A Sandwell Fairy Tale......

This is a long and depressing tale which shows the "strange" ways in which two local Labour politicians have used taxpayers' money and also the attitude of the mainstream media to such matters.

Please note that what follows has been pieced together by my own amateur efforts and there are a couple of gaps where information is simply not available to me (yet).

Can I take you back to 2009/2010 please? Enter "councillor" Darren Cooper still yet to earn the sobriquet, "The Turdmeister" but a political-bruiser of the old school scrambling up the local greasy pole. Cooper was first elected as a Labour councillor with Sandwell Council ("SMBC") in 1991 and became a cabinet member in 2003/4. Unbelievably his career continued and he became Deputy Leader of SMBC in 2009. The sitting Labour "leader" then had to resign due to a theft charge (!) and Cooper was crowned as "leader" (whereupon he took up a number of important local positions and directorships including in December 2009, Birmingham Airport Holdings Limited & associated companies).

And so, we are told, despite his long political experience it is alleged that in 2009 or 2010 Cooper suddenly felt that he needed "executive coaching". Now there are hundreds of companies providing this sort of, er, training (eg Caret Consulting) and, indeed, SMBC pay taxpayers' money for such services from time to time and so one would assume that a tendering process of sorts would take place to find a suitable mentor for our shy, retiring flower. But no. SMBC turned instead to, er, local Birmingham Labour politician, the recently de-seated Steven John Bedser.

Remember folks, we are still somewhere in the mists of 2009/2010. The history of Bedser at this stage is a little opaque. He was elected to Birmingham City Council as a Labour candidate in 1998. His LinkedIn profile - presumably his own work - states that he has been a Birmingham City Council ("BCC") Councillor from 1998 "to present" which overlooks the fact that he lost his seat and was NOT on BCC 2008 to 2010. He also shows a somewhat schizophrenic approach to the niceties of Company Law (slightly worrying as he is NOW a cabinet member of BCC) since he likes to describe himself as "Managing Director" of a non-limited company he says, via LinkedIn, he set up in 2006, "FD Associates". Strangely he seems to have also traded under the name "Fairy Dust Consulting" (see further below).

It seems Bedser did operate as a sole trader under the name FD Associates and he had a separate bank account in that name with Nat West. Somewhere around this time, and whilst not on  BCC, he applied for a grant from them for the "LGBT Senior Reference Forum" either in the name FD Associates or Fairy Dust Consulting. Even though there was at the time (and still is) a brilliant LGBT charity in Birmingham doing excellent work, BCC decided to pay, then ex-councillor, Bedser via "Fairy Dust Consulting" (not FD Associates) £7,819.50 of taxpayers' money in financial year 2009/2010 (BCC FoI reply 25/05/11 to Mr D. Singh).

I have asked Bedser himself to say what happened to the money and the "LGBT Senior Reference Forum" but no reply has been forthcoming. BCC say they did not "request a final report" on this expenditure of public money ie they have no idea how it was spent. Enquiries of the Library of Birmingham and the Birmingham LGBT charity reveal that they have no knowledge of any of this and do not hold an archive for it. Maybe the money was spent wisely on a good cause but we, the public, simply don't know.

Still back in 2009/2010 and now trying to piece together details of Bedser's "consultancy" career. This from a September 2009 website which may or may not be totally accurate:

"Fairy Dust Consulting is a network of experienced consultants (ie NOT just Bedser) each of them recognised as a leading practitioner in their own field."

And then to paraphrase the rest - Steve's origins lie in the Health Service. this later developed into a management career. He then became Chief Officer of a Primary Care Group and then Director of a Primary Care Trust, both in Sandwell. Since leaving the Health Service he has been the Chief Executive of a large environmental regeneration charity prior to founding Fairy Dust Consulting in 2006. Alongside his paid career, Steve has a high profile as an elected member in Birmingham" (this last bit can't be true since he was off BCC in 2009)

 In other words (and if correct) a reasonable CV but no reference to qualifications/experience as a management consultant/executive coach.

Sounds busy though doesn't he? Add to this his claims of being a trade-union activist for Nalgo and Unison and his work as agent for Labour MP, Richard Burden! And then in early 2010 he attempted to get the Labour Parliamentary candidature for Birmingham, Erdington . Strangely, he does not seem to to have made much of his glittering health service career nor his role as hot-shot "consultant" with the comrades on the selection committee if this quote from his pitch related in "The Stirrer" is anything to go by:

"My background is in community engagement, working with the voluntary sector".

