This blog has heard the shorthand term "LGA" many times in respect of its work in exposing the corruption, cronyism and incompetence at bent Labour Sandwell Council but has only recently began to realise their evil, pernicious, influence. "LGA" stands for "Local Government Association" although "Lying Greedy Arseholes" may be more appropriate.
This blog is currently investigating the LGA's (possibly corrupt) role in the appointments to bent Labour Sandwell's paid service of two highly-paid individuals - the Interim Chief Executive, Kim Bromley-Derry, and Keir "Sir Woodenarse" Starmer's pal, Imogen Walker. The disrepuatble Council is failing to make public the details of these secret deals.
From late 2017 the (then) Labour Leader [sic] of bent Sandwell, Steve "Squealing" Eling (above right), was fighting for his political life. (Despite the disclosures about his appalling conduct he hung on for well over a year thanks to the likes of John Spellar MP and Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael, the current "leader", but was eventually suspended by the Party). In an effort to save his skin, Eling decided to commission a Report from cronies at the LGA via the absurdly-named "Peer Review Challenge". This mafia duly delivered with the absolutely pathetic piece of sh*t set out below.
The link to the full "Challenge" Report and the joke follow-up Feedback Report are set out below too. At present a Freedom of Information Act request remains unanswered as to the costs of this bullsh*t but if you want to be sick down yourself take a quick look at the LGA's accounts and see how rich this gang is. Look also how many highly-paid staff they have on the books (the 2020 books are the latest currently available):
It is alleged that disgraced local authority employees regularly get gigs such as the absurd "Peer Review Challenge" to tide them over until the climb back aboard the taxpayer gravy train, and The Skidder team will certainly be looking out for evidence of that. (Let us know if you spot anything please folks.)
Despite the "green shoots" b*llocks the LGA came out with it in 2018/2019, history shows that their peurile "aspirational" nonsense was just that, as bent Sandwell Labour went into a tailspin of desperate failure. Just recently they were caught out in trying to force through a £22m fraud in respect of the grant of SEND contracts. Bent, bent, bent!
Just ONE WEEK after the LGA clowns visited and produced a complete whitewash, James Morris MP stood up in a House of Commons Adjournment Debate on 25th January, 2018 and told Parliament and the world a very different - and true - story*. How did the LGA fail to even mention any of the facts on the ground - the only conclusion, unless the authors are absolutely thick, is that this was deliberate concealment.
It has taken FOUR years for the Government to finally threaten to take action against sh*thole Sandwell and, as I write, The Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, is considering putting this shower into "special measures". Local Community Activist, Darryl Magher, and I have put in lengthy submissions (of which the document below forms a part) to Michael Gove urging him to proceed and arrange a clean up of this sewer once and for all.
In the meantime, even Labour realise Sandwell is in crisis again and so what have they decided to do? Yes, you guessed it - commission ANOTHER peer review challenge at our expense to say, once again, that everything is wonderful, actually! We have got to pay for more sh*te like the rubbish set out below.
The sole Labour MP left in the rotten Borough, the useless London-resident John Spellar, has even whined to the few who listen to anything he says that the Secretary of State should defer sending in Commissioners until the LGA has produced another work of fiction. Whatever view one has of Michael Gove, I don't think he is stupid enough to fall for that one! This is money straight down the drain again in a dirt-poor Borough supposedly represented for nearly 48 years by "socialists"!
If I had produced a piece of work like that shown below I would not have wanted to put my name to it but these are the ones who produced this ordure:
Margaret Carney – Chief Executive, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Cllr Helen Holland (Labour) – Cabinet Member, Bristol City Council
Janie Berry – Director of Governance & Monitoring Officer, Derby City Council
John East - Strategic Director for Growth and Homes, London Borough of
Barking and Dagenham
Mike Harris - Service Director (Growth), Southampton City Council
Paul Clarke – National Programme Manager (Peer Challenge), Local
Government Association Peer Challenge Manager.
I will not spoil your enjoyment of what follows but to imagine the staff w*nking-off every day at the prospect of working with Eling and Britton (both now disgraced) is astonishing even by the dismal standards of this document.
