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esterday I attended the inaugural meeting of the Babergh & Mid Suffolk Joint Audit & Standards Committee. The first substantive item of business was to approve the Committee’s Terms of Reference (TOR). The TOR is nice document, well written, reasonably unambiguous and for the most part fit for purpose. It is however written by officers and lacks sensitivity to the needs of the tax payers’ and residents.
Readers of this blog will be aware that I often feel that the information and opinions given to us at Babergh are often not as robust as I would like. I’m also conscious that some of my Councillor colleagues are reluctant to challenge and hold the executive to account.
So in a cross group collaboration I suggested that the TOR should be invigorated with the following additional duty:
To peruse, review and comment upon the non-salary expenses of the officers of the joint councils.
You would think that this was a no brainer – but no – the Chairman dithered and at one point suggested that such oversight could be unnecessary. None the less the item was put to the vote and approved (but not unanimously).
Already I can hear the Sir Humphreys in Corks Lane telling me that the new requirements will be too complicated, too expensive, and (I expect) too controversial to implement..
But the outcome will be that our employees will be fully accountable for their travel expenses etc., and we will enjoy a greater degree of transparency.
There’s nothing like the disinfectant of sunlight to force out sloppy practices.
Year: 2013
Suffolk AONB Management Plan
Every now and then one gets a glimpse of the other planets that some people seem to inhabit. One of these astronomical events occurred when the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) Management Plan 2013-2018 came before the Suffolk County Council Cabinet for approval and adoption. This is a well written document and was presented by Councillor David Wood, Chairman of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB Partnership. Suffolk gives £66,000 to the partnership and Babergh also makes a contribution. I raised the issue that at some point a well written document of about sixty pages was handed over to the design consultants who proceeded to add thirty pages of photographs and other illustrations. Whilst I could understand such artistic creativity if we were promoting a tourist brochure, it struck me that here was a classic extravagance bordering upon a total waste of money. Councillor Wood told us that the design was done in house and that design consultants were not used. He did not tell us the role of Spring Design & Advertising Ltd who are credited with the design and production of the plan. What he did say was that the production of the plan did not come out of the monies provided by the County. It came from Defra (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs). Management plans are all about Management. (The clue is in the title). They do not need photographs. They may need maps and graphs but we do not need money wasted on fripperies. It all comes out of the same pocket – the taxpayers. The report can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org/about-us/aonb-management-plan/.
Be careful if you print the maps on pages eleven and twelve in greyscale. It makes the coast seem to be under water.
Did I say that Councillor Wood was Leader of the Liberal Democrat and Independent Group at County and a Babergh District Councillor? Leopards do not change their spots and these people regard spending other people’s money in extravagant ways as a God given right. Thank goodness they did not get a majority in May.
Pay Policy at Babergh
Meanwhile on Planet Babergh, the District Councillors are being asked on Tuesday 25th June to approve the Collective Agreement on Employment Terms, Conditions and Policies.
The statement about financial implications of the new agreement is weak and flabby. Not for the first time do we have a lack of detail in this area. I have previously expressed my reluctance to sign blank cheques or to trust bland opinions.
It should be case of running the spreadsheets to get the opinion that that new arrangements will either mean more money in the staff pockets or not. Telling us that the savings targets as set out in the Business Case will be met, has nothing to do with salaries. Meeting the business case is a sine qua non. We expect nothing less!
What we do expect is hard robust opinions from the officers. How else can we have confidence in their assessments.
Towards the end of the summary of staff benefits we find that parking available to staff at the Council office car parks will be free of charge. The residents and visitors to Hadleigh pay for their parking, whether they are in employment or not. The same should apply to the employees at Babergh.
Free parking is not a perquisite to be enshrined in the Collective Agreement!
It would seem that the staff anticipate further charging for car parking and wish to be exempt from the realities of the people who pay their wages.
The full paper may be read on http://bdcdocuments.onesuffolk.net/council/ see paper N26.
It is the soldier
It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
— (c) Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army
Amazon Again
The Daily Telegraph on 21st May had some cogent comment on the Amazon lack of taxes paid in the U.K . debate.
The article begins:
The criticism, of Google, Amazon and even Marks & Spencer for seemingly trying to lower their corporation tax payments threatens to take the focus away from the real tax issue in retail – business rates.
For all the focus on how little Amazon pays in corporation tax, it is how little they pay in business rates that is really hurting the high street Their business rate bill is negligible while Home Retail Group, the owner of high street rival Argos, pays £140m.
There is no complex tax avoidance scheme by Amazon to avoid paying business rates, their low payment is simply because they have little physical presence as a business compared to the 700 high street stores of Argos.
Therefore, if the Government is serious about making online companies pay taxes and also about saving the high street it must focus on revamping business rates.
One of the reasons Amazon appears to pay little corporation tax is that its profit margins are wafer thin, reflecting the fact that online retailing is not yet as. profitable as high-street retailing. In 2012, for example, the company posted a global operating profit of $676m (£444m) on sales of $61.lbn; That is a profit margin of just 1.1 p.c.