But then in May, 2010 Bedser was elected for the second time to BCC. He has recently had a few grand off them but now there was the question of declarations of interests etc. For reasons that are not clear, on 4th June, 2010 he set up a limited company using his sole name and with himself as the only shareholder called Fairy Dust Consulting Limited. On the same day he filed a declaration of interests with BCC declaring the existence of the new Company and saying this (words in parenthesis my own):

"Prior to my election I held contracts (plural) for professional services. For the avoidance of doubt I have now withdrawn from these contracts (plural) and will complete any outstanding work on an ex-gratia basis to the City Council. These contracts (plural) were entered into as a sole trader. Any future contracts will be tendered for by Fairy Dust Consulting Limited in full accordance with Council procurement rules".

(Incidentally, our "management consultant" also confirmed a connection with those old friends of Sandwell Labour, er, Unite the Union.).

Now you may wonder why the next bit is relevant but please bear with me. When Bedser set up the Limited Company (which gave him a certain amount of "invisibility" from prying eyes) he effectively "sold" the benefits and advantage of the non-limited company trading names FD Associates and Fairy Dust Consulting to the Limited Company. No money actually changed hands but rather what is called a "goodwill" payment was booked to the Company. This figure was dreamt up by Bedser and/or his accountant who valued the highly-successful Bedser "brand" at, er, £10,000. What this was based on may only be apparent to HMRC who tend to restrict "goodwill" which is purely personal to an owner/director since they can amortise this sum over the years and claim this as an allowable expense in computing taxable profits (Bedser has, in actual fact, done this himself and reduced goodwill by £1,000 per annum in the two sets of abbreviated accounts he has filed to date but as for profits......).

The brief accounts for 2011 and 2012 show that Fairy Dust Consulting Limited was at that time a VERY small operation indeed. The 2011 accounts show the goodwill referred to above being reduced from £10k to £9k and the only actual asset of the business being £329 (presumably a computer/phone). They do show cash in the bank of  £7,963 which sharp-eyed readers will note is similar to the amount Bedser got from BCC. As this is a small company there is no legal requirement to file a profit and loss account but the amount transferred from there onto the balance sheet was, er, £76 (yes - just Seventy-Six Pounds!).

The 2012 accounts, and it is important to note that these are dated 30th June, 2012, show a deteriorating position! The so-called intangible "goodwill" has been reduced to £8k and it looks like he might have bought a new computer since the only actual assets are now £743 BUT most of the cash in the bank has gone (down to £1,748). In fact, there is a major trading LOSS such that current liabilities of £11,532 exceeded assets of £8743 (including the £8,000 "goodwill") by £2,609. This is insolvency and the accountant was obliged to add the following statement to the accounts:

"Going Concern: the Company has wound down much of its activity (what activity?) during the year and as a result these accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis, on the understanding that the sole director and shareholder (ie Bedser) will continue to financially support the Company".

Which brings us back neatly to SMBC and The Turdmeister. IF he needed "executive coaching" why did SMBC not tender for and employ a reputable company such as, for example, the aforementioned Caret? (Curiously HR Magazine reported in September 2010 that Bedser had set up via Fairy Dust a specialist training programme for senior lesbian, gay and bisexual leaders called "Rainbow High" in partnership with, er Caret). Who at SMBC made the decision to appoint Bedser for this role? Was it Cooper himself? Did the Chief Exec have any input?

The fact is that without a Freedom of Information Act request we do not know when Bedser was first "appointed" but it must have been before May 2010 since Turdy tweeted on 24/09/13 that Bedser "was not a Councillor" when the arrangement started. This is odd because what appears to be the second invoice Bedser submitted was for Feb-Aug 2011.

It is up to you dear reader to decide whether Bedser's track record was such as to qualify him as an "executive coach" for Cooper and whether SMBC erred in failing to tender and/or give the alleged contract to an established training company. It is then for you to decide, whether Bedser's tinpot company should have been allowed to charge the taxpayer a whopping £450 for each alleged monthly "session".

Sorry, but there is more. As above Bedser secured (at least) a first payment from public funds which Cooper tacitly accepted to the press was £2,700 (6 x £450 sessions). But this was in the good old days when councils did not have to publish a list of payments over £500. This caused a problem in 2011 when the rules were tightened.

As any fule kno an invoice for payment should be addressed to the council. I don't know what happened with the first payment but by the time of Bedser's second invoice the rules had tightened. By now our management guru was back on BCC and so you would assume that he would know to address the invoice to "Sandwell Council" or to "SMBC" but no, he addressed it directly to "Lindsey Rogers, Governance Services Manager (Members), Sandwell Council House, Oldbury etc". The invoice dated 16th August, 2011 was for another 6 undated - "sessions" with Turdy between February and August 2011 at an unspecified venue. In total, a second £2,700 from the taxpayer. Interestingly he asked for the cheque to be made payable to "FD Associates" even though the Limited Company was up and running. You will also note from the above that Bedser was fully au fait with "Council procurement rules" in respect of his dealings with BCC but that the rules with Sandwell were, apparently, something different.

But due to the new council expenditure rules another problem arose as this "contract" had never been tendered for and so SMBC had to complete a form to allow the payment to be made. Happily the same Lindsey Rogers, Governance Services Manager (Members), was able to authorise this stating on the form "Leaders (sic) mentoring - bespoke supplier who is directly engaged via Leaders (sic) office". Kerching!

And so it went on. Bedser was now "in the system" though he still made sure to address to next invoice direct to Lindsey Rogers as before. Out went another £2,700 for 6 undated £450 sessions at an uknown venue and there was yet another after that so that Bedser/Fairy Dust received a minimum of £11,800 of our money. The situation continued after the date of the 2012 accounts and as no later accounts are yet available it is at least possible that the SMBC money was the ONLY income to the management guru's company! We shall see....

Mind you, Bedser was quick to complain about perceived lack of value from others despite having himself received a minimum of £19,619.50 from two councils eg these two tweets from last summer (note hashtags):

"There isn't a refund, not with the AA said the call centre operator when I tried to get 6 months back, having sold my car" ; or better still:

"@Post Office Just figured out you charged 24% premium on my returned holiday currency #thievingrobdogs #notmuchbetterthanwonga" (I'm sure all those in Sandwell who can only dream of a holiday will be shedding a quiet tear......)

This came to light when I strayed across the name "Fairy Dust Consulting Limited" in the payments over £500 list. Various local mainstream media outlets including the BBC were alerted but, depressingly, the amount of our money being spent was too insignificant for them to be bothered with. I began to tweet the information but then the Wolverhampton branch of SMBC's Press Office, the Express and Star, weighed in to help the person they describe to me as "Darren". You will see from the below their "interesting" take on the affair - please have a handkerchief ready!

The E&S ran the story on Friday 13th (!) September, 2013. The first thing Turdy told them was that he had very conveniently now stopped the "monthly sessions" because of the need to make costs savings! Despite his 18 years on the Council prior to becoming leader he "saw himself as a kid from a council estate who had entered a completely different world and had to make some difficult decisions." He admitted the sessions (no dates or venues and not apparently asked for by the senior journalist) had been going on since 2009 but the E&S didn't bother to get details (so it is possible from this that Bedser received more than £11,800). Cooper never talked politics with his Labour chum (who happened to be on a joint Birmingham/Sandwell Council health committee for part of this period) but the training was to help him be an effective leader dealing with people from "all walks of life".

The sob story continued, "I became leader at a very difficult time. I had to move on a former chief executive and take the decision to cut the number of senior directors from 26 to 13". He apparently told the senior journalist that the training covered  different aspects of communication including "body language" but he had (conveniently again) just stopped as "every little helps". No date was given nor apparently asked for in respect of the "final session".

As if this garbage was not bad enough the senior E&S journalist returned to the subject the following day saying "there is a legitimate debate to be had about the use of a consultant and the cost at a time when council cuts are resulting in hundreds of jobs being lost. Yet it offers some insight into the enormity of the responsibility that some politicians can find themselves bearing." (Honestly, I am not making this up and it gets worse...I was also under the impression that Turdy desperately wanted this job and did not have it thrust upon him....)

"For those at the top", advised the "E&S", "it is something of a baptism of fire to suddenly find yourself running a budget worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year, employing more staff than any business in the borough and being relied upon by every single man, woman and child to provide a service." (Incidentally Turdy is just about to preside over a cull of 36% of those staff but it is not clear if the "body language sessions" covered handing-out the P45's).

Just in case we had still not got the message the Saturday piece ended (takes cut onion and dabs nears eyes), "No wonder Councillor Cooper wanted to make sure he could get his message across".

Whilst you are cleaning the vomit from yourselves we can reflect perhaps on one or two of Turdy's efforts to "get his message across":

1. How about this from The Express about Thatcher before she died. Our "mental health nurse" retweeted someone's message "Lady Thatcher. Rot in hell". As reported, "when challenged Mr Cooper made clear his support for the sentiment by replying: 'my feelings, not my words'."

2. Or this to my good self "And now your mate @xxxxx as [sic] been put to bed I'm turning my attention to you Mister."

3. I don't think Bedser would endorse homophobia but when three Ukip campaigners were photographed outside the public lavatories in Blackheath on 21st December, 2013, campaigning to keep them open,  Cooper sent this delightful yuletide message, "O dear you could get arrested hanging around what was public toilets! #threewisemen lol #ukippers. Please RTweet"; or

4. A brilliant synopsis of education funding, "Not easily [sic] to understand how schools get funding taken me a while. Easy to create conspicuous [sic] theory and carp about things."

But the E&S hadn't quite finished....Because the executive coaching had made him a more effective leader the cull of directors (which wouldn't have happened anyway, of course) had SAVED the taxpayer FOUR MILLION pounds and so he thought this "justified" the minimum £11,800 payment to his Labour chum. Now if you believe that you really do believe in fairies........

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