STOP PRESS: since we submitted this to the Secretary of State last Wednesday, bent Labour Sandwell (under trade union pressure and fearing the appointment of Commissioners) have torn up their Contract with Sandwell Leisure Trust. Their appears to be no future plan and Labour have acted maliciously to subvert any Commissioners that have been appointed. The mythical "Commonwealth Games Legacy" is thrown even further into an already gaping abyss of doubt. We informed the Secretary of State on Friday of this perverse action and urged him to expedite the process of "special measures" given bent Labour's absolutely reckless conduct.
Submission to The Secretary of State for Levelling Up - Appendix One
2018 Local Government Association Peer Review Challenge et seq
Key:
P2 et seq - direct quotes from the 2018 LGA Peer Review Challenge
Italics - comments of the authors
Bold Italics - comments of Grant Thornton in the Value for Money Review - Dec, 2021
Note: at present SMBC are not saying how much this very shoddy piece of work cost taxpayers. A FOIA request has been made.
P2 - there is scope to further develop the Council's leadership role and influence beyond the boundaries of the Borough.
Grant Thornton: “The Council has had an insularity in recent years, which in particular has impacted its engagement with businesses, and sub-regional bodies such as the Local Enterprise Partnership and The West Midlands Combined Authority.”
A series of ethics and standards issues have featured heavily in the media. These are undoubtedly impacted on the external reputation and perception of the Council and negatively impact on the morale of some staff.
Authors: And the cover-ups continue eg. in respect of Cllr Simon Hackett. SMBC needs to tell the truth if it is to make a clear break from the past.
It has strengthened some elements of corporate governance, and is planning a fundamental review of governance across the organisation.
The Corporate Management Team and Cabinet are a relatively new leadership team ... This presents an opportunity for a fresh momentum and to draw a line under past events, and take the new agenda forward.
Authors: We have heard these claims before with no actual results. None of this has happened in four years. Indeed the position has deteriorated markedly. Two Chief Executives have been sacked - Britton and Stevens. The top management team has fallen apart. Once again, untested tyro directors are being appointed and the Council has been unable to recruit top talent - notably a new Chief Executive despite a hugely increased pay offer.
Vision 2030.
Authors: This is a pure window-dressing exercise. It is merely an extension of the old SMBC “scorecard system”. All reports try to “fit” proposals into the “Vision 2030” aims with the results ranging from the utterly banal to the ludicrous. Whilst a long-term strategy is advisable SMBC needs a Vision 2022 to stave off the crisis engulfing the organisation.
P3 - Invest in political and managerial leadership team development. It is an opportunity to model the organisational values and behaviours, and demonstrate that the team is here to stay.
Authors: a total failure. As above, the top management team has gone. SMBC is back to square one with some new, untested, Directors joining who are apparently prepared to risk career suicide.
Complete and implement the planned fundamental review of governance ... The review will help demonstrate ... that it [SMBC] takes governance and ethics seriously.
Authors: SMBC with Britton, Stevens, Tour and others have subverted the rule of law and all proper governance and standards systems.
Ensure the ICT infrastructure and provision meets the current and future needs of the organisation.
Authors: we refer to the Grant Thornton comments below but this has been an unmitigated disaster since 2018. Once again, SMBC has chosen a favoured supplier, Oracle, without going through an open tendering process (there is an allegation from one staff member that there was direct corruption involved in this decision). SMBC instructed Inoapps as its “development partner”. The whole thing has been a disaster and it is essential that the Secretary of State reads the Grant Thornton findings in respect of this. Sandwell then fell out with Inoapps. There have been huge cost overruns and no business plan for a project of such strategic importance and cost. Grant Thornton reported in early December. At that point the system was to stop being supported as at 31st December so that SMBC were desperately seeking a new agreement with Oracle to continue technical support for the old system. Again at considerable further expense to the taxpayer.
Grant Thornton: it is essential that the Secretary of State reads KLOE A10 from the Value for Money Review.
P4 - Refresh the corporate landlord strategy.
Authors: We have been hearing that SMBC has been going to do this for many YEARS. What does it even mean? And SMBC have just lost £22m of taxpayers’ money in respect of the Providence Place disaster.
Grant Thornton: KLOE A3 - re £22m loss on Providence Place.
P5 - The peer challenge process. It is important to note that this was not an inspection. The challenges are improvement focused and tailored to meet individual council's needs.
Authors: This is the crux of the failure of the LGA Peer Challenge. It is not and inspection but b*llshit cronyism.
The process is not designed to provide ... A forensic investigation of specific issues.
Authors: as above - no-one at the LGA is checking the actual facts. There is no objective review of the evidence at all - just piffle.
The peer team ... Reflected on the information presented to them by people they met …
Authors: yes, in other words, they only react to what they are told or shown. It is well-known that SMBC hand-picks the yes wo/men who are interviewed by the LGA. This whole process is a farcical waste of time and money.
P6 - the onsite visit was 15 to 80 January 2018.
Authors: precisely one week before James Morris gave an account of the horrors happening in Sandwell in a House of Commons Adjournment Debate!
Vision 2030 … The Council is confident that it can deliver … lol
The Council itself has acknowledged that it now needs to put the 'words and hopes into reality and deliver the vision and embark on meaningful collaboration'.
Authors: It is quite clear that things have become materially worse since this pathetic Challenge and that the Council’s “confidence that it can deliver” (what on earth else would they say!) was entirely misplaced.
P7 - Outcome measures will need to be thought through carefully ... The intention has to be something that drives a new role and purpose for the Council, and helps hold it, and others, to account for the delivery of improved outcomes.
Authors: totally meaningless “management-speak”.
…Good relations and strong partnerships … (e.g. with the voluntary and community sector and other public service organisations), and growing track record of co-production and collaboration …
Authors: even this is hogwash. The third party organisations are packed with Labour Party cronies and are “fronts” for party political propaganda.
The council has invested in the four statutory partnerships it supports …
Authors: this is not even understood. If the LGA refer, for example, to SCT then they have to invest whether they like it or not. This is utterly meaningless.
P8 - Senior councillors and officers do play an active role in the wider conurbation, including participation in the Association of Black Country Authorities (ABCA), Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) ... It is evident that participation in the sub-regional bodies is benefiting the Borough
There is an opportunity to ensure all of the joint leadership team are empowered (with knowledge and authority) to participate in the relevant partnerships and bodies and are to do so on behalf of the Council.
Authors: The late 2022 Grant Thornton VFM Review says the exact opposite - see P2 comment above. The former Leader, Darren Cooper, fantasised that he might become the West Midlands Mayor. Suddenly SMBC started taking an interest in WMCA which quickly waned when his chances of success were clearly zero (and then he died anyway). Even in 2018, when this garbage was written, there was no real engagement with these bodies and there was no way that SMBC was seen as any sort of Black Country leader. Indeed, then as now, SMBC were seen in the West Midlands as deeply corrupt and as a joke (something that is hampering them in trying to recruit top-quality staff).
A series of ethics and standards issues featured heavily in the media in the weeks and months preceding the peer challenge. It is not appropriate to comment on individual cases as they are being progressed through the Council's Audit and Standards processes and procedures. Neither was it in our remit to review, assess or forensically investigate them. What was evident to us, however, is that some are historical and protracted cases which the Council looks to have responded robustly to.
Authors: we have addressed the subversion of the rule of law and governance/standards issues in the main body of our Submission. But this is a truly appalling statement. The only “robustness” has been in subverting legal processes and in expensive cover-ups - the Hackett saga being an egregious example.
P9 - the external attention on standards issues has undoubtedly impacted on the reputation and perception of the Council. Councillors and officers we spoke to are keen for the organisation to be seen to move on from these issues. There is a desire for the Council to be renowned more for the many positive outcomes and activity it enables through its services and partnerships. The Council is committed to doing this. It does not let the issues dominate or restrict the organisation.
Authors: yes it would be very convenient to sweep wrongdoing and corruption under the carpet and “move on” but it is essential that there is - finally - a fully independent (or police) inquiry into these issues. And whilst some issues may be “old” many are still “live” issues to this day - see the Grant Thornton comments on Lion Farm as just one example - KLOE A9.
The Council … [has taken] measures to strengthen its Corporate governance to arrange refinements to the constitution and practice. These have included revisions to financial regulations and contract procedure rules … an updated code of Corporate Governance was approved by Full Council in January 2018.
Authors: there are still very frequent decisions to overrule the Council’s own Contact and Procurement Rules. Why? See above regarding the current ICT disaster.
