancy payment based upon their age and length of service.

Those employees who are over the age of 50 will also, however, be entitled to the early release of their pension and lump sum based upon their accrued benefits as at the date of their redundancy.

These pension entitlements will be without actuarial reduction which would have been the case if the employees had taken early retirement.

No other details were shared with the trade unions at that time. The details would follow probably within the next week.

Management should apologise to its staff for the lack of information.

After leaving the meeting the trade unions were advised a press statement had already been given out and the Executive Director Tony Hunter would speak on local radio.

The trade unions are aware that this is an uncertain time for the Home Care Service and differing statements being issued by LCC are causing confusion.

We have asked for joint meetings with staff and as soon as there is more information we will contact our members.

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE £MILLIONS FROM GOVERNMENT?

2007-06-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

WARREN BRADLEY AND HIS PUPPET MASTER MIKE STOREY, HAVE RECEIVED £MILLIONS FROM THE PRESENT LABOUR GOVERNMENT FOR THE FUNDING TOWARDS THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE CELEBRATIONS 2008.

ONE QUESTION???????

WHAT HAS ALL THIS MONEY BEEN SPENT ON???

LIVERPOOL CITY LABOUR LEADER, JOE ANDERSON RESIGNED THIS WEEK IN DISGUST AT THE WAY THE CULTURE COMPANY ARE WASTING MONEY LEFT RIGHT AND CENTRE.

WARREN BRADLEY WENT CAP IN HAND TO LIVERPOOL BUSINESS WORLD, DEMANDING THEY COUGH UP MONEY TO FILL THE £29 MILLION VOID THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE CREATED.

BELOW LIVERPOOL MP LOUISE ELLMAN GETS A RUN DOWN OF THE GOVERNMENT GRANTS THAT LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO FUND THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE FESTIVAL 2008.

SOMEONE MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS SHAMEFUL WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY.

Culture Media and Sport

European Capital of Culture: Liverpool

Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside, Labour) | Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) UK Government and (b) EU funding has been made available to support Liverpool's Capital of Culture festival.

David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport) | Hansard source

DCMS and Arts council have committed £10 million over the period 2005-09 to support Liverpool's Capital of Culture. In addition Liverpool received a grant of £1,200,000 from the Urban Cultural programme; and the North West Development Agency has approved £2 million.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has approved £10 million funding and in addition provided Phase 1—£946,000 ERDF pre 2008 approval and Phase 2—£2.63 million ERDF post approval.

LIVERPOOL COUNCIL LEADERS ,JOIN FORCES TO MEET GORDON BROWN IN PLEA FOR CAPATILISATION

2007-06-14T04:50:00.000-04:00

DESPITE THE FALLOUT FROM JOE ANDERSON RESIGNING FROM THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE BOARD, JOE HAS AGREED TO PUT HIS NAME TO A LETTER ADDRESSED TO GORDON BROWN REQUESTING A MEETING TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE AGREEMENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TO FUND THE CULTURE EVENTS FROM THE SALE OF BROWN LAND AND THE CITIES FAMILY SILVER.

This is a situation caused by the Liberal Democrats, as they have not prepared for the funding of the celebrations.
If Gordon Brown does not agree to this proposal then Liverpool City Council Tax payers will have to foot the bill on top of the usual payments for services.

Other suggestions for the funding have been proclaimed,
examples are;

Senior managers and chief executive to take a pay cut, this would fund the whole of the years celebrations!

Get Henshaw to repay his blackmail money back to the city.

Sack Phil Halsall

Stop payments from the city council to Liverpool Directrobbery Limited.

USE YOUR VOTE IN MAY 2008 AND GET RID OF THE BUMBLING IDIOTS WHO ARE RUNNING THE CITY!

SEE BELOW FOR ECHO REPORT

Polictical rivals in joint appeal for Culture cash

Jun 14 2007

by Larry Neild

LIVERPOOL’S two political leaders are to head a delegation to make a joint plea to Chancellor Gordon Brown to help plug the £22m gap in the city’s culture year funding.

Council leader Warren Bradley and Cllr Joe Anderson buried the hatchet following a stormy 24 hours during which the Labour leader sensationally resigned from the culture company board.

The fall-out over the funding of the city’s 2008 European Capital of Culture year continued in the town hall council chamber last night.

A special meeting of Liverpool City Council was called to debate a controversial funding package which would mean Liverpool raising the £22m by borrowing the money over five years.

The strategy will collapse if the government refuses to bend the rules to agree the funding formula.

So after political foes battled it out in a debate over the money shortage, Cllr Bradley threw down the gauntlet to the opposition leader.

He challenged him to sign a joint letter to Gordon Brown to help give the plea for help cross chamber support.

Cllr Anderson studied the letter and agreed to his name being placed alongside the leader’s, but on the basis that they ask for a meeting with the Chancellor and Treasury officials.

The move comes more than 20 years after the then city council sent a delegation, headed by John Hamilton and Derek Hatton, to make a plea to the Margaret Thatcher government to help bail out the city from a financial crisis.

Cllr Anderson said: “I have made my feelings known about the way the culture programme is being handled, but we all want to see our Capital of Culture year succeed.”

Cllr Bradley, who sprang the surprise letter during the heated funding debate, said: “I am delighted we can approach the Chancellor as a united front on behalf of the people of Liverpool.”

The plea to Mr Brown is not seeking extra Government cash. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell made it clear in Liverpool last month that there would be no extra money from Westminster for Liverpool’s culture year.

An escape route, devised by resources director Phil Halsall, would involve the council borrowing the money and repaying it over five years. If money earned from the sale of brownfield sites is used it could mean there will be no impact on council taxpayers.

In the letter the two councillors say they are asking for help and support to complete the last phase of the culture year funding package.

They want permission to use a mechanism known as capitalis- ation, which means borrowing money and spending it as a one-off on the cultural programme.

