Yesterday’s meeting of the Hertfordshire County Council cabinet panel showed yet again that when it comes to libraries the Conservative administration shows no leadership and has no vision. In fact it is not doing anything apart from slashing library hours.

There is no evidence that they have spoken to more enlightened authorities (neighbouring Hillingdon is perceived as one of the national leaders in more efficient and effective provision – and has a much leaner management structure). They are not talking to the private sector, district councils or any other organisations about sharing buildings.

But the service has managed to sack the only arts officer in its employment.

It is too easy to say ‘Philistine’: but it is difficult to think of any other word.

Lib Dem Opposition Leader Chris White has renewed his party’s opposition to the cuts in library hours agreed by the Conservative controlled County Council Cabinet today.

Chris said: ‘We have made it clear, repeatedly, to the administration that there are other ways of delivering savings in the current Library structure: modernisation, much greater use of new technology and deeper cuts in the numbers of administrators and managers.

‘We will also continue to press for greater sharing of services with parish and town councils, especially in rural areas, and at new forms of funding like sponsorship. These are simple ideas which the council should have been exploring.

‘Hertfordshire has not attempted to learn from the example of other authorities and we cannot be certain that more significant cuts are not on their way – they still plan to reduce council staff by another 350 by 2015. It would be astonishing if this did not have an impact on front-line library services.’

Councillors demand changes to the way the county handles developers payments for community benefit following almost £500,000 being repaid to developers.

Senior county councillors have demanded massive changes in the way the county council handles monies it received from developers to help mitigate the effect of developments and to fund such things as school places.

Following a detailed scrutiny review senior county councillors have made 16 recommendations calling for root and branch changes in the way the council manages the current funds.

A special scrutiny review of what are known as Section 106 agreements was called for by the Liberal Democrat opposition and Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst was the vice chair of the scrutiny review.

A detailed report has demanded wholesale changes in the way the processes are dealt with to ensure money is well spent and not lost. The County Council currently holds some £47m of developers’ money to be spent on roads, education, libraries and play areas.

The review follows the Liberal Democrats exposure of the fact that in the last five years no less than £300,000 of highways money had to been returned to developers, as well as £184,000 in respect of education and other services, because officials had failed to spend it within the time given in legal agreements. There is still some £1,000,000 in time-expired agreements that officials have also failed to spend but where they are seeking permission from developers to keep the money even though the legal agreement has expired.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst said: “The scrutiny review exposed different procedures across the council, lack of any central management, the failure to consult local councillors, long delays in spending the money and spending on projects not related to the developments or in accordance with residents’ wishes – as well as the loss of money. The review also looked at what neighbouring councils, like Cambridgeshire, did and found they had a simpler and more robust system that had ensured no loss of money.”

Councillors felt that the aim should be that no money is returned and that departments should be planning what the money is to be spent on as soon as monies are received.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst said: “We had a review some four years ago and were assured that procedures were changed to minimise these problems then. It’s clear from our latest review that this has not occurred and we have lost money since.There is an urgent need to centralise with one person being responsible for overseeing this to ensure no monies are lost and what we hold is spent correctly. We need annual monitoring reports and accountability as well as a new culture to ensure past mistakes are not made again. The scrutiny recommendations do that. I expect them to be all accepted and put in place so Herts residents do not lose out.”
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The Liberal Democrats are seeking assurances that the Conservative Administration’s plans to charge families for the use of county facilities will not penalise those who cannot afford to pay.

Chris White, Lib Dem Leader who asked a question at the meeting of the county council’s ruling Cabinet this week, said: ‘There is in principle no problem with those who can well afford to use services like children’s centres paying for them, as they would a private nursery.

‘But it would be outrageous if, for instance, those on low wages or on benefit were asked to pay charges. We will monitor the situation closely as the proposals emerge.’

Chris also asked for assurances that any charges levied would be cost effective: ‘It is vital that any move such as this brings in more money than it costs.’