A more fundamental and widespread review of governance is planned by the Monitoring Officer … it needs to take stock of changes made to date, and focus on areas such as Overview and Scrutiny which the Council has identified as an area for further development.
Authors: the current Monitoring Officer is a major part of SMBC’s problems - see the main body of our Submission.
The Sandwell Children's Trust is due to go live in April 2018. Established following the statutory direction of the Secretary of State after a prolonged history of 'inadequate' Ofsted ratings, it was not the Council's preferred model. However, the Council has recognised it has been unable to improve the services adequately.
The Trust is nonetheless a new and untested model of service delivery for Sandwell, so it is important the Council keeps the relationship and arrangements under close and regular review.
Authors: About the only thing the LGA got right in this whitewash was that SMBC’s Children’s Services were a disaster eventually requiring Government intervention. But far from SMBC “recognising” its failures it kept trumpeting that things were constantly improving. As with this absurd LGA process it threw money at a “Consultant” who claimed that things were not as bad as Ofsted made out.
The Trust has been a disaster too. A Labour crony - Jacqui Smith - was made Chair with the inevitable consequences. Staff have left in droves and SCT is incapable of staying within its budgets (requiring Central Government Covid payments to stay in the black recently.
Grant Thornton: see the entirety of KLOE A1
P10 - We were unclear about how [town plans] will fit with the organisation's overall operating model and governance arrangements.
Authors: So are we four years later! Such is the SMBC way of doing things it set up a super-board but originally refused to tell residents and taxpayers who was even appointed to it!
The council appreciates the importance of a well informed and involved workforce ... There is a desire to develop and improve internal communications further following feedback from staff.
Authors: for the reasons set out in the main body of this Submission the workforce are a disaster-zone packed with Labour cronies and relatives. If The Secretary of State is minded to appoint Commissioners there must be a mass clear-out of the dross.
New Cabinet and Elected Member Development programs have been developed with the support of Local Government Association.
From the people we spoke to there is a recognition and respect for the Leader [Eling] and Chief Executive [Britton] who are seen to want the best for the organisation and staff.
Author: This says it all and exposes the LGA Peer Challenge for the crony act it is. The people “we spoke to” are handpicked grovellers. Eling was hated by many staff because of his volcanic temper and aggression (he is widely identified in respect of the unlawful suspension of the Cabinet secretaries as the male Councillor heard shouting, “I want the f****** out and I don’t want the f****** back”). There are many tales of people leaving his office in tears. Half of his fellow Labour Councillors hated him. In the WhatsApp feed with Marshall he asked the Sandwell Skidder blog to attack Melanie Dudley, the Assistant Chief Executive who he and Britton then sacked when she bravely stood up to them and refused to alter the findings of a Standards investigation. He hung on long after he was exposed with the connivance of people like Kerrie Carmichael, the new Leader of SMBC. He was an unpopular tyrant and his departure was celebrated and not mourned. Britton was an incompetent buffon nicknamed “the big f** Parkie” who was a groveller-extraordinaire. See also the main body of this submission. He infamously caused outrage amongst Children’s Services staff for the failure of that vital provision.These LGA much-loved heroes were both unceremoniously booted-out in disgrace.
[Team development] will help demonstrate stability to the organisation following a period of high turnover at the senior management level.
Authors: the high turnover has continued not least with the sackings of TWO Chief Executives since this “report” was produced.
P11 - P12 - the Council has benefited from strong financial Management to date ... As in many other councils, balancing the budget is getting more challenging. The budget pressures stem predominantly from overspends in Children's Services ... It is important the causes of the demand are fully understood and form part of the ... Budget planning to ensure funding of the new Children's Trust is sufficient and based on robust estimates.
The plans to meet the budget challenge over the next couple of years appear to be well advanced. This position has understandably led to an innate confidence from the political and managerial leadership about the Council's ability to continue to balance the budget. However we questioned whether the strategy is sustainable in the long term …The Council will need to consider a strategy predicated on different approaches that together provide a more sustainable approach to balancing the budget …The Council has recognised that to an extent. It has identified the potential to develop a more commercial approach and mind-set as a means by which to generate income and revenue as to support financial self-sufficiency ... The Council itself acknowledges that thinking is at an early stage ... The LGA can signpost to examples of practice and learning from across the sector and beyond.