Government rules normally mean that cash raised in this way cannot be used to pay for festivals and events, but the two councillors stress that an exception should be made.

They tell Mr Brown: “Put simply, future generations will all benefit from 2008 and therefore it feels unfair to expect the current generation to pay for the event in a single year.”

Earlier Labour councillors complained that the ruling Lib-Dems should have been putting money aside for the past four years to pay for the celebrations.

But Cllr Bradley insisted: “Capital of Culture will be our springboard for a bright future for our city.”

larryneild

Top

MATT FINNEGAN GETS THE LAST LAUGH

2007-06-05T20:17:00.000-04:00

MATT FINNEGAN GETS THE LAST LAUGH AS LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL GET THEIR BUMS SMACKED......AGAIN!!!!!!

Liverpool City Council have been told by the Information Commissioning Office that publishing the emails between Liverpool City Council employee Matt Finnegan and the Elected Head of Liverpool City Council, Mike Storey was an illegal act.
It also stated that publishing personal information about Matt Finnegan's Teenage daughter was also an illegal act.

Matt complained to the information commissioner last September 2006, when it became apparent to Matt, I would bet, that the Leader of the council Mike Storey was not going to help him, indeed he was in his own mess at the time.

Regular readers will already be aware of the scandal that caused the LIVERPOOLEVILCABAL blogspot back in June last year.

Despite having to resign his post as media chief and despite the allegations flying around at the time, despite all of the bullying tactics the evil cabal tried, Matt stood his ground and finally someone came through for him and his daughter, it may only be a small victory for Matt and his family, but it is a victory none the less.

see below for the full interview with Matt Finnegan by Tony Parrish

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER FINDS CITY COUNCIL GUILTY OF BREAKING LAW OVER CONFIDENTIAL EMAILS

PRESS RELEASE: CITY COUNCIL GUILTY OF BREAKING LAW OVER EMAILS – OFFICIAL 4/06/07

LIVERPOOL city council broke the law by publishing confidential emails between its former Leader and communications chief.
The Information Commissioner has found the city council guilty of breaking the ‘First Principle’ of the Data Protection Act, 1998 - that the publication of any personal information should be ‘fair and lawful.’
The Commissioner upholds an official complaint by Matt Finnegan, the city council’s former Assistant Executive Director (Media), who had accused the council of acting unlawfully in first publicising the confidential emails two years ago.
In the emails, the then Council Leader Mike Storey, instructed the council’s media chief to publicise his opposition to a £240,000 pension deal for the council’s chief executive Sir David Henshaw, who had announced his early retirement.
A report containing the emails was sent to all 90 city councillors in May 2005, after the Liverpool Daily Post reported that the chief executive was demanding Councillor Storey’s resignation.

The draft report, drawn up by Executive Director Phil Halsall - the council’s Section 151 Officer - also contained details of Mr Finnegan’s mobile phone calls and text messages, as well as the emails.
Mr Finnegan submitted his complaint to the Information Commissioner immediately after quitting his job last September, accusing the council of waging a vendetta against him for obeying the instructions of the council’s democratically-elected Leader.

Mr Finnegan’s teenage daughter, who was also identified in Mr Halsall’s report, also submitted a separate formal complaint.
The Information Commissioner has now upheld both complaints, ruling that the council acted illegally.

In his adjudication to Mr Finnegan, the Commissioner says: “It is clear that the decision was taken to distribute the full contents of the Draft Report somewhat prematurely, in response to ‘media pressure’, which we believe was unfair to you.
“It is therefore our view that Liverpool City Council has breached the First Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 in this instance. Whilst it is acknowledged that this is perhaps an extraordinary case in terms of the nature of events which occurred, and the high profile of the individuals who were involved, the disclosure, having been circulated at such a premature time, was still unfair.”
The Commissioner warns that publication by the council of the report may also have compromised any further disciplinary proceedings it brought.
He adds: “Whilst it is unlikely that this specific situation would arise again in the future, we shall be pointing out to the Council that they do have a general duty to ensure that the processing of all personal data complies with the provisions contained within the Data Protection Act 1998.
“In light of this, the Council may wish to review the actions which were taken in this case and consider whether it may be appropriate to implement further measures in order to prevent a similar event from occurring again in the future.
“The Commissioner would hope that once this contravention of the Act has been brought to the attention of the Council, steps will be taken to rectify the situation.”
Mr Finnegan is now calling for the council to take legal action against Sir David Henshaw, currently chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority, for contravening the Data Protection Act and to suspend Mr Halsall, who is still employed by the council, pending a full investigation into his actions.
Mr Finnegan said: “These two men broke the law. There is no argument about that. At the time, Mr Henshaw even issued an astonishing public statement welcoming the illegal report and praising his own integrity! The council should now show that it is cleaning up its act by taking appropriate action against both men and any others who were party to this decision. Proven law-breakers such as these should not be in charge of any public service for a moment longer.”
Mr Finnegan added: “My complaint to the Information Commissioner was the first of 38 grievances which I had first submitted to the council, for breaching their own internal rules and procedures. The current chief executive, Colin Hilton dismissed them out of hand.
“I am pleased however, that the Information Commissioner takes a very different view from Mr Hilton and has not allowed such illegal actions by very senior employees to be covered up.
“I am also grateful to the Daily Post for making public the astonishing events in Liverpool at the time. In my view, there was an attempted coup by certain officers against the democratically elected Leader, using emails which had been illegally obtained.
“This is a small, if belated, victory for democracy and is a vindication of my actions in obeying the Leader of the Council. I never broke the law – Mr Henshaw and Mr Halsall did. The council will never again be able to get away with treating employees like me with such flagrant contempt for both the law and their own internal rules and procedures.
“If the council had any decency it would now issue an abject public apology to both me and my daughter for acting illegally. But we won’t be holding our breath.
“It has been a sorry and shameful little episode linked directly to the huge pension claim of Mr Henshaw. That began a train of events which have caused significant harm to the public image of the city of Liverpool and have damaged people’s confidence in public servants and public service. I hope the council now deeply regrets breaking the law of the land.”