A report by the Care Quality Commission on how the Tory run County Council deals with Adult Social Services has flagged a number of issues in what many consider a vital service.

Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Adult Care Services, Councillor Allan Siao Ming Witherick, said:
“Over the last few years we’ve really seen the elderly and vulnerable suffer under this Tory run council. Many residents will recall the problems with the elderly care contracts.

“Sadly this report makes clear that there are still areas of concern which we will be scrutinising with the coming changes being proposed.

“The Commission specifically felt it needed to highlight the number of people waiting for adaptations and that there were still internal barriers contributing to delays. This just simply shouldn’t be an issue if the Council were working properly and effectively.

The very final recommendation of the report says it all – the Tories need to listen to the people they serve better.”

Notes:

The report is presented to cabinet on the 29 November under item 7. Embargoed until the 25 November.
http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/civic_calendar/cabinet/15930965/

From Outcome 2: Improved quality of life, Areas for improvement on page 11
“• Continue to reduce the number of people waiting for a major adaptation; address the barriers that are contributing to delays.”

The final item in the report was for: Outcome 7: Maintaining personal dignity and respect, Area for improvement:
“• Utilise the knowledge of people who use services, and their carers, who have experienced the council’s safeguarding process, to suggest improvements.”

Despite being given extra time to submit the accounts, resulting in two extra meetings of the Audit Committee and an extension being granted by the external auditor, the Tories have still managed to get it wrong.

Cllr Allan Siao Ming Witherick lambasted the Tory run County Council:

“It’s simply incredible. Just days before the meeting, with the final accounts signed off, the Tories have had to issue yet another addendum with further corrections. How can we have faith in any numbers the Tories present to us?

“Is it any wonder the auditor issued a Section 11 report to demand the issue is debated at Full Council?

“All we can do is hope that by then they’ve got their act together.”

Editors Notes

The addendum appears as Item 2A Addendum for the Audit Committee meeting.
http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/civic_calendar/auditcom/16559198/

Less than a week after the less than pleasing OFSTED report for Hertfordshire’s Children’s Services the Conservative controlled County Council has been fined £100k for breaches to the data protection act.

The council sent faxes containing sensitive information concerning child sex abuse and child care proceedings cases to the wrong fax number. The council has apologised.

Chris White, Leader of Hertfordshire’s Liberal Democrat Opposition group said: ‘This complacent council has done it again. It can’t fix the roads. It can’t get its accounts straight. And it can’t prevent itself from sending confidential papers to the wrong address.

‘It’s not as though this were one off incompetence: it happened twice and the council failed to take proper action over the first occasion.

‘Residents who bump along over poorly maintained roads while listening to the county council boasting about how wonderful it is in one of the two dozen press releases it issues each day will be asking how the £100,000 fine will be paid for.

‘It is simple: the official in charge of this department should go along with the Tory councillor who must have known about this and yet did nothing about it.’

The Tory administration has been forced to make public the poor state of their finances with an annual governance report to match.

In the damning words of the auditor the report include statements such as: “However, I consider the Council’s financial reporting to be inadequate…” and “I therefore intend to issue a qualified value for money conclusion.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Allan Siao Ming Witherick said: “We are continually told Tory run Hertfordshire is a well performing, value for money council. Instead we have a Section 11 report, and ironically, 11 recommendations. What will concern residents more, though, is that of those recommendations, no less than 9 were ranked as high and none was ranked as low.

“What faith does this give us in a Tory run council constantly telling us everything’s wonderful – when we know the roads are so bad and find the finances are little better.”

The Annual Governance Report will be debated on the 25 November at the second extra Audit Committee meeting of the year. Full council will be debating the Section 11 report next week.

Notes

Item 3 is the report from the external auditor
Page 6 para 15 includes: “However, I consider the Council’s financial reporting to be inadequate…”
Page 6 para 16 states: “I therefore intend to issue a qualified value for money conclusion.”
Page 41-44 list the recommendations.
Item 4 is the response from the Tory administration

http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/civic_calendar/auditcom/16559198/