Guto Bebb's most recent email is more insterestng than usual>
Dear Constituent,
On Friday I attended a meeting at Bodlondeb with the Chief Executive and the Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr. Ronnie Hughes. Since my election I have met regularly with the Chief Executive and political leader to discuss concerns, specific cases or just broader issues affecting the constituency.
Superfast Broadband and the 19 Bus Service
On Friday the issues raised were to update the Chief Executive and Deputy Leader on the progress of my lobbying to bring superfast broadband to Aberconwy sooner rather than later and to discuss the withdrawal of the hourly 19 Bus service in the Conwy Valley and the impact that it was having. I had earlier in the day met with Arriva Buses who had been quite clear: they had not withdrawn the service for any commercial reason but had had their de-minimis funding withdrawn by Conwy Borough Council. It is a shame that officers from CCBC had been less than transparent about their role in the decision to reduce the regular service from an hourly service to a service every two hours.
The last issue that I wanted to discuss was the recent decision made by the local authority to pay a redundancy payment to the Chief Education officer who had indicated widely last year that he was intending to retire in August 2014.
Proposed Changes to Education in Conwy
The matter has its origins in mid to late 2013 when the Chief Executive was told of the impending retirement of the post holder. I was pleased to be able to congratulate the Chief Executive on his forward thinking when he and his colleagues, in light of the Hill report into Education in Wales, decided to use the opportunity of Mr. James’ retirement to look at the whole structure of the local authority education department and consider amalgamation and other options to ensure a continuation of service within a more cost effective solution.
The report prepared by Mr. Davies provided three options for the elected representatives to consider and Option C – the amalgamation of Social Services and Education into one department was chosen as the way forward. This option will see the creation of a new Strategic Director post to lead the combined department with a newly defined post of Chief Education Officer (which is statutory) being within this department.
So far, so good. However between November and March 2014, the planned retirement of Mr. James changed into a “proposed retirement” and discussions took place in July 2014 about a redundancy payment.
Legal Advice
When I was made aware of this, I asked Mr. Davies to share with me the legal opinion that had been provided to Conwy Borough Council that would support the change from “retirement” to “redundancy”. Mr. Davies freely and without hesitation provided that information to me. The independent legal advice that was provided to the senior officers at Conwy was received by the Council on the morning of the 9th of July and was a written version of a telephone call undertaken with legal advisors from outside the local authority the previous day. The written advice was provided in an email timed at 10.15am on 9th July which was sent to Ms. Delyth Jones – Head of Legal Services. The advice arrived as the Chief Executive was speaking to the full council and sharing what I assume was the verbal advice received during the telephone call the previous day.
I have a huge concern about this “redundancy” payment of some £40,000 particularly at a time when council tax has been rising at 5% per annum and lollipop ladies are being removed from rural villages. I do not share the Chief Executive’s certainty that this is a redundancy situation and certainly from a moral point of view I believe it is wrong. The legal opinion that I have received on the advice given to Conwy is that their lawyers have provided justification for the scenario that the County Council has created.
My concerns
The decision to pay the £40,000 in redundancy is justified on the basis that the post held by the Chief Education Officer was being made redundant and therefore he was entitled to compensation. My doubts about this logic can be summarised as follows;
The review was instigated by the post holder informing the Chief Executive(and many others) of his wish to retire. As such how can a redundancy be an option?
The alleged saving of £400,000 over five years is based upon the post of Chief Education Officer being abolished. In view of his impending retirement that saving could have been achieved through a similar restructuring being undertaken without the need to pay a redundancy package. Why agree a timetable for change which created a basis for justifying an unwarranted redundancy payment?
If this was a redundancy situation why was there no position offered to the Chief Education Officer within the new structure? Was no such offer made because he had indicated a desire to retire? If so, why the redundancy payment?
If this was a redundancy situation was there any efforts made to find an appropriate post for those affected by the changes somewhere else within the Council and if not, why? Was it again, as above, clear to all involved that the holder of the post being made redundant had no intention to continue working for the Council since he had indicated his aim to retire? If so, we must again ask, why the redundancy payment.
The alleged saving of £400,000 does not include the additional costs incurred as a result of the changes to the structure within the local authority. Thus salary increases for a new Strategic Director and the newly defined Chief Education Officer were not deducted from the alleged saving of £400,000. Why?
My meeting with the Deputy Leader and Mr. Davies was not conducted as courteously as other meetings that I have had with Conwy mainly due to Cllr. Hughes being of the view that he could try and intimidate me in the same manner as he uses to intimidate and bully during council meetings. His comment that if I went public with this complaint he would “fight fire with fire” was, to say the least, bizarre.
To me this situation is indicative of what is wrong with so many of our public services here in Wales. I believe that the decision is flawed and that our councillors have been insufficiently robust in questioning why a decision of a senior post holder to retire, described as such in Council documents from November 2013 onwards, has now resulted in a £40,000 redundancy package being approved at a time when services are being cut and council tax is being increased. It is on this basis that I have decided to make this issue public.
My concerns about this decision should not in any way be taken as criticism of Mr. Geraint James, who has served the residents of Conwy faithfully in his current role as Chief Education Officer and indeed, as I would contend, would have made a good candidate for taking the post of Strategic Director for the new amalgamated department. However, as he told me as early as September last year, he wants to retire and I respect that decision.
Do we get good value?
There are other issues that the council have not handled as well as they should have done. To increase Council Tax by almost 25% over a period of four years demands that any expenditure incurred is undertaken with care and a degree of responsibility towards hard pressed tax payers. The scandal of Maesdu Bridge, the ongoing saga of Porth Eirias, the handling of the North Shore beach issue and many other issues that have come to me through casework would indicate, quite clearly, that valuing the taxpayer pound is not as high a priority as it should be for officers and the Councillors at Conwy County Borough Council.
It all adds up to paint a rather different picture of the local authority to the one presented to the public by so called ‘team Conwy’. For far too long the ruling coalition in Conwy Council, which comprises 46 of the 59 Councillors, have intimidated and excluded anybody and everybody that raises questions about their actions on the basis that they are undermining the work of the Council. If local democracy is to work then officers should be challenged and questioned and decisions which cost money through waste or incompetence should result in hard questions being asked. If the cosy relationship between councillors and officers has created a local authority where scrutiny is slipshod and cursory then it falls on others to shine a light on what are, at the very least, highly debatable decisions. This, in my view, is just such a decision.
What do you think?
Do you share my view? Do you have issues that you would like to bring to my attention? My contact details are on this email and I am always keen to hear your opinions.
Guto Bebb
