Objections to Brent’s 2015/16 accounts – lawfulness of Cara Davani “pay-off” still to be resolved

Guest blog by Philip Grant

It appears that I was being optimistic when I gave an update on this subject in January LINK  referring to “progress” in dealing with the objections by five local electors to Brent Council’s accounts for 2015/16. I am writing this article to keep interested “Wembley Matters” readers informed about the current situation.

Four months ago, the objectors were waiting to receive some Brent Council documents from the Auditor, so that we could make further comments in support of our objections, and in reply to the Council’s response of 14 December 2016 to our objections. We are still waiting!

Progress on investigating the objections has not been helped by a change in the person at Messrs KPMG who is acting as Auditor. We were informed of the change at the same time this was disclosed in a report by KPMG to Brent’s Audit Committee on 20 March:

‘We would like to inform the Audit Committee that Andrew Sayers, a partner based in our London office, is replacing Philip Johnstone as the engagement lead on the audit. Andrew has already met with Carolyn Downs, Althea Loderick and Conrad Hall to help ensure a smooth handover from Philip. Andrew has a wide experience of audit and is currently the engagement lead at five other London boroughs as well as KPMG’s national Lead Partner for Public Sector audit.’

Mr Sayers did confirm, when first writing to the objectors, that he would share with us all the documents which he considered to be material to his decision on our objections, although he made clear that these might not include those ‘subject to professional legal privilege’. I made the following comments in my reply:

‘That legal advice, the circumstances around and timing of when it was given, and who it was given to, are all key factors in determining whether the payment to Ms Davani was lawful, as the Council claim, or unlawful. Why are Brent's senior officers afraid to allow the objectors to see the evidence of that legal advice, in confidence and purely for the purposes of your investigation, as auditor, into our objections? If they are confident that this "legal advice" document will stand up to scrutiny, they should consent to you sharing it with us; I am copying this email to Carolyn Downs and Conrad Hall, in the hope that they will now give that consent.’

I wrote to Brent’s Chief Executive on 23 March, asking if she would, on behalf of Brent Council, ‘now consent to the auditor sharing with myself and the other objectors (subject to safeguards over confidentiality, and solely for use in respect of his investigation into our objections) the legal advice on which the Council's justification for the £157,610 payment we are objecting to is based.’ 

I hoped that the answer would be “yes”, but if it was “no”, I asked for some further information about the meeting at which the “legal advice” had been given, and the notes of that meeting (which appear to be the only documentary record of what that advice was). I hoped that this information would be provided ‘as a matter of course, in assisting with a proper resolution of the auditor's enquiries’, but asked Ms Downs to treat it as an FoI request if that was not the case.

The reply I received (not from Ms Downs, but from a Senior Officer on behalf of the Council) was very abrasive, but did provide the information I had requested. The “legal advice” had been given in May 2015 by Counsel to Christine Gilbert, then interim Chief Executive, who was accompanied by one other Senior Officer (but, surprisingly, not the Chief Legal Officer or any member of her legal team) who prepared the notes. The reply also referred to a decision notice, issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office on 22 March 2017, using this to justify why the legal advice should not be disclosed to the objectors.

That decision by the ICO was to reject a complaint by Cllr. John Warren against Brent Council’s refusal to disclose the “legal advice” used to justify the payment of £157,610 to Cara Davani, under an FoI request which he made in July 2016. Cllr. Warren had claimed that, although this was covered by “legal privilege”, it should be disclosed ‘in the public interest’. However, the ICO did refer to the Auditor’s investigation into the objections against the £157k payment, and made clear that this was a separate statutory process, so that Brent is wrong to claim that the FoI decision also precludes disclosure (in confidence) by Mr Sayers to the objectors.

The ICO report included a summary of the types of information which Brent has, and which would have been disclosed if Cllr. Warren’s FoI request or complaint had been upheld, saying:

‘The council stated that the withheld information comprises of email correspondence between council officers and the council's barrister relating to the termination of a, now, former employee's contract of employment and associated file notes.’

I have pointed out to the Council, and the Auditor, that this includes more documents than the objectors were led to believe (in November and December 2016) existed, and that all of these documents should be made available to the Auditor, if they had not already been provided to him. (Hopefully, they may still be shared with the objectors!).

I understand that the Auditor also asked Brent, in mid-March, to provide some further information and documentation (even though KPMG had asked them last November to provide all of the documents relevant to our objections). I do not know whether that is part of the reason for the continuing delay. 

When nothing further had been heard from the Auditor by early May, I wrote to ask when the objectors could expect to have the documents shared with us. Mr Sayers has replied that he anticipates sharing the documents material to his decision with us by the end of June, but has not indicated why it should take so long. 

