Economical with the truth ? - Glass bottle - bottle glass.

Mr Mustard had the dubious pleasure last week of sitting through Council Committee Meetings on two consecutive nights. He is still shocked by how quickly he is back out of Hendon Town Hall each time and home again with oodles of time to write his blog before bedtime.

Often in advance of the meeting Mr Mustard sends any question he has, or points he would like to make, to Councillors in order to stimulate some debate as he thinks that Committee Rooms should be like debating chambers involving serious intellectual argument.

One of the comments he sent to all the Councillors who were going to Thursday's General Function Committee was that if Procurement was outsourced then the Council would not have full and proper control of the purchasing function and it would still need a layer of management to oversee the outsourced function which has a cost and carries risk.

Sadly Cllr. Thomas did not get the benefit of what a Council Tax Payer thinks about this as someone deleted the message unread from his inbox. You need to have a word with them Cllr. Thomas as the matter was important. Other Councillors have found that if they delete ( unread ) messages from Mr Mustard the postman kindly delivers another copy by snailmail.

Now Cllr. Suzette Palmer does pay attention to what the electorate has to say and she also happened to ask a question about Procurement. I expect she had thought about it as soon as she saw the agenda, and then had Mr Mustard's timely reminder, and what with MetPro procurement having broken every rule in the book she was worried for the Council's sake about what might go wrong. She probably didn't like Lord Palmer having to stay out till mid-night either trying to get all the muck out from under the carpet in the audit room.

So, about 15 minutes into the meeting, after Craig Cooper had presented his rather thin 5 page report she said she needed to know a lot more about these changes to the Procurement team and expressed her concern that OneBarnet was being rushed through without any proper checking.

Cllr. Thomas jumped into action then and he asked Craig Cooper if he would clarify some points ( oh how pleased he must have been to have been fed to the lions ) and then set out the clarification points that he wanted Craig Cooper to say, which were that this paper ( committee agenda ) did not authorise outsourcing, the MetPro problem ( yes, he actually said MetPro - I thought the word had perhaps been banned at Barnet Council )  was devolution of purchasing to the services and that this would just streamline and consolidate Procurement and thus there could be some reduction in posts.

Cllr Thomas had evidently forgotten where he was the previous evening. Mr Mustard had not !

Craig Cooper then said ( I have edited out all the "errs" that nervous people pepper their speech with, there were quite a few. Mr Mustard takes dictation at a fair old lick )

"Yes, I can confirm that this is not seeking authority for any form of outsourcing.

It is starting a process of consolidating the capability.

And yes, creating a capability that can perform these functions effectively for the Council".

Oh how Mr Mustard laughed at that last line. Mr Cooper's fine sleight of hand reminds Mr Mustard of the Tommy Cooper glass & bottle trick. Here it is.

The difference is that Tommy Cooper remembered where everything was.

At the previous night's performance of the Cabinet Resources Committee, the Chairman, one Cllr. Daniel Thomas, had, at act 7, witnessed the unveiling of the "New Support & Customer Services Organisation Business Case" 

Click here

which at the head of page 13 lists the Council Services that are in line to be outsourced. What is the first one listed, yes you guessed it "Procurement".

So although that day's report did not seek permission to outsource, the report of the previous day had done so. Oh, and who is listed as One Barnet Lead Director in the Business Case document mentioned above. Yes, that's right, its Craig Cooper.

So nil points for Cllr Thomas, and as for Craig Cooper, Mr Mustard thinks that from now on the Councillors are going to have to ask you a lot more searching questions including :-

"is there anything you have omitted to tell us in your report that you really should mention"

Mr Mustard is thinking about taking up his 5 minutes next time you are presenting a report Mr Cooper. Who will be laughing then ?

Thank goodness also that the Leader, Cllr Cornelius confirmed that the Customers Services outsourcing had to come back to committee before it could go ahead.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Laughing all the way to the recycling bank

This morning Mr Mustard is not his normal healthy yellow but red with rage. He is splutteringly mad with the overblown & incompetent management at Barnet Council. They want to negotiate extremely complex out-sourcing Contracts and yet Mr Mustard sees the mess they have made of a particularly easy one.