Posted by Tony Parrish47 at Tuesday, June 05, 2007

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL WARNED OF INSTITUTIONAL RACISM AGAINST WHITE WORKING CLASS IN THE ALLOCATION OF HOUSING

2007-06-01T06:02:00.000-04:00

In a recent report from Inside housing, it has been stated that Liverpool City Council may now be institutionally racist! Not against Black and Ethnic Minority groups but White working class groups.

Liverpool City Council have improved areas in the past(not under this administration it must be said), that have been aimed at improving the living standards of people that were from Black and other Ethnic minorities which was much needed as this area had indeed suffered generations of racism in all forms of their lives, however Liverpool City Council has not improved the lives of other people who are from the white working class group.

Liverpool City Council need to make sure the trend of helping one area and neglecting another is stopped in our Multicultural Liverpool City!

DON'T PLAY INTO THE RACIST BNP'S HANDS!!

Martin Hilditch

Last updated: 01 June 2007 at 09:21 GMT

Race advisor warns of institutional racism in regeneration projects

The way housing professionals neglect the needs of the white working class in major regeneration projects could be labelled as institutional racism.

The warning comes from a former government advisor who helped write race relations guidance for the Communities and Local Government department.

Demetrious Panton has recommended that Liverpool Council’s housing market renewal team speed up the regeneration of predominantly white estates to avoid fuelling feelings of resentment.

In a report into the effect of Liverpool Council’s pathfinder team on race relations in the city, Mr Panton says staff felt ‘slight discomfort with the premise that white neighbourhoods were just as valid as other neighbourhoods which tended to have one dominant large ethnic group’.

If the discomfort was applied to ethnic minority groups it would be labelled as institutional racism, the report indicated.

‘There is no doubt that if we had seen a similar discomfort in recognising the needs of other ethnic communities we would be describing the process by which institutions discriminate against particular groups,’ it states.

Mr Panton, a senior consultant with WM Enterprise, said housing had become ‘the biggest issue in race equality’. ‘There are many issues here but I think there are national ones about what happens to white working class neighbourhoods,’ he said.

‘When we asked officers what they thought about white neighbourhoods there was a sense of discomfort. The sense that those individuals themselves might experience discrimination wasn’t on the radar.’

The findings come after a row over Margaret Hodge’s comments that allocations policies were fuelling resentment (Inside Housing, 25 May).

The report also uncovered evidence of racist behaviour towards people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. In two cases this had resulted in residents moving from high-quality social housing to lower-quality private rented housing to escape.

Liverpool was the only council to have carried out such a study, Mr Panton said.

Cath Green, director of housing at the council, said that the report states the pathfinder’s work was not having an adverse effect on any ethnic group.

PETER KILFOYLE ASKS WHAT CAN GOVERNMENT DO TO STOP THE LIKES OF HENSHAW AND MCELHINNEY AGAIN???

2007-05-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool, Walton, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

As you know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I have long been a strong advocate of the city of Liverpool, and tonight will be no exception. Even though I take issue with the conduct and procedures of Liverpool city council, I wish to place on the record the fact that Liverpool as a city is making tremendous progress in its regeneration, which is due in no small measure to initiatives emanating from this House and the present Government. That is to its credit. I also give credit—[Interruption.]

Michael Lord (Central Suffolk & North Ipswich, Deputy-Speaker) Link to this | Hansard source

Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, but will all hon. Members who are not taking part in the debate please leave the Chamber now, quickly and quietly? We must listen to the debate.

Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool, Walton, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

I pay credit to the many local businesses and organisations that have taken advantage of the opportunities presented by Government initiatives and our status as an objective 1 area to reinvent themselves and turn the city's image and substance around over the past 20 years so that it is now a 21st-century city that, to use a cliché, is meeting all the challenges of a modern economy. The House may therefore wish to know why I have taken issue with the city council. I have many reasons for doing so, but I am particularly concerned about the way in which it conducts itself. While it is doing very good work in some areas—no one can take that away from it—it is manifestly failing the people of Liverpool in other areas. I shall give a few examples, focusing on people who most need the city council's help, including the poor, the homeless, council tenants, and voluntary sector organisations that depend on the council's assistance.

There is a litany of mismanagement so that, in local eyes, the city has changed from a city of culture—a role that Liverpool will officially play under the present Administration in 2008—into a city about which the council could not care less. That tendency is particularly marked in the areas that I have the privilege to represent. I wish to put it on the record that two of the most deprived SOAs—super output areas—in the matrix of indices of deprivation produced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are in my constituency. The whole constituency is in the top 1 per cent. of combined deprivation indicators, and it relies extremely heavily on council intervention and Government initiatives to ensure that the people there can share in the opportunities enjoyed by many people in Liverpool and on Merseyside as a whole.

The council continues to treat shabbily the people who most need its help. I shall give a few categories of people it ought to target, and pick out one or two recent examples to demonstrate the way in which they have been treated. This week, we learned of the classic case of Mrs. Janet Whalley, a badly disabled lady who dropped off her severely disabled son outside an after-school club—an initiative that the Government are rightly promoting. Because of a technical dispute over her blue-badge entitlement to disabled parking she was hauled before the courts. The magistrates were outraged, and threw the case out, saying that it should never have been brought. Mrs. Whalley was awarded £500 costs. That was not good enough for the council, which sacked her for gross misconduct—behaviour which no one in their right mind would attribute to a fair-minded employer.