However, business rates have no relation to profitability – they are simply measured by the rentable value of a commercial property and inflation. This means that struggling high street’ retailers have been spending millions on business rates while start-up online retailers have been free of the tax. This imbalance threatens to distort the future of the retail industry.
The full article is enclosed as a PDF Freeze on Business Rates (since the on line version has been truncated).
Polling Day Eve
Tomorrow is polling day for the Suffolk County Council election. My family and friends have worked tirelessly to cover Hadleigh with leaflets and letters designed to remind my supporters that I am the right choice and I need their votes.
Hadleigh needs someone who can ensure that the town gets its fair share of the County’s budgets and who can make a positive contribution to the town’s well being.
The Council is responsible for the following major services:
Transport and streets: maintaining and improving Suffolk’s roads, footpaths and public rights of way, road safety, public transport co-ordination.
Social care: care for older people who are physically or mentally infirm, or have a mental health problem, those with physical or learning disabilities and children and families who need protection and support.
Education and learning: schools, evening classes for adults, youth clubs and higher education grants.
Environment: conservation of the countryside and public access to it, waste disposal and archaeological services.
Business and trading standards: enforcing fair trading laws, protecting consumers and giving advice.
Leisure and culture: library services, archives and support for arts and museums.
Public safety: fire fighting, rescue and emergency services, safety advice.
Registration: births, marriages and deaths.
So, all in all, it’s an incredible job to suggest to the electorate that I am the right choice.
The work has been done, only time will tell whether I have worked hard enough and have been deemed worthy.
Promoted by Brian Riley of Baskwood House, 4, Benton Street, Hadleigh, Suffolk IP7 5AT
Pay Policy Statement 2013/2014
Tuesday’s Babergh District Council Meeting was a quiet affair being mainly concerned with formalities of approving matters already agreed upon elsewhere. For example who sits on and who leads the various sub committees.
However at the back of the morning we got around to looking at paper “N9 Pay Policy Statement 2013/14”. It was introduced in a gentle way. We were reminded that our approval was required in accordance with Section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011.
However, under Financial Implications, we were informed that “The pay policy has been produced within existing resources and there are no financial implications”
I interpreted this statement to mean that Babergh produced the policy without chopping down any more trees than had already been killed in manufacturing the paper and that (perhaps) more importantly we had not used any external consultants.
This was not the information I would have liked. As always the key to analysis is not only to examine what is in front of you but what you are not seeing and what I was not seeing was an indication of how much this policy was costing us on a year on year basis.
After much standing up and sitting down the Chief Executive affirmed that there would be no increase in the payroll as a result of the policy. I was grateful for the unequivocal statement along these lines and thanked the Chairman, the Chief Executive and the Head of Corporate Organisation.
It was like pulling teeth without anaesthetic .
Whilst I was congratulating myself of achieving unexpected reactions it did occur to me that perhaps there will be increases in the overall payroll but they won’t be due to the policy but to something else.
I’ll ponder on this when the time comes, probably in the small hours of a morning.
Convalescence
A few weeks ago I went to a poetry reading in aid of Success After Stroke. Readings were taken from “Convalescence” a slim volume of poems written by Gerard Melia and performed by a professional actress and Andrew Frolish (head teacher at St Mary’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School). The evening raised over £300 for Success After Stroke.
More interesting was the description of the work done by Success After Stroke and how Gerard worked through his communication issues after his second stroke.
In a foreword to the book Margherita Baker, Speech and Language Therapist at Ipswich Hospital writes …
“At first his words had a life of their own, never quite able to match Gerard’s voice. Gradually with tremendous effort and determination, after two years, Gerard managed to express his thoughts and observations on paper as poems … He would hope that in sharing them he is raising awareness of how it feels to be lost for words and then, bit by bit to clamber back”
The book is available from Mr. G. Melia,56B, Aldham Road, Hadleigh IP7 6BP.
Please send Gerard a stamped self addressed C5 envelope together with a small donation (min. £5). Cheques should be made payable to Success After Stroke. The book is worthwhile as is the charity (for which Gift Aid is applicable).
Tessitori (Weavers)
For a few weeks Weavers Spice (one of Hadleigh’s Indian restaurants) has been closed.
In a few weeks time it will open under new management (and business ownership) as Tessitori (Italian for Weavers). Tessitori plans to open early next month as a wine bar/pizzeria. I
t’s good to see this part of the High Street coming alive and I wish Tessitori every success.
Tools With A Mission
On Wednesday evening I dropped into the Churches Together in Hadleigh group. I am a trustee and my duties are not onerous and it’s possible that CTiH will deregister as a charity, in which case I and my three fellow trustees will become redundant.
The various representatives directing CTiH are an interesting group of people and one of the items of business was “What will be the group charity this year?” The answer was Tools With A Mission (TWAM).
TWAM started twenty seven years ago, and has since then provided help by collecting and refurbishing tools and equipment no longer required in the UK and sending them overseas. Tools with a Mission enables people to earn a living and to support themselves.
So it’s not just a case of sending money, it’s a good opportunity to clear out the shed(s) and pass on the duplicate tools and those tools no longer required. The web address is http://www.twam.co.uk/index.html and their location is 2 Bailey Close, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 0UD.
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