Authors: More aspirational nonsense. There is no outward sign of innovation or a more commercial approach to doing business. In fact a series of hard-left Labour Councillors - some at Cabinet level - have denigrated such an approach and continue to do so. The only obvious “plan” was for Sandwell to start its own power company of the sort which have been started in several local authorities and most of which have either gone bust or have required massive public subsidy to survive (for the time being).
P12 - the expression 'people are our greatest asset' has arguably become overused and cliched, but it is a sentiment that is well evidenced at Sandwell. The Council as a committed and engaged workforce who feel invested in.
[An internal survey] suggests a good relationship between organisation and employee.
There is an impressive array of workforce development initiatives at Sandwell to support the recruitment of new talent and develop existing capacity across the organisation.
Authors: as above the crony workforce is a major disaster zone and requires substantial culling.
P13 - The Job Promise (made in 2015) guarantees that all employees who want to remain working with the Council can do. This is a bold pledge.
Author: No wonder crony employees say they are satisfied. They are promised a job for life if they do the bidding of their political masters.
The longer term sustainability of them [Job Promise & Planned Leaver Schemes] will need to be kept under review to ensure an appropriate balance of redeployment and the recruitment of new expertise, fresh external perspectives, and specific experience and expertise required to deliver the future ambitions and priorities of the Council.
[SMBC] also shows a willingness to seek external challenge and validation, and an appetite to seek learning from across the sector ... Commissioning this peer challenge [is an example].
Author: SMBC commission reports like this to counter “challenge” from the media and the people of Sandwell. It is all part of the process of cover-up.
One area for improvement frequently cited by officers and councillors was ICT. The workforce experience of ICT is poor, and some officers see it as a barrier to further improvements and efficiencies, and contrary to the Council's desire to be an agile and flexible organisation. The Council appreciates this.
Author: see above regarding the ongoing ICT disaster.
Beyond the 'digital by default ethos’, we saw very little about a narrative on the future organisation and how it might need to evolve and develop. Put simply, the narrative for the future place articulated through Vision 2030 is clear. But what the Council as an organisation might look like in 2030 is not as developed or articulated.
Authors: It is four years on since this “report” and there is STILL no plan. SMBC lurches from crisis to crisis.
P14 - The Council has a long history of supporting the Voluntary and Community sector …
The Council is committed to the economic development of the area … It appreciates it has a role in helping realise the wider ambitions and targets set out in the WMCA Strategic Economic Plan, and is committed to doing this.
Authors: Where was the evidence of this? The left-wing Councillors loathe and disparage business and commerce. Where is the so-called plan?
Working with the NHS trust & CCG Has helped to secure the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital within Smethwick (due in 2019) …
Author - this is a highly contentious project - especially for people who may have to travel long distances to get treatment. Of course, the contractors went bust and the hospital is still not open.
There is a track record of achieving significant levels of Heritage
Lottery Funding for major projects that have helped to revitalise and improve Sandwell's parks …
[Reference to Lightwoods where the first restoration firm selected by one particular Councillor went bust during the course of the project.]
Relationships with local businesses are also clearly valued by the Council. It is committed to providing practical support that encourages business growth and development … The Council also launched the Business Ambassadors Initiative (in 2016) which enables successful local businesses to promote Sandwell as a business destination, and share their advice, guidance and knowledge to others in the Borough.
Authors: For the reasons set out above, this is simply untrue. The Council absolutely does not value business with Councillors frequently denigrating business and people who make profit as “immoral”. Also as stated elsewhere, the SBA is a secretive (why?) crony organisation packed with non-business people from “third sector organisations” who have never run a whelk stall.
The Council has an established track record of working collaboratively across Black Country on a Core Strategy and strategic transportation issues. It feels it is benefiting its membership of the ABCA and Black Country LEP. Involvement in these gives the Council greater confidence and influence in the debate and decisions about the growth of the wider conurbation and sub-region. The Council can point to some tangible benefits from its participation in the WMCA - such as a land remediation fund earmarked for the Black Country which gives the Council confidence to work up proposals for both residential and employment investment opportunities. Sandwell is also involved in a range of WMCA projects as part of the Thrive! West Midlands commission, which have the potential to improve individual prosperity and resilience.
Authors: Where is the evidence for this bold assertion even in 2018? High-profile Sandwell Council frequently denigrate Walsall and Dudley Councils. See above and the Grant Thornton VFM Review regarding the current position where SMBC are specifically criticised for NOT cooperating with WMCA, the LEP etc. That was the true position in 2018 and remains the position now.
P15 - The Commonwealth games is [an] opportunity … and provides legacy benefits too.
Authors’ Comment - this is pie in the sky. There was no attempt to place the new aquatic centre where it might have been needed. Such was the race to find any greenfield site that the Pool has simply been dumped on a small park surrounded by residential development with poor roads and other transport links. Whereas two existing pools are to be closed, one at Thimblemill is in a listed building and there has never been a plan for its use after the new pool is open to the public, bar a suggestion that it “might” be suitable for some sort of “community use”. Not only is their huge expense and loss of vital green space (against the wishes of the local residents) in building the new pool but this appalling lack of any sensible planning will also lead to large legacy payments eg. subsidies to the listed Thimblemill Baths. We refer in the main body of this submission to the disastrous fall-out with Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) who are/were supposed to operate the new Pool after the Games.
The Council knows there is more it can do and has identified key future growth opportunities in the Borough … The Council also appreciates that improved strategic transportation is key to unlocking employment and growth opportunities … Additional organisational capacity and specific expertise may be needed to maximise the opportunities and the Council will need to consider how this is sourced.
Whilst there is a good grasp of the key challenges and future opportunities, the Council is not fully and consistently articulating its vision of inclusive growth in terms of regeneration and skills development in the Borough.
We understand there is an intention to develop a suite of regeneration master plans that will be linked to each other 6 Town Plans … It will nonetheless be important to do this if the opportunities for maximising growth and development are to be maximised.
One challenge is identifying sites large enough for substantial redevelopment which might have the scale required to address some of the challenges in remediation … Establishing relationships with investors and/or developers could better enable Council resources to be targeted at the sites and tenures but need most help, whilst bringing forward developments as quickly as possible ... Together with the WMCA and Black Country LEP, an analysis of utility capacity to support housing and economic growth would be beneficial to mitigate site development limitations.
Authors: the previous paragraphs are aspirational bull and none of it has come to pass.
P16 - The Council has considerable property assets … The Council … has identified making better use of property assets as an area for improvements and intends to refresh and further develop the corporate landlord strategy … As with other examples we have cited, this is another area where the intention of the Council is good, but now needs following through with delivery plans and implementation.
Authors: there have been some housebuilding projects but the Council continues to seek to destroy vital green spaces (Londonderry, Goldicroft, Brandhall and Lion Farm all being recent examples).
The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge process includes a follow-up visit within the next two years. It is a lighter-touch version of the original visit … The Council has already signed up for a follow up visit …
Authors: there is now a FOIA request submitted to establish how much SMBC are paying for this drivel.
P17 - The current LGA sector-led improvement support offer includes an expectation that all councils will have a Corporate Peer Challenge … every 4 to 5 years. It is therefore anticipated that the Council will commission their next Peer Challenge before January 2023.
Authors: How is yet more money being wasted in this way?
Peer Review Challenge feedback 23rd January 2019.
SMBC took up the LGA's “offer” of a follow-up visit but have, as yet, not publicly disclosed the cost of this charade. The response to a FOIA request is awaited.
Members of the original "peer team" were in attendance but totally failed to mention or address the House of Commons Adjournment Debate of 25th January 2018 which had taken place just after the original peer visit and exposed the true position at failing Sandwell Council.
The feedback contains more absolutely false drivel such as this:
"Given that it has only been 12 months since the CPC in 2018 we recognise that significant progress has been made against the recommendations."
Alleged comments of staff were reported including:
"No one talks about IT, because it just works." (See above where it continues to be a disaster zone.)
"I would recommend working for the council to my friends and family." As we have stated in this Submission the workforce is incestuous to an extremely high degree which is one of the significant problems of this Authority.
On a more realistic note, an employee is alleged to have said, "we have been here before - don't get complacent'. Residents of Sandwell have been promised "green shoots" to our knowledge since 2014 but the constant promises remain unfulfilled. The exact same claims are being made now and so why should we believe such nonsense?
The LGA team referred to,"a full management team" being in situ. Since then 2 Chief Executives have been sacked and there has been a clear out of the top team, one way or another. Despite a greatly enhanced salary package SMBC have recently been unable to recruit a new Chief Executive. An Interim Chief Executive was appointed in secrecy and, we are told, at enormous expense to the taxpayer. New recruits to the top management team have only recently arrived and are untested.
In 2019 the LGA claimed that SMBC and SCT had good relationships with clarity of governance structures. Even if that was ever true, and not just wishful thinking by the peer team, Grant Thornton has shown that enormous problems remain, and that there has been a breakdown of the relationship into an "us and them" culture.
Once again the LGA allege that SMBC was strongly collaborating in the sub-region but we have seen no evidence of that whatsoever and refer again to the Grant Thornton VFM Review of December 2021 which paints a very different - but correct - picture of the situation.
Whereas the LGA claimed that there was a strong track record of delivering balanced budgets in 2019/20, Grant Thornton reported a disastrous situation in respect of financial accounting for that very same year. The Secretary of State is urged to give weight to the objective findings of Grant Thornton rather than this unevidenced wishful thinking from the LGA, a crony organisation.
In 2019 the LGA claimed, without producing any evidence, there was a strong senior officer and member relationship. Save that the grovelling Chief Executive, Jan Britton, was enslaved by and the beholden entirely to the then Leader we saw no evidence of this at all in 2019 and, of course, a key finding of the Grant Thornton VFM Review is that, even if such a relationship ever existed, it has now broken down.
It is worth remembering that Jan Britton was sacked when it was discovered that he and the Leader, Cllr Eling, had subverted the standards investigation into Cllr Hackett (who remains a Councillor) and that he was, himself, reported by SMBC to West Midlands Police in respect of the evidence he gave in a criminal trial. He did everything possible to use taxpayers' funds to save the political career of Councillor Steve Eling but eventually failed when Eling was suspended by the Labour Party (and remains suspended to this day).
In January 2019 the LGA falsely claimed that SMBC had finalised the historical standards issues. This is an outright lie and we refer again to the main body of this Submission and to the Grant Thornton VFM Review.
The LGA reported "positivity" about the new permanent Monitoring Officer which was totally misguided and unfounded. For the reasons set out elsewhere he has been a very significant part of SMBC's ongoing problems.
[It is noteworthy, incidentally, that this feedback report is very thin on content but covers a superfluous number of pages by using very large print.]
The LGA claimed that Town Teams we're making a difference within communities without producing a scintilla of evidence in support of this allegation. We have seen no evidence of this and, in fact, the Town Team system is entirely politically-driven and is focused on benefiting Councillors, cronies and crony organisations.
The LGA alleged there have been dramatic improvement in ICT matters whereas, as above, Grant Thornton have described a totally disastrous management and procurement of ICT systems including a fundamental breakdown of relationships with its development partner, Inoapps.
In respect of maximising the Council's assets it is noteworthy that the Director of Regeneration and Growth appointed in May 2018 only stayed for just over 2 years. We are not sure to whom the Peer Team refer in respect of the appointment of March 2019 but, in any event, disaster continues to follow disaster in this area (eg. Providence Place).
SLT are referred to favourably in the feedback report whereas there have been difficult relationships between SMBC and that organisation at least since 2013 to our own knowledge. Indeed, the fact that the West Bromwich Leisure Centre contract was given to a third party was a result of ongoing problems. These have continued and we refer the Secretary of State again to the Grant Thornton VFM Report in respect of the rapidly deteriorating relationship.
In respect of the mythical "legacy" benefits from the Commonwealth Games vanity project. SLT were given the contract to run the post-Games leisure centre without the matter being put out to tender. But now it appears that SMBC are reconsidering the position. We question the lawfulness of this whole arrangement and, whatever the legal position, new uncertainty has arisen as to the viability of a leisure centre dumped in the middle of a residential area without any pre-planning whatsoever.
The remainder of the Interim Report is entirely meaningless management speak ("maintain direction of travel" etc.) unmoored from reality. It is not worthy of any additional comment.
End.
Authors: Darryl Magher and Julian Saunders
Full LGA b*lls:
2018:
2019
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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)
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