Who Drew the Short Straw?

Nobody volunteered when the call came from Westminster. Actually, as the late Dr David Kelly would confirm (if he were able), House of Commons Select Committees do not give their witnesses the option of saying no. It was only a day or two after his rough handling by a Select Committee that the poor man was found dead. But it is now me for an intense grilling on what happened to Somerset’s £25 million currently missing in Iceland. I will do my best, but haven’t a clue what to say. The limp excuse that we only spent £7 on specialist advice may make those MPs rock with mirth. So thanks a bunch Mr Crabb. And ta very much Alan. I may take Meic with me for moral support. Rumour has that Ian Liddell-Grainger will be sitting in on my session. Happy new year? I doubt it.

Shakespeare Country

"To hear good counsel - Oh what learning is!" Romeo & Juliet

I confess to a tincture of envy. My colleague, our inestimable locum solicitor, has been living it up in the land of the Bard this week with the rest of the pink ribboned brigade. Two nights in the Stratford on Avon Holiday Inn can do wonders for a jaded official. I hope he remembered to pack his speedos. This very day I confidently expect he will be knocking his legal colleagues into a cocked hat with expert illuminations at the teatime workshop, which is catchily entitled: "TUPE, Secondment, Two-Tier and Pension issues arising in Strategic Partnership/Outsourcing contracts". £380 of public money well spent if you ask me, even if the hotel bills are extra. What Meic doesn't know about the law isn't worth knowing. And here in Somerset we have a rich crop of barely visible small print with which to tie each other in knots.

To all Users

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Kershaw
Sent: 21 November 2008 14:34
To: All Users
Subject: Council information

I am reminding you that we all have responsibilities concerning Council information including data which is confidential and personal. There can be very serious consequences if we do not comply with these responsibilities. All staff must ensure they are aware of, and comply with, the Council's policies and protocols when accessing or handling Council information (for example, Data Protection, Standards of Conduct, ICT Usage Policy). The policies and protocols are available on the Intranet and you may also seek guidance from your manager if you are unclear. Should you feel you are being pressurised to access or divulge Council information to others that would render you to breach these responsibilities, you must inform a senior manager. Staff are also being reminded of the need to be vigilant and to follow the Council's policies (which are available on the Internet) with regard to information that could be considered to be inappropriate, including that which is of a discriminative nature. There can be very serious consequences if we do not comply with these requirements.

Roger Kershaw
Resources - Director
Translation follows:

Data protection and security are vital and with SouthWest One now handling confidential information, a lot of your attention is required. Some very sensitive information about vulnerable people in Somerset will be held in Warwick by IBM and not in County Hall. The information will be minded by strangers, rather than SCC staff.

Actually we’ve had no corporate data protection or security awareness training programmes for years. Three previous staff carrying out data protection duties have left and were never replaced.

There is now a single Officer to cover data protection & security (set that against nine press officers!)

So do your best. Its beyond me. This e-mail is simply to cover my back.

Inhuman Resources

Bully for Him from Alan Jones on Vimeo.

Challenging Times

As if my intray wasn't already groaning, the Chief has now come up with a fresh initiative to bind us all together. It is more than my job is worth not to urge you all to participate. They insist it is going to be "fun".

I like a laugh

A load of bankers

It is very easy in this fast moving arena to make an arithmetical error. That is why we always employ expensive experts to advise us of potential financial risks. And how was I to know it would all go belly up? Ok so Cornwall has only lost £5 million. And we locked £25 million away. But what am I expected to do about it?

Tonight's Extended Management Team Event

I wasn't invited. I am still just a humble County Council employee (at Corporate Director level). But tomorrow morning I have no doubt my confidantes will fill me in on the 'hard' work done at Ashton Court by the Extended Management Team of SouthWest One - all 150 of them (that's 75 complete rubber chickens if they end up with one leg each)! There are other, closer, venues. But this is the place to be seen. SouthWest One is a whole year old - plus just a couple of days. And, my oh my, what a year. We have had to revise some of our plans - that was inevitable. Perhaps we will save £50 million less than we thought we would. So what. HBOS got the sums wrong too. And Bradford & Bingley. And Ashton Court Manor does not come cheap. Tonight I will raise a glass to the superhuman efforts of the whole SouthWest One workforce and peruse the timetable of what must have been an awe-inspiring event. Aspirins at dawn, gentlemen (and ladies)!

Extended Management Team Meeting
2nd October 2008
Ashton Court Manor, Bristol

Running Times and Agenda

12:30 Bus leaves Taunton

13:00 Bus leaves Portishead (to be confirmed based on numbers)

13:15 Registration opens

13.45 Elective Session 1
· SAP – Finance and Procurement
· SAP – HR and Payroll
· People Excellence Model
· Organisation Design

14:15 Break – Transfer between Elective sessions

14:30 Elective Session 2
· SAP – Finance and Procurement
· SAP – HR and Payroll
· People Excellence Model
· Organisation Design

15.00 Pre-meeting tea/coffee

15.30 Main Meeting Agenda
· Introduction and SWO progress to date Paul Lyons 15 mins
· Market perspective Peter Radford 15 mins
· Transformation update Alan Thurlow 15 mins
· ICT service update Jon McElhill 15 mins
· Councils Business Services update Brian James 15 mins
· Police Business Services update John Adby 15 mins
· Client Perspective tbd 15 mins
· Open Forum and Q&A 15 mins

17.30 Pre-dinner drinks

18.30 Dinner (set tables with places allocated)

20.15 Dinner ends

20:30 Event ends - Buses leave

GOD SAVE OUR QUEEN?

We all look up the Chairman. Flamboyant thespian he may be, but courtesy is vital in local government and the Chairman is the most important figure. He has to preside over council meetings. He has to be a cross between an angel and a monarch. In fact I can picture him in a crown. Or a tiara. But now, it is suggested, his regal wings are about to be singed by that austere body the Standards Board of England. I am all too familiar with the Standards Board, having given evidence in a case all too familiar to me – and perhaps also to you. The Standards Board can rap knuckles if a councillor ever loses his or her temper. Think what they can do if serious allegations of misusing official expenses are proven. The Chairman is accused of siphoning off expenses for his own purposes. The Chairman has a reputation for liking the limelight and the luxuries that go with it. And, for once, the Chairman’s long friendship with the Chief Executive may do him no favours. I wish him a fair trial. But he must be ready for a swift execution. That’s what happened to Mary Queen of Scots. Errant queens, even skatboarding ones, are skating on thin ice this time.

MANY RETURNS

SouthWest One is a year old on September 29th. There is little to celebrate, except more work: FOI requests from the unions and interfering outsiders.

BOXES

I have several of these waiting for collection at County Hall. Perhaps those who have caused me pain, heartache and over-work during the past weeks will now do the decent thing and take the paperwork away. I haven't had a proper day off for so long because of this wretched affair. You know who you are.

COPYRIGHT

The issue of copyright has also been a legal quagmire. If I say something then, surely, the copyright belongs to me. But those to whom I have said things now believe that the copyright of MY words belongs to them. Someone has got it wrong. And because I am convinced it is not me I invite you to take another look at another document altogether. Have a happy Bank Holiday.

A DATE TO REMEMBER

On May 19th 2006 Freddie Garrity died. To those with a Liverpool background this will have been a day of mourning. But to one particular person with a Liverpool background the date is deeply significant for a very different reason. It was on May 19th 2006 that the disciplinary hearing against the Chief Executive of Somerset County Council was finally decided. He had been forced to face a panel because of a complaint made against him by a female member of staff. This aggrieved individual had an affair with the Chief Executive. She had been employed by the Council enirely on his say so and she was hired as Project Manager for ISIS - the forerunner of SouthWest One. Whatever transpired between them turned sour. By the close of 2005 the lady in question was sent home, sick with stress. But her decision to invoke grievance proceedings against the Chief Executive could not have come at a less convenient time. The Audit Commission was about to conduct its inspection of the County Council - an inspection that resulted in the award of four stars for excellence. Would the Commission have arrived at such a conclusion if the Chief Executive had been forced to face, for the sake of argument, a public industrial tribunal? Alan Jones begged for mercy and continued to protest his innocence. The lady in question left Somerset's employment quietly - her silence encouraged, no doubt, by a severance agreement finally settled in June 2006. She was paid over £140,000. I know these things because I was there, and I was (as I still am) the County's Section 151 officer. There is much more to be said and there are documents to prove it.