The end of June 2017 will mark two years since Brent’s disgraced Director of HR walked away with £157,610 of Council Tax-payers’ money (as well as having her share of the Employment Tribunal settlement and legal costs in the Rosemarie Clarke case paid by Brent on her behalf). The objectors are having to be patient, but we will see this through. The sad thing is that key figures at Brent Council still seem determined to cover-up the details of what went wrong (and who was responsible for it), even though they finally admitted last year that ‘this had been a very unhappy episode’.

Philip Grant

 

A big 'THANK YOU' to the nurses of Brent

Yesterday was 'Nurses Day' and I was busy with interviewing all day but I would like to say a belated thank you to all the nurses who I have encountered in recent visits to Northwick Park, St Marks and Central Middlesex hospital.

I have been impressed by their efforts to explain procedures, minimise pain and provide support. What impresses me above all is their team work alongside other NHS staff often accompanied by a stress reducing sense of humour.

Thank you.

School Funding Crisis: Caroline Lucas details the impact on provision

It is good to see that the schools budget crisis which could see the loss of hudreds of teaching and teaching assistant jobs, narrowing of the curriculum and larger class sizes is becoming a prominent election issue.

Ahead of the Education Question Time event I publish here the submission made by Caroline Lucas MP tin March o the consultation on the new school funding formula. Although the context is Brighton many of the issues also apply to Brent:

 

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Submission from Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion 

Introduction

Ahead of this submission, I have contacted the Head Teachers serving the children and young people in Brighton Pavilion constituency to ask for their views.  The message back in response from Head Teachers is clear and consistent:

• School funding is in crisis
• Current budgets are unsustainable
• School budgets are being pushed beyond breaking point
•  

One Head with ten plus years’ experience told me the impending crisis is “unprecedented”. 

This is also the message in a letter, dated 13 March, signed by 44 Brighton and Hove Head Teachers and sent to all 3 Brighton and Hove MPs.  The letter is included as Appendix One to this submission.  Appendix Two includes a letter and statement from the Brighton City Partnership for Education, which is sent jointly with 13 other counties.  The Education Partnerships sets out in stark terms the dismay felt by school leaders over the Government’s decision to continue to divert significant monies to Free School provision and Grammar School expansion when this does not always guarantee value for money.  They refer to Department for Education (DfE) “decisions that seem to entirely ignore the wishes and needs of dedicated and committed school leaders”.  I urge Ministers to listen to the very genuine and persuasive concerns of education professionals.

Official list of GE2017 candidates for Brent

BRENT CENTRAL

Rahoul Bhansali (Con)
Dawn Butler (Lab)
Anton Georgiou (Lib Dem)
Shaka Lish (Green)
Janice North (UKIP)

BRENT NORTH

Barry Gardiner (Lab)
Elcena Jeffers (Ind)
Ameet Jogia (Con)
Michaela Lichten (Green)
Paul Lorber (Lib Dem)

HAMPSTEAD AND KILBURN (shared with Camden)

Kirsty Allan (Lib Dem)
Hugh Easterbrook (Ind)
Claire-Louise Leyland   (Con)
John Mansook (Green)
Tulip Siddiq (Lab)
Rainbow Weiss (Ind)

Indro Sen's appeal against dismissal to be heard today

Sen teaching students in a park in his spare time back in 2007

Indro Sen, College of North West London, and UCU represenattive will be presenting his Appeal against dismissal from his post at the College of North west London today.  Sen has been supported by many trade unionists, students and ex-students and Brent Green Party LINK

A petition in support of Sen will be presented  LINK along with comments from some of his supporters:

Click to enlarge

Meanwhile comcern over precarious employment such as zero contracts and fake apprenticeships are likely to become General Election issues.   The College of North West London was the victim of an apprenticeship fraud LINK and the UCU called for an public inquiry LINK.

On Wednesday the Metro reported on the Superdrug apprenticeship scheme where young workers alleged their was not real apprenticeship, just a company ploy to emply them on low wages. LINK

Balfour declaration: origin and relevance to today - public meeting May 16th

Illness and premature death will result from Government's ineffective Clean Air Strategy

From the Greener Jobs Alliance

Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council (BWTUC) slammed the Government newly published plans to improve air quality as being totally ineffective and that they will utterly fail to remove dangerous pollutants from the air in Wandsworth.

The Government were forced to produce an Air Quality plan for consultation by the courts this month. They had tried to use the election as a reason to delay publication but this was rejected by the Court.