Now imagine you are a supplier who just has to collect a commodity from the doorsteps of residents every week and then sell it. The simplest of Contracts. The Contract sets out that you will be paid your costs of collection and then you get to share in some of the money made from selling off the collected items for which there are known markets at known market prices. What do you expect in the way of a bit of a bonus; 5% maybe or 10% would more than fairly compensate you as some £2.5m worth of goods are collected every year so even 5% would give you a bonus of £125,000 p.a..

And now Mr Mustard surmises that the negotiator for the supplier naturally started his negotiations with an unfeasibly high share fully expecting to be negotiated down to a reasonable amount ( he had after all been to Egypt on holiday and could barter with the best of them and he had also been on some training courses about negotiating ). When he named his opening figure he must have been completely shocked to find it accepted without demur.

So what is this Contract of which Mr Mustard speaks and what is the justification for the high percentage share paid to the supplier. This is what Barnet Council had to say:-

Barnet Council's Recycling Services contract with May Gurney allows for the sharing of income from the sale of recyclable materials collected from households, schools and recycling banks. This applies to all materials and not just to paper. ( It's good to share; well it is for May Gurney )

Within the contract, May Gurney retain the first £702,894.40 of income from the sale of materials. The annual contract price that the Council pays to May Gurney for providing the services is then reduced by the same amount. ( So put another way the first £702,894 of sales belongs to Barnet Council - that's us by the way - the Council Tax Payers )

50% of the income received by May Gurney for the sale of materials above this amount is paid to the Council, and May Gurney retains 50%. There are no specific tonnage targets, but the 50% share of income acts as an incentive to May Gurney to collect a greater tonnage of household materials for recycling, and to achieve the best price possible for these materials

The Council's share of income from the sale of materials in the year ending 31 March 2011 is to be finalised, but will be approximately £889,000. ( May Gurney will collect the same amount for no good reason that Mr Mustard can think of )

Now Mr Mustard is struggling with this concept. The incentive is that you get to keep 50% of what you collect above a certain amount. To incentivize you to get the best price you get free money. Paper is the most collected item and for that there is a market price which you can find at this link paper prices so May Gurney are not adding any value to what they are collecting. They should have been put under a duty in the Contract to get the best price and this should have been monitored by Barnet Council against publicly available data. It's not an incentive; it's a gift.

This Contract started on 1 September 2008 and is a 5 year Contract to 2013 with an option to extend for 2 more years. So if all 7 years have the same over generous payment to May Gurney that is £6million given away.

This Contract is one of the worst bargains for Council Tax Payers that Mr Mustard has yet seen. It is just shocking. And who signed this Contract ( it started with ECT Recycling CIC who May Gurney took over ) on behalf of Council Tax Payers. Firstly the then Mayor, Cllr John Marshall, who can be excused for relying on his Officers although I would advise the current Mayor to carefully read everything she is given because Mr Mustard thinks that with this example one shouldn't rely on the Officers.

The other signatory was Margaret Martinus, the Head of Legal who one would expect to scrutinise a Contract most carefully. I hope that she asked some difficult questions at the time but suspect that she just has to sign Contracts for which the terms have already been negotiated no matter how bad the terms are.

The trouble must have started earlier though. The proposal to award a Contract went to the Cabinet Resources Committee on 25 February 2008, although at that stage the final bidder had not been selected, and afterwards there was a challenge to the award and another meeting was held on 16 April 2008 to discuss this. Those papers are exempt from release to the public. I have put the papers for that meeting up as a page to the right of this blog.

How much blame attaches to Councillors for this bad bargain? The Chair was Mike Freer and Councillors were Finn, Hillan, Harper, Marshall & Offord. So only Cllrs. Finn, Harper & Marshall can easily be asked anything. However, unless they asked to see the background papers they would not have known what the tenders contained and would assume that the Officers could be left to drive a hard bargain.