THE WHOLE TRUTH WILL SET ME FREE

Good morning. I have been advised that the allegations against the Councillor concerned in my evidence to the Board have now been settled. Therefore, rather than prolonging the process of publication, I was temporarily able to make the entire document available for anyone to read. This document remained available on the internet until mid August, whereupon the Standards Board complained it was a breach of copyright (thus proving the accuracy of the original) and had it removed. Such action is understandable but not in the public interest - so I have now put the document back into circulation to enable more people to view its contents. The charges against the Councillor concerning his "secret" meeting with IBM have been rejected by the Board's investigators. The displinary action I allege (see page 20/21) was taken against the Project Director of ISIS never in fact took place. This was a lie, for which I am now deeply sorry. There are, in fact, many untruths conveyed in this document. It was deliberate on my part and also premeditated. I wish to apologise most sincerely.

MAIL SUPREMACY?

A most distressing e-mail from dear Alan. I thought it was only right and proper to inform him of my intention to come clean. But the response is very hurtful. He implies that I am impersonating myself.

How can this be? I am now worried about Alan's state of mind. As a friend and an admirer I sincerely urge him to seek medical help.

THE NEXT PAGE

It is, I realise, a slow process building up a complete archive of my evidence to the Standards Board. But the collection will prove invaluable to future municipal historians. I have nothing in particular to remark about this page. But some of the later material is real dynamite.

THE SECOND PAGE

Please bear with me. I am entirely new to the process of the internet. Elaine usually handles everything, but this is too sensitive even for her. The original paper evidence runs to over forty pages and I have corrected parts of it that seemed, upon sober reflection, to be unfortunate phraseology or - worse - deliberately damaging statements that might be miscontrued if ever they were to be seen by those named. So the Standards Board allowed me the chance to alter the transcript and what you can see is the version that was altered - and which includes passages I would rather not have uttered. It is important that they should be read because they throw some light on the truth. My role in the prosecution of the Councillor concerned was, in reality, insignificant. I was dealing in hearsay rather than fact. My superiors used me more as a muck-spreader, a functionary who could relay the sort of damaging tittle-tattle that might eventually make charges stick. I admit that in one section I told a complete lie. But for the details of that you will have to be patient.

THE STANDARDS BOARD AND ME

I have given a great deal of evidence to the Standards Board in connection with allegations made about one Somerset County Councillor. I was interviewed for several hours and the proceedings were transcribed. The transcript I am now beginning to publish contains a variety of information hitherto outside the public gaze. I think it is important to ensure that these matters are not the subject of ill-considered misinterpretation. To aid clarity and to place these matters in the open is now my avowed intent. This particular document shows the real tensions that existed inside the inner sanctum of the County Council. It is important that the public should make informed judgements about these matters. Over the coming days more will appear.

CAN YOU TRUST ME?

I am priveleged to be a member of this Chartered Institute. My work in Local Government has always been at the cutting edge of finance and I am a firm believer in handling public money well. Thus I have been saddened at a whispering campaign against me from colleagues at SCC. A tiny handful believe I have erred in accepting the role of Corporate Director of Resouces for Somerset whilst maintaining my duties as the County's Section 151 Officer under the terms of the Localn Government Act. In order to clear any misunderstandings I have now decided to let CIPFA decide. To this end I am sending all relevant documents to those responsible for conduct among members. I will, of course, also be publishing the data here. Please regard this as an open and honest approach.