I came across the even better example of Nicola Foster, whose case falls into the homeless category. The homeless are always under pressure, but they are under particular pressure in Liverpool because of the city's regeneration, including new build and the Pathfinder project. The city is going through a period of transition, so we need to deal sensitively with cases at the margins or at the extremes that deserve help. Nicola Foster, unbelievably in modern times, has nine children. For two and a half years, she lived in a hostel near Sefton park. The council offered to rehouse the family in a hostel in Inverness. It wanted to deport a father, a mother and nine children to Inverness, because for two and a half years it had failed miserably to fulfil its duty of care towards those children. By the way, one of the children was offered a place at a local school where my wife used to teach, St. Finbar's, but because of the domestic situation the child has not been to school for two years. We should not be surprised at the indifference of Liverpool city council towards the child's schooling.

Another area in which the council abuses the sensible procedures set up by central Government is in the statementing of children with special needs. Each Liverpool MP has a caseload that would stretch from one side of the Chamber to the other concerning people who cannot get a statement of their child's special needs. What makes the situation even more pernicious is that the council argues that there is no demand for special needs places in special schools, and closes down special schools so that it can realise the capital assets. The Government's policy has always been that children with special needs ought to be catered for in a setting appropriate to them. If inclusion is appropriate, that option should be chosen and we would not dissent from it. But if a special needs place in a special school is the appropriate setting, that is what should be offered.

Many of our children are not getting that. I am dealing with the case of the child of a drug addict brought up by the grandmother, who got him into a secondary school. Because of his special needs, the school could not handle him—not that he was a bad kid, but he was hyperactive. That kid is now in a pupil referral unit for two hours a day, so not only is he not getting help from the very people to whom he ought to look for help, but his condition is being worsened daily by their neglect.

I mentioned council tenants when I referred to Nicola Foster's case. Sometimes I despair of a city council that fails lamentably to look after its own stock and fiddles its figures by transferring the stock out and then claiming great success in upgrading the homes in its council stock. Government policies were designed to encourage more tenant involvement. No doubt the Minister would agree that we all want tenants to have—metaphorically, if not literally—a sense of ownership of the changes going on around them. We had a longstanding Liverpool Federation of Council Tenants and Residents Associations, which sent out a letter—I assume to my colleagues, as well as to me—on 17 June. The letter announces the closure of the federation and states:

"This is a serious decision taken by our tenant members and tenant management board as it considered that tenant participation is currently so gravely undervalued by our city council that it severely impacts upon the wellbeing and functioning of a vibrant, independent tenant federation."

The letter goes on to list the manifold problems that the federation has faced. It continues:

"A strong, vibrant, informed and independent tenants movement is an asset to any city"—

I say amen to that. However, the letter goes on:

"The climate in this city does not foster a spirit of empowerment but relies upon a culture of repeated rhetoric of 'intentions' without ever considering the means by which 'intentions' are merely the first step of the organic process of change".

That is eloquently put. That ought to be the case but, sadly, it is not so under Liverpool city council.

The council has done some good things and there have been some good investments. There have also been some terrible failures, from the millennium centre on Chavasse park to the King's dock project to the Fourth Grace. Everywhere that the dead hand of the Liberal Democrat city council rests itself, one can guarantee that there will be confusion leading to failure. My great fear, which is shared by people in Liverpool, including business leaders, is that that will bring about the stagnation of ongoing projects.

Indeed, only today, a newspaper headline read "Paradise 'Delayed'". It refers to the Paradise street project, which is the biggest of its kind in the country. It is a regeneration scheme into which Grosvenor—no mean operator in its own right—is putting £920 million. However, the man in charge of Grosvenor is now asking, "How can you deal with a council that repeatedly obfuscates and delays?" Those are the sentiments of a developer who has put a massive amount of money into the city.

To show how far the city has come, I say in passing that I recall the Duke of Westminster commenting that he was happy for his daughters to go on a night out in Liverpool because he felt that they were safe there. That is another nail in the coffin of the myths about Liverpool that prevailed for many years. Happily, we have disposed of them. Liverpool is a relatively safe city. It is a good city for business to invest in and it is a prosperous city, which is evolving rapidly. However, the council is acting as a brake on such progress.

That brake is felt most keenly in the areas where the good citizens of Liverpool who are least able to look after themselves could, in the past, turn to the council for succour. I wanted to be objective about the matter and I examined Liverpool city council's document "Improving performance—leading to excellence". It is subtitled "Achievements in 2004/05 against the corporate plan published in June 2004".

I do not want to say that none of the objectives was met. Many of the council's objectives—not mine or the Government's—have been achieved. However, I have been through page after page headed "Well services, safe and sustainable neighbourhoods with optimum local accountability and influence over service management". That is the interface between council services and an efficient, well run council.

The first example reads:

"We did not achieve our target."

The second example states:

"We did not achieve our target."

The third example contains a little bit of spin:

"We have shown significant improvements in delays and narrowly missed our target."

The fourth example reads:

"We did not achieve our target".

The fifth example states:

"We marginally failed our target".

The sixth example also involves spin:

"Although we have significantly improved the actual numbers of carers who received a carer's assessment . . . the improvement has not been as pronounced."

In other words, they failed. The final example reads:

"We have not increased the take-up in the short-term break schemes."

Social services had damning reports on the sort of social provision that they should make as opposed to the provision that they make.

Alone, that might simply be another record of a poor council, whose position should be resolved at the ballot box. The citizens of Liverpool will have the opportunity to turn those people out—as they undoubtedly will—for their ineptitude in many aspects of their alleged competence. However, there is another phenomenon, on which the Minister, I hope, can throw some light.

There was an extraordinary turn of events, involving the publication of a dossier, which the chief executive compiled on the manoeuvrings of the leader of the council and one of his spin doctors to force out the chief executive. It is an extraordinary document. In all my long time in politics, I have never known such an obvious conspiracy to force somebody out. The leader of the council made a de facto admission by reporting to the Standards Board. His actions were completely out of order.

In the past week, the chief executive and the leader of the council have publicly kissed and made up. However, anyone who thinks that that is more than an Elastoplast on a rupture at the top of the council is much mistaken. My concern is not about those two people falling out but about the outcomes for the people and city of Liverpool. How can the matter be resolved? How can we ensure that the city council is operating according to the rules, and according to expectations, not only of the people as citizens, but those that the Government rightly hold of a council?