The Officers who presented the report were :-

Mike Freestone, Director of Environment & Transport ( moved on )
Roger Jones, Chief Environmental Services Manager ( moved on )
Nicola Buck, Environmental Services Manager, Waste Strategy ( still at LBB )

and presumably they had all carefully studied the tenders but didn't think it worth mentioning in the report they presented to Council that there was this 50% bonus for one of the Contractors. Mr Mustard is going to have to do some research to see when these documents might become public as he thinks they will be very interesting.

Mr Mustard would be pleased to receive any emails from Barnet Councillors or Officers explaining why giving away 50% is such a bargain, or even equitable, for Council Tax Payers  ?

Mr Mustard also has a sinking feeling. He read the 208 pages that make up the agenda pack for the Cabinet Resources Committee Meeting which took place at 7pm on 29 June when the Councillors nodded the proposals through in 22 minutes flat. The "Business Case" includes the following line at 8.4 Payment Mechanisms "gain-share for increased level of savings" so the plan is to give away to the supplier some of the profit share from outsourcing.

It's funny ( except that it is quite serious ) but Mr Mustard thought that the whole point of going out to private contractors was to save his money and not to give it away.

Come on Councillors, start rocking the boat and asking really well targeted and difficult questions. Please don't just vote these proposals through when they come back to a future committee without giving them a good workout.

And soon would be a good time to decide not to extend the Contract by 2 years unless the 50% gift gets replaced by something much more modest and to go back out to tender for a new supplier to start in September 2013.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Mr Mustard supports the Pinkham Way Alliance

Below is a reprint of a blog from the Pinkham Way Incinerator blog.

Mr Mustard is not in favour of Barnet Council & NLWA's rubbish proposals.

It would be simpler and less disruptive to each of the 7 boroughs if they each dealt with their own waste locally. Putting one super-sized plant just off Pinkham Way is idiotic.

Mr Mustard is showing his support by sending £100 by bank transfer today.

Pinkham Way Alliance want your dosh

"Donations needed to stop a waste plant in our community"

"The Pinkham Way Alliance is leading the fight against plans to build a massive waste treatment plant in our community, on the woodland just east of the junction of the North Circular and Colney Hatch Lane.

"We need money to employ specialist lawyers, and planning, traffic and environmental experts, to deal with the highly technical aspects of our objections to the North London Waste Plan and the North London Waste Authority’s recent planning application.

"In addition to considerable outlay by Pinkham Way Alliance members, a small number of initial donations have helped pay for leaflet printing, and for preliminary advice from lawyers specialising in planning.

"Our fighting fund now needs a considerable boost so that we can present the strongest possible arguments, based on expert assessments of complex planning documents, to challenge the proposals through each stage of a lengthy planning process. This could cost tens of thousands of pounds over the coming months - but, without professional assistance, our chances of winning will be slim. We will of course continue to minimise costs as best we can by drawing on voluntary expertise available to us locally..

"We are asking you to donate generously so that we can preserve the unique nature of our local area, and protect the health of all its residents. The public bodies that have steered this proposal without making sure that those whose lives it will affect most understood what was emerging must not be left unchallenged to do as they please. They appear to be united in their intention to go ahead with this huge facility, and if they are successful, we will then be left in the hands of a huge and commercially motivated waste contractor for decades.

"We have no choice but to organise and fund this campaign ourselves, so please give what you can, using one of the methods below:

• Pay into PWA account at HSBC: sort code 40-04-37, account number 81689320
• By PayPal
• Write a cheque or postal order payable to Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd and send it to Pinkham Way Alliance, c/o Hollickwood School, Sydney Road, Muswell Hill, London N10 2NL
• See full donation information on our Pinkham Way Alliance and Pinkham Panthers websites.

"If you can send some money now or even set up a small monthly payment, that would be fantastic; whatever you can afford is valuable. Also, if you're able to help fund the costs of specific advice - for example, relating to a traffic assessment - but would ike to be directly involved in engaging experts and overseeing the work, that would be welcomed; please get in touch.

