Any shift in cuts strategy after Daniel's departure?

There is no official news of the pay-off that Gareth Daniel is likely to get following his departure as Chief Executive but informed speculation starts at £1m.  His salary was more than £200,000 and there are precedents in Brent for handsome pay-offs of senior officers including that of a former Director of Education.

The cover arrangements for the post are in several stages:  Fiona Ledden, Director of Legal and Procurement, will be the immediate stand-in but she will be replaced by an 'external interim Chief Executive' in the next few weeks, pending the appointment of a new Chief Executive which could take several months.

If the clash between Daniel as Chief Executive and Muhammed Butt as leader was over cuts, then budget plans could be in for some revision as well as the crucial decision over whether to raise Council Tax. This is an area where senior council officers (4 out of 6 of whom declared their support for Daniel) are likely to intervene in the interregnum which coincides with preparation for next year's budget. It is here that the Director of Regeneration and Major Projects will be influential.

Brent Council Executive does not seem to have considered the possible deletion of the Chief Executive post as some councils have done LINK

Fiona Ledden, in my experience of  observing council meetings, is a woman of few words, but those she does utter, as perhaps befits her legal background, are always on the side of caution and following the letter of the law.

SEN children uncollected while others delivered to wrong locations

Brent Council has apologised for the problems special needs pupils and their  parents encountered with the new school transport system introduced this term LINK. They admitted:

We know that many families have not had the information they needed, when they needed it, about the services for their child. We also know that in some cases transport has failed to arrive when it should have, some children have been delivered to wrong locations, and there have been problems with route timings. To compound these problems it has been extremely difficult to get through to the (West London Alliance) Transport Bureau on the phone. We understand how upsetting, inconvenient and difficult this is to all those affected and can only apologise. 

They went on:

It is clear that the Bureau was over optimistic about the timetables for implementing the new IT system on which they were relying and that serious problems about data transfer from former IT systems, incomplete testing of the system, and the relative inexperience of staff led to the problems that have occurred.

As a result of this failure Brent and Harrow Councils' transport staff temporarily took back the responsibility for designing routes last week and 'will develop new and reliable routes and schedules for their Boroughs based on last term's routes, using their previous software packages'.

Chalkhill stabbing victim dies

I have come back to the sad news that Aaron, who was stabbed outside the Community Centre in Chalkhill the week before last  and appeared to be making a recovery, collapsed and died yesterday.

Local people are very distressed at the news as Aaron was well-liked. I understand that Aaron was a twin but lost his brother Anton to cancer a few years ago despite donating one of his kidneys.

Community leaders and residents are working to keep the estate calm.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Retreating into the hills while Brent implodes

Off to the hills for a week so no postings on Wembley Matters for a while.

It looks as if I will return to a changed Brent Council landscape. Any tips on who will be acting Chief Exec if today's golden handshake negotiations succeed?

Any money on Andy Donald?

Will the Ann John loyalists strike back?

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