I am mindful of the fact that, more than 20 years ago—I never thought I would hear myself say this—49 councillors were debarred and surcharged for the notional loss of £106,000. That became something of a cause célèbre at the time. Yet here we have a council wasting money by the bucketload on a daily basis, and whose two leading lights cannot agree on anything in the public arena. This is letting down the people of Liverpool, and I want to find out from the Minister what redress we have, through central Government, to ensure that it stops.

John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

Listening to this sad catalogue of events in Liverpool city council reminds me of the problems that I have with my council in the Vale of Glamorgan, where we are seeing not only a deterioration in services but the inability of the citizens of my constituency to make proper representations to the council. The problem has reached such an extent that hon. Members' correspondence to the chief executive of the Vale of Glamorgan council, containing sensitive information given to them in writing by their constituents, is routinely passed on to local councillors. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is totally unacceptable that such sensitive, personal, confidential information should be divulged in that way?

Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool, Walton, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

It is totally unacceptable. However, in Liverpool's case, I would love there to be an ability for issues to be referred on. MPs' inquiries to the Lib Dems in the city of Liverpool go into a veritable black hole, and if they reappear, they do so in transmuted form either in the legal services department or on the outer limits of the chief executive's department. I can guarantee that no one ever gets a straight answer to a straight question.

Will the Minister tell me what, if anything, can be done about this? What powers do Ministers have to ensure that people at the very top of local government do not inhibit what is otherwise a record of success? How, if at all, can Ministers intervene—and are they willing to do so?—to ensure not only that the city council is properly run in an open, transparent and accountable way but that Government moneys on which policies are predicated are being spent for the purposes that they were set out, on a value-for-money basis?

7:32 pm

Phil Woolas (Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) Link to this | Hansard source

May I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Kilfoyle) on securing today's debate? I know that he and my other hon. Friends who represent the city of Liverpool in the House rightly feel very strongly indeed about this issue. I also want to acknowledge the successes of the city of Liverpool, to which my hon. Friend rightly drew our attention, and to add to the story of Liverpool in recent years.

It is true that the city has the highest concentration of deprivation of any local authority in the country, with 26 of its 33 wards in the worst 10 per cent. nationally. However, regeneration schemes—particularly those involving European objective 1 funding—are helping to revive the economy and to bring a new optimism for the future. That is evident to anyone who has visited the city recently. Tourism, in particular, is now a major industry on Merseyside and has grown by 5 per cent. a year since the mid-1990s. It now supports some 22,000 jobs in the city.

Most recently, in addition to the neighbourhood regeneration funds and other money that central Government have made available, Liverpool's successful European capital of culture bid for 2008 will add further impetus to the regeneration process. Indeed, it is already doing so. It is expected to generate some 14,000 jobs and lever in an additional £200 million in tourism in the run-up to the European capital of culture year. There is therefore a success story in Liverpool, as my hon. Friend rightly said.

In December 2004, the Audit Commission—which is of course independent of Government, and rightly so—awarded a grading of good on its comprehensive performance assessment rating, which was no change from the 2003 rating. The Audit Commission acknowledged, as my hon. Friend has done, that the council had made some improvements, which it identified in education, libraries and the use of resources. Other improvements are expected in those areas, based on the Audit Commission assessment, in the next 12 months.

In other areas, however, such as social care services—which my hon. Friend has highlighted—housing and the environment, the council's performance is much more mixed. A number of underperforming areas remain, such as housing, recycling, highways, supporting people and social care. Investments in services are showing some signs of improved outcomes, however. The Audit Commission's assessment is that the council should be well placed to continue to improve in those areas, in the way it works and in the services that it provides to local people—generally, that backs up the points made by my hon. Friend.

Let me briefly indicate to the House how far Liverpool has to go in its regeneration strategy by examining the floor targets for neighbourhood renewal funding that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister makes available. On education targets—the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs or GNVQs at grades A to C—Liverpool's most recent figure is 41.4 per cent., whereas the figure for the north-west as a whole is 49.4 per cent. and for the UK overall it is 52.9 per cent. Liverpool is therefore some 10 per cent. behind. If we compare the health floor targets, the life expectancy of the male population of Liverpool is 72.5 years, whereas the national average is 75.9 years. By accident of birth, therefore, the people of Liverpool have a shorter life expectancy from the outset. Those are statistics and real-life facts that we cannot afford to ignore.

The crime figures show, for example, that burglary dwelling offences per 1,000 households in Liverpool in 2003–04 were at around 30, as opposed to the national average of 18.5. Those are the sorts of problems that we are addressing through neighbourhood renewal and regeneration. Perhaps most tellingly, my hon. Friends who represent the city of Liverpool have constantly referred over the last few years to the target of achieving full employment. The 2002–03 overall employment rate in Liverpool was 59.7 per cent., compared with 74.5 per cent. for the UK as a whole. On education, health, crime and employment, Liverpool's performance was below the neighbourhood renewal fund floor targets. The situation is therefore serious, and the Government are right to monitor it, as my hon. Friend has asked us to do.

Let me address directly the question that my hon. Friend has asked me in correspondence and in this debate relating to the reports of the dispute between the council leader and the chief executive of the city council. Two key factors can be considered: either it is an employment matter in which the Government have no jurisdiction and which should be dealt with internally by the council as part of its responsibility for staff management issues, or it is an issue of political ethics and conduct for which the local government Standards Board for England is responsible. It was with such situations in mind that the Government established the board in the first place. As my hon. Friend will know, we are still trying to ensure that it works as effectively as possible. We are working closely with the Graham committee and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Committee, which has reported on the matter.

I understand my hon. Friend's concern and his desire for Government to be seen to intervene in what is a worrying situation for him, for other Members with an interest in Liverpool and, no doubt, for the people of his city. I must tell him, however, that the Government do not intervene in the affairs of democratically elected councils lightly. The intervention powers that we have are under the best-value regime. They are a weapon of last resort, to be used in the worst cases of performance failure when problems are deep-seated and endemic. As my hon. Friend will know, in the six years for which the powers have been in the statute book, we have used them only twice: in Hackney and, more recently, in Hull. When we do use them, we do so in accordance with a protocol that we have agreed with the Local Government Association.

In the two cases in which the powers were used, there was strong evidence of failure in service quality and governance. Even then, the Government explored a number of options before using their legislative powers. When they use the powers, they must be certain that they have strong evidence to support intervention and that they are behaving reasonably; otherwise, they are at risk of judicial challenge.

The Liverpool case now throws itself into the limelight. As I have said, the Audit Commission has rated the council as good. Although its services are not uniformly excellent—far from it, as I hope my statistics have made clear and as we have heard from my hon. Friend—they have achieved a good rating in some respects, and the Audit Commission's latest statements about its overall direction have been positive. There are currently no performance grounds on which any reasonable Minister could act under the legislation.

That is not to say that we will not be taking a close interest in how Liverpool fares. My officials and their colleagues from the Government office for the north-west have been monitoring the situation to determine what effect, if any, it has had on the council and in the city. In the immediate future, we will keep a close eye on the council's performance on key services and the governance that it offers local people.

There is no doubt that the events that precipitated the debate are worrying. As has been said, they may well damage the council's image—the way that it is seen by its partners and potential investors in Liverpool. Like my hon. Friend, I greatly regret what has happened, but it seems to me that the most sensible thing for the Government to do in the short term is give the key players a chance to sort out the problems. I welcome the appointment of Sir Michael Lyons to facilitate arbitration between the leader and chief executive of the council, but we must watch the situation carefully.

As I have said, our powers of intervention rest on best-value legislation. The Minister can insist on some relatively minor procedures, but the four main powers are to direct the council to take specified action in respect of specified functions, to direct that specified functions be exercised on behalf of the council by the Secretary of State or his nominee, to hold a local inquiry into the way in which a council is carrying out its functions—I think that my hon. Friend referred to that in the correspondence—and to allow the Secretary of State to direct the Audit Commission to carry out a best-value inspection.

As the main issues highlighted recently appear to be related to leadership generally, and to relationships within the council leadership, I doubt at this stage whether a satisfactory case could be made for use of either of the first two powers. The third—

The motion having been made after Seven o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. Deputy Speaker adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned at sixteen minutes to Eight o'clock.

Will the New Standards Committee make a difference?

2007-05-24T06:04:00.000-04:00

IN TIMES OF BLATANT CORRUPTION ONE WONDERS IF THIS NEW GROUPING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE WILL ACTUALLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL?

TAKEN FROM THE NEWS UPDATE OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL HOMEPAGE, THE REPORT BELOW INFORMS US OF A NEW INDEPENDANT MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE AND IS ALSO THE CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE.

IF ONE CAN BE OPTIMISTIC WE WOULD HOPE THIS COMMITTEE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND ENSURE OFFICERS AND COUNCILLORS ACT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TAX PAYERS.

HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A NEW COMMITTEE, IT JUST HAS NEW MEMBERS, WHAT DID THE FORMER MEMBERS AND THE REMAING MEMBERS DO ABOUT THE EVIL CABAL??

WE COULD ALSO ASK WHO THE OTHER TWO INDEPENDANT MEMBERS ACTUALLY ARE?

PAMELA BROWN, WORKS FOR LIVERPOOL DIRECT LIMITED!

SEE BELOW FOR COUNCIL REPORT

23/05/2007

Standards committee gets more independence

LIVERPOOL City Council's standards watchdog is to have an independent chair for the next year.

And for the first time since the Standards Committee - which was established in 2000 - there will be a majority of independent members compared with councillors.

The Committee promotes and maintains appropriate standards of conduct for councillors and officers in the city council. It also deals with reports of an ethical nature, oversees the whistle-blowing policy and overviews the handing of complaints and ombudsman investigations.

A review of ethical standards in the city council by the Audit Commission suggested that in the "interests of open and accountability the committee should be chaired by an independent member."

Following a public advertisement and recruitment process, Howard Winik has been appointed be chair of the Committee. His appointment was confirmed at the Council's Annual meeting.

Mr Winik graduated in dental surgery at the University of Liverpool and worked as a dentist in the area for a number of years. He became a magistrate in 1990 and serves in both the adult and youth courts.

He is currently Chairman of the Bench and also serves as a mentor and appraiser for new magistrates. He has occupied positions on the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster's Advisory Committee for Justices of the Peace, the Merseyside Area Judicial Forum, the Court of the University of Liverpool, has served as chairman and member of several tribunals including the fields of health , education and other issues. He is also an 08 ambassador for the city.

He said: "High ethical standards and absolute integrity are essential if the community is to have trust and confidence in their local politicians.

"I hope that the new standards committee will be able to work positively and constructively with all members of the city council to ensure these qualities are not only practised, but are seen to be practised.

"I think this would be to everyone's benefit"

The other new committee member is Kim Lumberg who, after graduating, embarked on a business management career spanning some 25 years with the John Lewis Partnership and has specialised in training, human resources and customer services.

She has been a magistrate, a member of the Young Musician of the Year Committee and a Red Cross volunteer. She has been a recruitment Manager for a local company and is currently a Manager for Jonathan Kay. She has experience of employment hearings and the application of an ethical framework in the workplace.

They will join the other two independent members, Pamela Brown and Hugh Thompson along with city councillors Stuart Monkcom and Gideon Ben-Tovim on the committee for 2007/8.

ENDS

LIVERPOOL HISTORY 2005

2007-05-13T19:26:00.000-04:00

Is a new leader in waiting here?

Mar 18 2005
City Editor Larry Neild looks at the top 10 names to take Liverpool up to Capital of Culture year
Daily Post

INTERNATIONAL headhunters were paid £75,000 to search for a new captain to steer Liverpool out of troubled waters in 1999.

However, their search stopped at nearby Knowsley Council whose then chief executive left to take up the top job in Merseyside's largest local authority.

Now the hunt is back on to find a new steward for the city, someone who will lead it into Capital of Culture Year in 2008.

The outgoing Sir David Henshaw has been credited as one of the key architects in the transformation of Liverpool.

However, his intention to leave his Dale Street office sooner rather than later opens up the prospect of a key job in local government being up for offers. And, with a salary worth at least £180,000, it offers the successful applicant the chance to shine as Liverpool focuses on becoming one of Euope's major city destinations.

Undoubtedly, this will lead to a number of high-quality candidates jockeying for the number one position in the forthcoming months.

Top 10 names in the frame are:

* John Flamson, head of Merseyside Objective 1 Programme. His current task is ensuring the £2bn European-backed programme is wisely managed. He is seen as a tough talking civil servant with the gentle touch.

* Carole Hudson, chief executive of St Helens council. The glass town has seen its profile raised dramatically thanks to Ms Hudson who has put it firmly on the regeneration map.

* Jim Gill, chief executive of Liverpool Vision. Seen as a nononsense talker who heads the public-private company charged with regenerating the city centre. Some say releasing Gill from the 'shackles' of a second tier body overseen by the council executive will show an unseen executive capable of high delivery.

* Frances Done, former Rochdale council chief executive who headed the Manchester Commonwealth Games company. Now a high flyer with the Audit Commission.

* Steve Broomhead, one time Warrington council chief and now chief executive of the North West Development Agency. His job is to delicately balance the interests of a massive area stretching from Cheshire to the Lake District while making sure rivals big city Liverpool and Manchester get their fair shares.

* Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester city council. Veteran local government go-getter who has over-seen the transformation of Manchester.

* Tom O'Brien, chief executive of The Mersey Partnership. A local boy, "done good", who reached the dizzy heights of the World Bank in Washington before being 'loaned' to Merseyside.

* Phil Halsall, Liverpool's executive director for resources. Former chief executive of South Ribble who is credited with transforming Liverpool's financial situation.

* Colin Hilton, executive director for Lifelong Learning at Liverpool. Like Halsall, was one of the five super-directors hired under the Henshaw regime. Education in Liverpool has been transformed.

* Brenda Smith, former MD of Granada and now managing director of another media empire. Former Merchant Taylors girl Ms Smith is also on the board of the NWDA, and, in 2003, was named North West Businesswoman of the Year.

Whatever the choice, though, the man, or woman, picked as chief executive will be at the helm during the 800th birthday celebrations in 2007 and, perhaps more importantly, in 2008.

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk

Hunt is on for outstanding ambassador

LIVERPOOL needs a chief executive who can act as an ambassador to the city during a crucial period in its history.

The Merseyside area has been undergoing something of a renaissance in recent years and this will no doubt intensify as Capital of Culture Year, in 2008, comes closer. So one of the main criteria when considering who to choose for the post will be a person's ability to shine as Liverpool looms larger on the European stage.

The chief executive will receive a salary of £180,000.

Another role will be meeting VIP visitors as well as Royalty, and to be involved in complex talks about key projects.

The person must also be a mover and shaker, as well as the most senior paid ambassador for the city around the country and abroad.

The chief executive is also the chief advisor to the council cabinet, or executive board.

Top

Chris Paul: Labour of Love: UK-elections-2007: Liverpool Meltdown for Lib Dems

2007-05-13T11:19:00.000-04:00

Another fine Blogger exposing the Lib Dem Idiots.

However Chris you must not encourage the Storey Teller to come back.

Joe Anderson and the rest of Liverpool Labour will take them down to size next May 08.

That would be a truly wonderful event for the Capital of Culture!

Chris Paul: Labour of Love: UK-elections-2007: Liverpool Meltdown for Lib Dems

City of the Dead*: ANDERSON DEMANDS STANDARDS BOARD PROBE INTO CLUCAS AND THE IRISH CENTRE

2007-05-10T12:11:00.000-04:00

Utter scandal as information is revealed that Liberal Democrat Councillor Flo Clucas has broken the Law in not declaring an interest in her own Company when applying for and in supplying of grants and compulsory purchase orders, in her role of Liverpool City Councillor, voted by and on behalf of the people of Liverpool.

Councillor Joe Anderson Liverpool Labour Group Leader, has demanded an enquiery into this outrage.

Follow link to Liverpool subCulture City of the dead

Or read on this page

City of the Dead*: ANDERSON DEMANDS STANDARDS BOARD PROBE INTO CLUCAS AND THE IRISH CENTRE

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

ANDERSON DEMANDS STANDARDS BOARD PROBE INTO CLUCAS AND THE IRISH CENTRE

LABOUR Leader Joe Anderson has called for a full-scale investigation into Flo Clucas trying to waltz off with the former Irish Centre on Mount Pleasant. (see Liverpool subCulture, ed)

Anderson has written to the Standards Board protesting that Clucas's actions breach the national Code of Conduct for councillors.

The Standards Board can fine or suspend Clucas from office if they find her guilty (some chance of that, ed)

Anderson tells how Clucas 'intervened strongly' at a meeting with planning officials on 19 December to promote Dance Liverpool's crackpot scheme to takeover the Centre, which is a Grade 2* listed building.

He says Clucas also offered/promoted:

Objective 1 European funding for the Centre

city council support for the scheme and/or

to slap a CPO on the Centre.

Anderson says Clucas failed to declare an interest - she is a Director of Dance Liverpool, according to Companies House records.

