The internal review by Cllr Michael Pavey into possible improvements in policy and practice in he Council's Human Resources department will go before the General Purposes Committee on Thursday January 29th.
It should be available on the Council's website a week before the Committe meeting.
The review is much narrower than the independent inquiry requested by many Brent organisations including Brent Green Party, Brent Trades Union Council, Brent Againt Racism Campaign, Brent Labour Representation Committee and many individuals that would have looked at a wider range of issues.
Since the internal review was set up an Employment Tribunal Appeal judge has found that the Council had no grounds for appeal against the findings of racial discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal.
The officers concerned are still in post.
It should be available on the Council's website a week before the Committe meeting.
The review is much narrower than the independent inquiry requested by many Brent organisations including Brent Green Party, Brent Trades Union Council, Brent Againt Racism Campaign, Brent Labour Representation Committee and many individuals that would have looked at a wider range of issues.
Since the internal review was set up an Employment Tribunal Appeal judge has found that the Council had no grounds for appeal against the findings of racial discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal.
The officers concerned are still in post.
I will be interested to read what Councillor Pavey's review has to say. One thing he indicated to me last November was that it won't look at individual cases, such as the Rosemarie Clarke case which it was meant to have been set up to learn lessons from.
ReplyDeleteOne of the key lessons from that case is that, however good your HR and Equalities policies are, they are of little use if the Council's Director of HR and (interim) Chief Executive choose to ignore them.
I have warned Cllr. Pavey (and Cllr. Butt) of the dangers to Brent Council and its leadership of continuing to try to cover-up the wrongful actions of Cara Davani and Christine Gilbert in that case, and of not taking any action against those officers for their misconduct, the evidence of which is quite clear from the Employment Tribunal judgement published on 4 September 2014. How much longer before they come to their senses and ensure that those officers face the consequences of their actions?
Philip Grant.
But Philip, the review is into 'possible improvements in policy and practice in the HR department'. By definition, improvements can only take place in the future and that's what Pavey and Butt's inquiry is all about. Clever, eh? All that stuff you're worried about was in the past and dwelling on it is negative, isn't it? 'Look to the future, it's only just begun' as that master of English jurisprudence Noddy Holder once said.
DeleteIt's rather as if a serial bank robber's arrest and trial should be followed by, and have no other purpose than, a discussion into how banks should avoid letting themselves be robbed in future and robbers should be given a new set of practices and procedures to help them avoid temptation going forward. (Except, of course, in this case we've had the trial already, the accused have been judged and found guilty but those in charge of sentencing have suddenly realised that those in the dock are not just mates from way back but have their uses and also know stuff which is best kept within the family).
And you can guarantee that the words ' strategies have already been put in place to avoid a recurrence', 'draw a line under it', 'move on' ' etc etc etc will be in there somewhere.
I notice that despite this whole scandal, Butt/Davani/Gilbert didn't make Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs of the Year Awards in this week's edition. Still, there's always next year.
Mike Hine
Next year's Rotten Borough stories? Well the Christine-Gilbert-as-returning-officer-for-a-candidate-her-bloke-has-just-been-campaigning-for in the May elections might be a runner, especially if she bans a couple of local notables from the count (and there won't be much competition from their old manor Tower Hamlets as I assume Lutfur and his mates will all be bound and gagged in the town hall dungeon until the vote and the count are both safely over).
DeleteOn 22 December I submitted a Freedom of Information request to Brent Council as follows:
ReplyDelete'Please supply me with
1. The number of nominations/votes received by individual Brent Staff Achievement Award winners 2014
2. The number of nominations/votes received for Rosemarie Clarke for Brent Staff Achievement Awards 2014.'
I received a reply from Ms Cara Davani advising me that I should receive a reply to the request by January 22.
Amir Tahir
It will be interesting to read the answer to this FoI request. Please send a copy of it to Martin, so that he can share it with the rest of us.
DeleteOut of curiousity, I went to the Brent Council website to find out who had actually been given Brent's Staff Achievement Awards for 2014 at the ceremony last November. A search came up with the webpage address for these details, but when I entered this it came up with the message:
'Sorry, the page you are looking for was not found, or may have been removed.'
Philip.
You say that the review 'will go before the General Purposes Committee'. When it 'goes before' them what are they expected to do with it, what are their options?
ReplyDeleteAssuming some options are open to them, how likely are they to explore any of them beyond some expression of mild concern, thanking Mr Pavey for his diligent review and then approval for whatever anodyne conclusions he comes up with?
Who makes up the Committee? Is there anyone there with any integrity or independence? If not then no value will come out of this unless an almighty response comes from people who know of the racism, the bullying, the complicated and sleazy relationships involved and the basic injustice of it all and they shout it, anonymously if necessary, from the rooftops.
You can guarantee it won't be worth the paper it's written on. Staff now sees Butt as a joke. It was in the past that all public nominations got mentioned, this year it was not the case, staff awards has now become a big joke, Bent Council is now a big fat joke which is certainly not funny. If you look at the recent restructures it is clear that these 'managers' making the decisions are not very intelligent. Bunch of idiots. What is the point of still taking people then on the very first day they start work they get told that Bent needs to make cuts so their post is up for the chop so they will need to reapply for a job like everybody else. Only at Bent
ReplyDeleteAnd what does the Director of Policy & Scrutiny have to say? Absolute silence whilst trousering over £125k per annum.
ReplyDeleteBrent used to be rightly proud of their level of service. Bring back Ann John & Gareth Daniel - all is forgiven - please take us back to the days when the residents were cared for, and the staff valued.
Oh, and don't get me going on successive HR failures!!!!!!!!!
On the contrary, please get going on them as loudly and widely as possible. They want you to lose heart and be silently resentful.
DeleteRefuse!
Who IS the Director of Policy & Scrutiny? I've never even heard of the role, let alone who has the job or what they are actually supposed to do.
DeleteThe post of Director of Policy and Scrutiny did not exist when Brent had more than one committee doing that role. Funny that: draw your own conclusions.
ReplyDelete