Graham Petersen, spokesperson for BWTUC, said,

If this document represents their vision of how the public will be protected from air pollution it is no surprise they wanted to keep it under wraps.

If this is how you respond to the Number 0ne public health hazard then the Conservative Party have lost all credibility on this important issue. Instead of providing clear leadership from central government, control measures have largely been delegated to local authorities. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t the same government that have stripped local government finances to the bone. A public health emergency that claims the lives of around 40,000 people every year requires a clear national direction.

People in Wandsworth are in the front-line of toxic air. We have the most polluted street in Europe – Putney High St. Levels in some parts of the borough show over 2 twice the legal limit of 40ug/m³ for nitrogen dioxide. In April, the Wandsworth Guardian quoted a report that showed 29 schools in the borough located in areas exceeding the safe legal limit.   Wandsworth Council’s own Air Quality Action Plan identified the importance of a campaign ‘to national government towards a non-diesel economy’ as a priority action. If they are serious about this then the Council should join us in condemning these inadequate proposals.

BWTUC believes that new statutory duties are required under a Clean Air Act that provides a national plan covering low emission zones, clean energy public transport provision, and duties on manufacturers and employers.

Currently businesses pay a fraction of what it costs the NHS to treat victims of toxic air. Yet it is employers that are the root cause of diesel emissions from their transport fleet as well as the individual work journeys to and from work made by their staff.

That is why BWTUC believe that air quality is a workplace issue. It is also why we provide funding for awareness raising initiatives like the Greener Jobs Alliance training modules on Air Quality which will be launched at the end of the month.

It is clearly now a political issue in this election. The Government have shown they have no effective strategy. This is not strong leadership, it is passing the buck, and relying on a voluntary approach that will not deliver on the scale required.

Greens to stand in marginal Hampstead & Kilburn unless reciprocal agreement reached with Labour

Tulip Siddiq, Dee Searle (Chair) and John Mansook at last night's meeting

Following a meeting of Brent and Camden Green parties in Kilburn on Monday 8^th May, Green Party members in Hampstead & Kilburn have voted that the prospective parliamentary candidate John Mansook will stand in the constituency in the upcoming General Election, rather than stand down and pursue a local electoral alliance. 

Brent and Camden Green parties would like to thank Labour’s incumbent Tulip Siddiq for coming to speak at the meeting, which was conducted respectfully at all times. In particular, they would like to commend her efforts to persuade Labour’s National Executive Committee to stand aside for the Greens in Brighton Pavilion and the Isle of Wight, and her voting record on key Green issues including resistance to fracking, renewal of Trident and HS2.

However, Labour’s lack of willingness to enter into electoral alliances with the Green Party in constituencies where the Greens have a better chance of winning – particularly Brighton Pavilion and the Isle of Wight – was a key factor in the vote. This followed new advice not to stand aside from the Green Party leadership unless Labour was prepared to withdraw in these constituencies. Members did add a condition that keeps an option open for standing aside in Hampstead & Kilburn if there is movement from Labour on electoral alliances nationally before a deadline of 12pm, Wednesday 10 May.

Hampstead & Kilburn Green Party candidate John Mansook said:

Any electoral alliance needs to be a true alliance, not a one way street. Sadly there hasn’t been any movement towards this from the Labour Party nationally. While we are very grateful to Tulip for coming to speak to us and advocating electoral alliances publicly in recent days, any decision to stand aside would have been very difficult knowing Labour are not likely to reciprocate. One of the Green Party’s key platforms in the upcoming campaign will be to change our unfair voting system, so that discussions like this are unnecessary and people can vote for what they believe in.

Camden Green Party co-Chair John Holmes said:

Brent and Camden Green Parties have selected an excellent local candidate in John Mansook, who is deeply connected with many of the issues facing residents of Hampstead and Kilburn. Voters deserve the option of being able to vote for him and for the Green Party’s unique policies, including a commitment to reverse privatisation in the NHS and measures that will dramatically cut Britain’s contribution to climate change. We can only deprive voters of that opportunity if Labour works with us to increase our Green voice in Parliament.

This is the resolution passed last night:

The members of the Brent and Camden Green parties living in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency resolve:

1) To publicly thank Tulip Siddiq for meeting the parties, for the efforts she has made to secure a progressive alliance for the 2017 General Election and the undertakings she has made to work for a progressive alliance in future
2) With regret, unless the Labour Party agrees to the reasonable demands of the Green Party nationally to withdraw the Labour candidates in Brighton and the Isle of Wight by noon on Wednesday 10^th May, we will submit our nomination for John Mansook to be our candidate.
3) If an agreement is reached nationally, the election agent is instructed not to submit our candidate’s nomination.