Not even a cuddly toy! for the Children's Service

The most popular gift in the Children's Service is chocolates.

Here is the full list for the year ended 31 March 2011 of all gifts & hospitality.

Date	Item	Value	Giver
10/11/2010	Afghani bread
21/01/2011	Bottle of wine
21/01/2011	Bottle of wine
08/04/2010	Bouquet		Whitefield Trust
14/05/2010	Bouquet		St Anges School
07/05/2010	Box of chocolates
14/05/2010	Box of chocolates
01/10/2010	Box of chocolates
30/11/2010	Box of chocolates
30/11/2010	Box of chocolates
15/12/2010	Box of chocolates
21/01/2011	Box of chocolates
12/10/2010	Box of chocolates and a bottle of wine
13/05/2010	Box of roses
01/07/2010	Box of sweets		Liquidlogic
19/04/2010	Box of Thornton’s and a bottle of wine
15/12/2010	Cheque (for donation FC xmas party)	£200	WI
20/05/2010	Chocolates
28/07/2010	Dinner		Wessex Gardens
			All Saints' NW2
			& Bell Lane Schools
11/05/2010	Flowers
22/12/2010	Flowers
21/01/2011	Flowers
12/05/2010	Gift voucher for Amazon
11/01/2011	Hamper	£200	Jesus House
20/10/2010	Japanese note book
17/09/2010	Photo album

The Japanese notebook and the photo album probably didn't need to be declared, assuming they were of modest value, as stationery items can be ignored. 

One would think that the value of an Amazon gift voucher would be known?

As always there is an entry whose acronym isn't clear "FC", not Barnet FC? presumably the children's department Xmas party. The entries in the register should be clear ( open and transparent ).

So there was only one dinner. Someone who wasn't senior enjoyed it (hopefully). The entry probably should have said where the dinner was consumed. One of Mr Mustard's clients always jokes about going to KFC but of course we don't.

Here is another hamper which hopefully was shared out amongst staff or raffled or given to charity. Does anyone know?

So who were the bigwigs in this department in the December 2010 management structure chart and what gifts did they receive ?

Robert McCulloch-Graham

Director of Children's Services

Not even a cuddly toy!

Jay Mercer

Deputy Director of Children's Service

Not even a cuddly toy!

Marion Ingram

Acting Assistant Director Social Care

Not even a cuddly toy!

Mick Quigley

Assistant Director - Schools & Learning

Not even a cuddly toy!

Val White

Assistant Director - Performance & Planning

Not even a cuddly toy!

So looking at the spend for this department listed in the over £500 spending lists we see the following suppliers received some sizable sums of money and might have shown their gratitude in the form of a lunch or dinner, some fine wine, a hamper, or something at all, but apparently not:

Capita Education Resourcing   £95,000

Gardiner & Theobald LLP   £799,000

construction consultancy

Hays HR/Personnel/Social Care   £1,059,000

agency staff

Morgan Hunt   £30,000

recruitment

Mouchel Management Consulting Ltd   £125,000

Sanctuary Personnel   £147,000

Tribal Resourcing   £70,000

staff advertising

Trowers & Hamlins   £121,000

solicitors

Zarak Recruitment   £82,000

The council believes in whistle-blowing and certainly someone was happy to tell the Information Commissioner that Mr Mustard was a naughty boy ( which he wasn't and isn't ) so do feel free to tell this blog or any of the others about things that are wrong. No-one will breach your confidence.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Who ate all the pies? ( but isn't overweight ).

So here is the list of the gifts and hospitality ( perks ) enjoyed by the Chief Executive's Office and Chief Executive's Service ( a distinction made by the council not by Mr Mustard ) all of which were consumed or received by one Nick Walkley. The FT Diary was given to the mayor's charity.

Date	Item	Value	Giver
27/04/2010	Tie	c. £4.50	Finnish delegation
08/05/2010	Mayor’s Charity Dinner
19/05/2010	CBI  Dinner		IBM
03/06/2010	Breakfast	£18	Tribal Group
16/06/2010	Tea	£15	McKinsey & Google
06/07/2010	Dinner – LGA Conference		IMPOWER
07/07/2010	Breakfast – LGA Conference		Localis/Accenture
07/07/2010	Reception – LGA Conference		Localis
30/07/2010	Lunch at Board Meeting		Enterprise
23/08/2010	Ramadan Dinner	£20	Barnet Muslim Forum
06/10/2010	Coffee during Hendon Ward Walk		Cllr Mark Shooter
11/10/2010	Lunch at Savoro’s	£15	Hammersons
13/10/2010	Dinner at SOLACE Conference		Tribal - accepted but did not attend
25/10/2010	LGC Lunch	£10	LGC
22/11/2010	2011 FT Diary		Kier
22/11/2010	Morphou Dinner	£20
01/12/2010	Dinner for Chief Executives		Local Government Improvement and
			Development and ACEVO
08/12/2010	LGC Dinner	£30	LGC
09/12/2010	Drinks	£5	Maxim Consulting
17/12/2010	Dinner	£50-£60	Brent Cross developers and partners
10/02/2011	Public Services Summit	£495	The Guardian
	2 day conference & dinner
23/03/2011	LGC Awards Dinner (as judge)		LGC

So next time you see non-stick wearing a tie, stare at it very hard and try to work out if it is from Finland and only worth £4.50  The Finns evidently weren't that impressed if their gift was only worth £4.50 - it was probably better to give nothing at all.

Get you own better tie here for $35

Only 10 dinners in the entire 12 months. A certain Cabinet Member is 5 times more productive than that?

What sort of jobsworth world are we in when the Chief Exec feels that he needs to list that a councillor bought him a cup of coffee during a ward visit? Hardly likely to sway someone's judgment, now is it.

Mr Mustard has eaten at Savoro ( not Savoro's ) in High Barnet. Last time he went of an evening the place was very busy and the food really is very good for the price charged. The lunch menu is an absolute bargain but Mr Mustard can't stop for lunch - too many blogs to write.

So who didn't get any perks, if the list is to be believed?

Zina Etheridge

Assistant Chief Executive

Not even a cup of coffee

Chris Palmer

Interim Assistant Director - Communications

Not even a cup of coffee

Gavin Lambert

Interim Assistant Director - Strategy

Not even a cup of coffee

Richard Grice

Assistant Director - Customer Services

Not even a cup of coffee

Ms Etheridge and Mr Grice have moved on, the latter to BT, who are bidding for the very customer service department he left behind.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard