Archive for June, 2010

The Great Inertia Sector: A whistleblower’s account of council work where staff pull six-month sickies

In his emergency Budget this week, Chancellor George Osborne announced he was cutting public sector expenditure by 25 per cent. Unions have declared the cuts irresponsible. But are they? Here, one employee for a large inner London authority lifts the lid on the culture of inertia and incompetence at his workplace. The Mail knows the [...]

No more ‘propaganda on the rates’ says Pickles

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has launched a review into council-funded free newspapers, telling Channel 4 News’s Stephanie West they are “propaganda on the rates dressed up as local reporting” that could damage the local newspaper industry. Local newspapers are already under the cosh of recession and of keeping up with technological advances, with 100 [...]

Plymouth City Council fined £8000 for WEEE breach

Plymouth City Council has been fined £8,000 for allowing unauthorised firms to remove and sell unwanted computers from its waste plants. The council breached the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) by letting firms take computers and other electronic items without checking that they were bona fide recyclers. The Environment Agency took the council [...]

Cut these greedy pen pushers and free the nation

THE recently departed Labour Government left an appalling legacy. Endemic waste and mismanagement have almost bankrupted the public finances. As the former Chief Secretary Liam Byrne breezily confess ed on his departure from the Treasury last month after his party’s long reign of profligacy: “There’s no money left.” A key part of this spendthrift culture [...]

Compensation claims against Lambeth Council increase by 500 per cent

Compensation paid out by Lambeth Council for its mistakes increased by 500 per cent last year, it has emerged. The town hall paid out £118,812 in compensation in 2009-10 compared to £19,706 in 2008-09, according to a council report. The increase comes as it emerged the council received about twice as many complaints about its [...]

Colchester Council is told: Hand over Vaf info – or else

COLCHESTER Council has been ordered – on pain of prosecution – to release secret papers about the building of the town’s controversial new arts facility. The Government’s official information watchdog has severely criticised the council for trying to keep private information about the unfinished and hugely over-budget Visual Arts Facility. An investigation by the Information [...]

Data snoop claim probe is launched by Plymouth council

AN URGENT investigation has been launched by Plymouth City Council’s leader after reports staff may have snooped on taxpayers’ private details. Councillor Vivien Pengelly has ordered the probe after Plymouth was named as one of number of authorities where council staff were suspected of illegally accessing a private tax and benefits database. Reports have suggested [...]

Three jailed over £1.3m adult learning contracts scam

Three people have been jailed over an adult learning skills contracts scam in Shropshire. Paul Kent, 46, of Telford, admitted receiving about £300,000 in kickbacks from Learning Skills Council contracts worth £1.3m, which he granted to his co-defendants. He was jailed for four and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court. Silinder Singh Sidhu, of [...]