"We will, of course, keep you updated about how money donated to Pinkham Way Alliance is being spent.

"Meanwhile, please keep spreading the word to friends and neighbours. The more of us to collaborate, the stronger we’ll be.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Gravy train - column 4 of 8

So the column of the Corporate Structure Chart that we are going to look at today is column 4 - "Corporate Governance". This carriage of the train holds 95 people - yes Mr Mustard does agree that it is somewhat overcrowded in there and it puts out lots of smoke and has mirrored walls. The carriage is beautifully decorated on the outside and is named "transparency & democracy"  but somehow no information ever comes out of the carriage. There is no lighting; it travels completely in the dark. Transparency & Democracy has rarely been glimpsed on the railway tracks of Barnet although you hear it talked about all of the time.

The chief conductor in this carriage is Jeff Lustig. He is rather grandly titled the Director of Corporate Governance. He gets £132,480 p.a. for trying to keep the train on the rails. The present section of track is extremely bumpy but that won't bother Mr Lustig. He had trouble with a piece of land on the sloped section that is Underhill I'm told but others can comment on that.He is also a stickler for making the train run on time. The special Audit train was being driven by Lord Palmer last month, oh what fun he had, and Lord Palmer wanted to stop and pick up a few more poor parishioners but Mr Lustig wouldn't have it; we've been 30 minutes at that stop and not a minute more. Lord Palmer is a sport though and he drove off very slowly so a few more passengers got aboard although some were still left behind on the platform. Despite buying a ticket for the train they were not allowed on board; it's no way to run a railway.

There are 3 assistant conductors.

Margaret Martinus must be very busy waving flags at everyone as she is the "Assistant Director - Legal" and there is lots of squabbling between train officials and just about everyone else. She also signed the recycling contract which I will soon enlighten you about. You might want to recycle Corporate Governance afterwards. Ms Martinus is paid £99,555 p.a.

Ms Aysen Giritli is the "Acting Head of Democratic Services" according to the corporate structure chart or the "Democratic Services Manager" according to the unaudited Accounts; now you know how it feels to be caught with the wrong type of ticket on the train although you thought you had the right one. Don't go getting in the first class carriage now Ms Giritli when you only have a second class ticket and a third class employer. Mind you, on £72,048 p.a. you can afford to travel first class wherever you go.

The third assistant conductor, are we on Indian Railways all of a sudden ?, is Sian Hughes, the "Head of Governance and Service Development" ( Mr Mustard has an idea - in the future no-one can have a job title which has more letters in it than in their name - that would make things simpler ) . She has been on this train for a while working her way up through the ranks. She now earns £72,048 p.a.

So there we have it. To run this shining beacon of this miscarriage of democracy costs £376,131 p.a. and it won't be long before Mr Mustard has checked out the ticket classes of all the other travellers and can give you the total annual spend.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Sandbanksitis - extremely hard to eradicate - at epidemic levels in Barnet

What again, The Sandbanks Hotel ?

What is it with this hotel ? Is the beach at sandbanks made of quicksand and it traps everyone there ? or are there sirens off the coast ? they will lure the good ship OneBarnet to founder on the rocks of overspending.

Is there anything wrong with hotels in Barnet or Enfield or Hertsmere ? They are local businesses and should be supported. You are taking money out of the Borough, Barnet Council - is that Putting the Community First ? - certainly not the hotel community - it is a very bad idea to keep going to Poole. Mr Mustard is starting to get cross.

Which Councillor would you like to see on the rack ? 

For more pictures click here

You are causing traffic congestion and/or extra travel costs for using the train. 

You are causing the carbon footprint to be unnecessarily increased. 

Head teachers will have to leave early on the Wednesday to get to the conference on time causing a loss of working hours.

This is not a 2 day conference as it is described - it finishes at lunch on the second day. Oh let's see, Friday afternoon, finish at 1.30 - doubtless after a good lunch - and then oh dear me, it's too late to get back to school. We will all just have to go home.