The Labour Leader poses six separate questions about Clucas's conduct, including:

Has Cllr Flo Clucas used her position as an Executive Member to promote a scheme in respect of which she has interest? (of course, ed)

Was the City Council’s recommendation to reject the (owner's) Planning Application in 2006 as a result of pressure to support the “Dance Liverpool” proposal from Cllr Flo Clucas? (very probably, ed)

Was there any reasonable evidence to suggest that the alternative “Dance Liverpool” proposal had any realistic prospect of delivery (the report... clearly identifies a lack of funding...for the scheme) (none at all, ed)

Anderson also asks if it was appropriate for Clucas to "promise/promote that Liverpool City Council would bear the costs of any CPO enquiry (as you will be aware developers normally bear such costs)?" (highly irregular, ed)

and

"Promising/promoting that acquisition costs would be funded by ERDS (Objective 1 European Funding) before any application or approval for such funding has been obtained?"(well, she is Chair of the Committee which doles out the Euro dosh, so presumably she should know whether she was going to give herself the money? ed)

Anderson adds: "You will note from the handwritten notes from a meeting, that Cllr Flo Clucas had explored ways in which pressure could be put on the existing owner (which would have the result of encouraging him to surrender the leasehold interest) and in particular, investigating the condition of the fire safety system and demanding that Liverpool City Council serve a schedule of dilapidations on the leasehold owner."

(This one will run and run, ed)

LIVERPOOL IN A MESS?

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL TO BE TAKEN TO THE HIGH COURT FOR BREAKING THE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT 1995

EX LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL EMPLOYEE STARTS E-PETITION TO END BULLYING IN THE WORK PLACE

THE FUTURE OF COLIN HILTON AND PHIL HALSALL HANGS IN THE BALANCE.....

HOW MANY ELDERLY DEMENTIA SUFFERERS COULD £63,000.00 FUND????

EVERYWHERE WE LOOK IN LIVERPOOL, THERE SEEMS TO BE A COMMUNITY SERVICE CLOSING OR CRITERIA CHANGING, THAT DIRECTLY AFFECTS THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN OUR SOCIETY.

Watchdog says NO to £63k of payouts to cllrs, Bradley says

NADIA STEWART PUTS THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFINS OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRATS USE THE DEATH OF RHYS JONES AS A MEANS TO WIN VOTES !

LIVERPOOL LIBERAL DEMOCRAT HOUSE OF CARDS STARTS TO CRUMBLE

Warren Bradley in row over Las Vegas show tickets

Liverpool Council's education chief quits

BULLYBOY BRADLEY ! THE ICE CREAM MAN COMETH!

Probe begins into claims of council leader’s bullying of ex-Culture chief

CHILDREN TO PAY FOR LIVERPOOL'S BUDGET DEFECIT

Gladstone House to close with loss of 67 staff: YJB blames councilPosted: 11 January 2008

Union outrage over plan to close Liverpool children’s home

THE COST TO LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TAX PAYERS FOR LIBERAL DEMOCRAT SUCKING UP TO THEIR PARTNERS IN CRIME

THE ORANGE MAN IS GOING AND THE DYNAMIC DUO FIB DEMS BRADLEY AND STOREYTELLER ARE INVESTIGATED

HAS JASON ORANGE LEFT THE CULTURE CLUB?

Council duo face investigation as culture chief departs.

LABOUR PARTY TO THE RESCUE IN CAPITAL OF CULTURE SHORTFALL

Labour MPs vow to fight for more culture cash

Warren Bradley Lies to Daily Post and get's his arse publically kicked

Warren Bradley has been shown in a variety of ways, that he lied about a secret meeting at his home with Lee Forde.

Comment: We stand by our version of events

Warren Bradley Whimpers as Liberal Democrats prepare him for the Sacrificial Roast at the Christmas Dinner 2007

MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL CRISIS GETS WORSE

Crisis looms over leader's secret meetings

Friday, November 30, 2007

FESTIVAL REPORT IS A WHITEWASH? YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

Is the Mathew Street report a whitewash?

Mathew Street Festival Coverup Revealed

REVEALED: How Mathew Street fiasco began a year ago

What have the people of Liverpool gained from the honourable title of European Capital of Culture?

Liverpool Confidential - Mathew Street cancelled

LIVERPOOL CARE CRISIS GETS EVEN WORSE!

CULTURE OR CARE?

This article is taken from society guardian on-line.

Capital in culture

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY, OR HAVE NO-ONE TO CARE FOR YOU IN THE FUTURE

More details from petition creator

Current signatories

Henshaw and the evil cabal: JUNE 27, 2007 - IT'S THE END OF AN ERROR AS THE GREAT MAN FINALLY STEPS DOWN

LIVERPOOL EVIL CABAL BLOGSPOT CREATOR HAS DISSAPPEARED

Monday, 25 June 2007

COME ON LIVERPOOL CITY TAX PAYERS, GET INVOLVED IN CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE, WE PAID ENOUGH FOR IT AFTERALL!

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL ODE TO THE ELDERLY.

The frail old man, he staggers along, he hasn't got long to go.

He's rotting inside, he's just flesh and bones, he hasn't got much to show.

He fought in the war, for our country, so brave.

But where is his reward?

He's just left to rot in some cold dark corner,

Who cares about the shriveling man?

who cares if he should die?

We have no further use for him now,

he can't help himself, so he can't help us.

If he dies soon it will be one less pension to pay,

They cost us too much and for what?

Why should we help them?

They do nothing for us!

Their job was done so many years ago,

They should all be shot they make the world look ugly,

Have beautiful and youthful, hard working people,

And when they grow old and ugly and creased,

We'll shot them too.

I'll never get old, I'll just age a bit.

But I'll always remain youthful, straight, beautiful.

I'm too important to lose,

But you,you shriveled up smelly man!

What use are you?

Can you think of any reason why I should keep you alive?

You are so pathetic

You can't even go to the toilet for yourself!

Or even keep it in until it's convenient!

You just piss in your pants!

What kind of person are you?

I hate slime, you are scum man,

Yes it's true you

were of use to us once,

Gladstone House to close with loss of 67 staff: YJB blames council

Posted: 11 January 2008