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| Blind man's bluff |
Let's go back in time.
On 8 November 2012 Mr Mustard was in the audience at the One Barnet Question Time organised by the Barnet Alliance for Public Services
Sent: 09 November 2012 18:04
To: Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative
Subject: NSL now working (my ref #1401)
Dear Cllr Cornelius
Last night you said "NSL is generating savings now" (based on my manuscript notes but it will be on film)
You know how I like to armchair audit this sort of thing.
Please send me the figures which justify your claim. Please make sure this includes how much overtime has been paid to get them up to the expected level of PCN and the number of CEO (traffic wardens) now assigned to the contract as opposed to the number at contract start (number of posts not people in post) which I do believe has increased.
By the way, based upon what happens at PATAS (the independent adjudicator ) the contract still isn't going very well.
On Tuesday 6th November the hearings went as follows, and every single parking ticket was cancelled:
1. Allowed by Order of Adjudicator (this usually means no evidence filed by Barnet council)
2. TMO wrong.
3. No copy PCN filed.
4. Council failed to deal properly with correspondence.
5. By Order.
6. By Order.
7. Inadequate evidence from council.
8. By Order.
9. By Order
NSL are still not covering you in glory. Imagine this sort of mess in month 7 on DRS and NCSCO. Don't say later that I didn't warn you.
Thank you
Best regards
Mr Mustard
From: Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 4:34 PM
To: Mr Mustard
Subject: RE: NSL now working (my ref #1401)
I did say it whether its on film or not. I will get the info to back up .
regards
Richard
28 November 12
Dear Mr Cornelius
It is over 2 weeks since your email as below. Do you have the info now please.
Yours sincerely
Mr Mustard
23 January 2013
Dear Mr Cornelius
Oh dear it seems that the simplest factual question takes 10 weeks to not be answered.
On what date will I have an answer please?
Yours sincerely
Mr Mustard
At this point Mr Mustard concluded that Richard didn't have any evidence to support his statement and waited for proof to come out of its own accord.
Mr Mustard has now obtained the minutes of meetings between NSL and the council thin client parking team for 2012/13. Here are some of the entries from the 23 November 12 meeting;
* Council raised concerns regarding RR Donnelley, as several issues arose concerning scanning, banking of cheques made out to Barnet and unallocated process.
* Council raised concerns regarding PATAS performance - NSL to provide full commentary and action plan on how performance will improve - NSL to ensure quality of appeal packs moving forward are of a high standard, NSL to arrange more training and visit to PATAS.
* Civil Enforcement Officer notes in relation to cases of where PCN handed to driver needs to be more robust as several cases lost at PATAS.
* Council advised NSL now had contract for 6 months, expect a turnaround in relation to how contract is performing.
So what do we see from this. On 8 November Richard Cornelius, the Leader of the council said the contract is making savings which was his way of saying this One Barnet contract is working but the same month it is clear that the contract has never performed as it should have done. Problems have not gone away either. There are more blog posts to follow.
Mr Mustard has been concerned for some time that councillors generally don't get into the nitty gritty of council functions and then vote in seconds on long, complex and important committee reports. This is a classic example of a lack of in-depth understanding.
Either Corny was bluffing, or ignorant or worse, that he was making a carefully worded statement (he only spoke about savings, not about performance and left the audience to equate the two) which could be construed as a lie (I don't think Corny is a liar but he certainly didn't tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about how well the contract was performing).
One Barnet isn't working.
Yours frugally
Mr Mustard
sent to Mr Mustard by email by a local resident:
ReplyDeleteHow typical, and what a pity that you won't have the opportunity to raise the issue with Corny this Thursday night at the next public meeting of the Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS), as he doesn't want to come to answer questions in person either. It's not just parking either; I've raised questions with him in the past – about trees unnecessarily cut down – and after an 'I'll look into it' response, there is the sound of silence.