Bring back 6 of the best for the organiser !

Head teachers get paid enough to go on their own breaks to Poole.

Will this nonsense ever end ?

A message to local hoteliers. Please start marketing to Barnet Council.

Oh, one final point. Barnet Council's slogan is going to be "Pooleing our resources" - remember that you read it hear first.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Iceland not all bad news for Barnet

Following on from the comment made by Mrs Angry on a previous blog and in the vein of Roger Tichborne "99% not the Barnet Eye" Friday jokes Mr Mustard thought that, after 2 evenings spent at Council Meetings this week, which is probably more time than most Councillors spent on Council business, it was time for some humour.

Mr Mustard found the following information on a BBC website so it must be true.

If you ever should find yourself at a Thorrablot, you will probably see a lot of scary things on the table in front of you. Iceland is not famous for its delicacies, considering the main purpose of traditional food preparation was to preserve it (they have preserved our money !). You could keep some of those dishes for months behind a radiator or under your bed and they would still be safe to eat (though this is not recommended).

If you are a foreigner, it's likely that drunken Icelanders will wave scary alien things at you and dare you to have a bite. If you are ever caught in this situation, here is a brief guide to the things they will be waving at you. 

Hrutspungar (Sour Ram's Testicles)

Ram's testicles, pickled in whey, put in gelatin, pressed either into a cake with garlic, as a jam, or as a kind of pâté that tastes sour and spongy, with a texture reminiscent of pressed cod roe. Guidebooks comment: 'Not bad if you don't think about it too much, especially in pâté form.' Or you could just take their word for it. 

Selshreyfar (Sour Seal Flippers)

The flippers of those adorable animals, made sour in milk and salted. They taste sour, salty and slimy. These are rare, except at some family feasts where the participants have hunted the seals themselves. Quite revolting.

Mr Mustard is delighted to be vegetarian.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

For and on behalf of 99% Not the Barnet Eye

This text in blue is from the blog of Robert Rams. Mr Mustard has commented in red.

Last night (29 June), the business case for the New Support and Customer Service Organisation project was approved by Cabinet Resources Committee. Mr Mustard was there. For a start its Services not Service.

This decision gives the council permission to proceed with the procurement process to find a strategic partner to deliver back office and customer services. Although Councillors Rams & Harper patted each other on the back about how marvellous this project is Councillor Cornelius, the leader of the Council said that "he was particularly reassured that the Contract had to come back to the Committee under paras 1.2 & 1.3" and that "The devil will be in the detail" and that "It needs much greater member detail". So in Mr Mustard's eyes the Leader is certainly not sure about this idea.

The private sector is well placed to provide support services at a lower cost than the council ever could. Unsubstantiated rubbish. The Council spends £900m p.a. so it has leverage.

Specialist suppliers provide these services as their core business; they have access to industry expertise, they can take advantage of economies of scale, and they can access the latest and best technology to help them deliver better services. So could an outfit the size of Barnet Council.

Barnet’s customer services need significant investment to improve resident access to council services but the council simply doesn’t have the money. Tripe. Just let residents ring each service directly. A central point is the worst solution.

The private sector can provide the financial support we need to improve and modernise customer services. And then they will send you the bill.

I don’t believe residents are concerned about who provides back office services to the council. Mr Mustard is a resident. He is concerned about all the spending of the Council and the way they waste money.

Indeed every time we, or other councils, ask residents how they want us to deal with a reduced budget, we are asked to reduce back office costs. One would have thought you might have done it by now then. Your solution, OneBarnet is idiotic.

Residents seem far more interested in Barnet doing what councils are supposed to do – delivering the best quality front line services. Mr Mustard will settle for an acceptable service at an acceptable price.

Over the life of the contract, we will make significant savings, which will free up resources for our highly rated core services. Guesswork.

You can read the business case on the Barnet Council website. Mr Mustard has. It lacks detail. It has been taken apart by Dexter Whitfield.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard