Pete Boggs

Somebody appointed you Mod then have they?

If they exonerate Robinson does that mean he gets his job back, or will they just do him a nice reference for when he applies for other posts? No mention of the strange case of the missing nine million naturally.

He seems to have been designated an awful long time - since Oct 2015 according to the Hoople website. Time enough I'd have thought for him to have been formally appointed and the relevant paper work filed with Companies House. Still, this is Herefordshire Council we're talking about. Or maybe he was told he could have the top job at Hoople once he'd got his sums to add up properly?

Hoople are not an arm's length company, they are a Teckal company i.e. the Council (and whatever its health partner is called these days) is supposed to exert the same control over it as one of its departments. I'm no expert on Freedom of Information but as I understand it the company's immunity to FOI derives from its joint ownership. If it was solely owned by the Council it would be subject to FOI legislation. I don't know why being owned by more than one authority should be grounds to make the company exempt. It seems a strange anomaly. Interesting, if unsurprising, that the website hasn't been updated to reflect the departures of Messrs Powell and Robinson. According to Companies House, the latter was never there in the first place. Couldn't find any record of his appointment being filed and he doesn't appear in the list of officers past or present. Keeping their paperwork up to date obviously not Hoople's forte. Rather ironic for an organisation with pretentions to provide "excellent business support services".

Ok Denise I'll have a go at this one. Hoople and SWAP are what's known as “Teckal†companies i.e. ones which perform the bulk of their services for their local authority owners and are controlled by them as if they were a a local authority department. That's the theory anyway. I have my doubts about SWAP, and Hoople were always larging it about how they were going to be the “provider of choice†for back office services to third parties which seemed to be rather at odds with their function as the Council and its health partners (remember them?) administration arm. That aside if if they were legit Teckal companies there would be nothing unusual about a senior council officer being MD as that would be useful in establishing that the company was controlled by its owning local authority. Herefordshire being Herefordshire I suspect the situation is considerably less clear cut. No idea what the score is about Peter Robinson and his wife running a business. Might be permissible as long as he declares it on some sort of register of interests.

More to do with them being bloody useless I'd have thought. Morgan in particular sounds like an I-Speak-Your-Weight machine every time she opens her stupid trap.

Indeed Dippy, indeed. I mean, what are the odds? This Council only pays for the best y'know.

I wonder who's fulfilling the legally required section 151 officer role during Mr Robinson's absence? Or does the Council allow him to carry on holding the position throughout the period of his enforced absence? Hmmm. I hope there's a properly appointed deputy but wouldn't count on it. This Cllr Powell-has-resigned, no-he-was-sacked is all rather curious. Typically no clarification whasoever from Tony "Brain Dead" Johnson. Herefordshire Council, the authority that can't even do wrong right.

As I understand it SWAP perform the Council's internal audit function. The Council will have an external auditor, probably one of the big firms like PwC or Deloittes - they're perhaps a more likely candidate?.

Ombudsman findings are only recommendations. Councils can ignore them if they wish, although by convention they don't. However, I wouldn't count on the gang of plutocratic spivs leading the Council to do the right thing even if the ombudsman does find in Mr Lloyd's favour.

I tend to agree. It's not just the gun, it's the copious quantity of ammo including "expanding" bullets which I take to mean hollow points/dum dums that inflict hideous wounds on living targets. Rather more than you'd need for a simple souvenir I would suggest I think I'm right in saying it's drummed into service people that you don't take bullets home, not even expended cartridge cases from the range. It might be that this is perhaps more a case for the health services rather than the legal system but the fact remains an offence has been committed. I hope nobody's suggesting that Mr Patterson should be allowed to keep his private arsenal.

I suspect this is one of those rhetorical questions. We all know that the Council makes a practice of recruiting corrupt and bullying officers at the senior level. See also its former heard of communications and recently departed council solicitor (both paid off handsomely of course).

Like I said other Councils are able to properly manage their farms as an asset and produce an income for them. Herefordshire Council can't, because they're thick and useless. What are they going to do when they've spent all the money from the farm sales? How much will they be in debt then? The Can has well and truly been kicked down the road.

"Cllr Matthews asks what the risk is that the single source contract will be challenged as it falls above the value where teh council is required to tender. The Monitoring Officer says the risk is assessed as low because the only organisations likely to challenge the decision are those who would wish to be considered by the council as future suppliers for the contract. Stunning! We don’t expect to be sued legitimately by disadvantaged companies because we would be likely to punish them by not considering them for future work." If correct, "stunning" is putting it mildly. An authority punishing a bidder (potential or actual) who challenges one of its decisions is blatantly illegal. For a start It contravenes the authority's EU mandated obligation of equal treatment to bidders. Even if an authority were to proceed on that blatantly cynical basis, it's a very dangerous assumption they are making. Bidders are much more willing to challenge in cases of manifest irregularity - recent changes in the law have made it easier for them to do so. Also the current economic climate makes some of them think it worthwhile as they've got a better chance of getting the work following a re-run tender process even if they have upset the Council. The difference perhaps between a slim chance and no chance if it's given to the present incumbent and/or the Council's mates without proper process. I'm amazed a Monitoring Officer would come out with something like that. Perhaps he/she should investigate themselves?

Sorry, what language is this supposed to be?

If you're going to call someone Fascist, is it too much to expect you to spell it correctly?

It's not the same without Wogan.

I suspect Amey and the other upcoming legal cases might have also been a factor in El Normo's departure. I think East Cheshire might also have employed his immediate predecessor at Hereford, Chris "the Undertaker" Chapman who was given a golden goodbye from Brockington on account of being useless even by HDC standards, with a disastrous restructure being the final straw. It's like a bad joke the same old faces going round the same old councils, making the same old mess and getting the same old pay offs.

There isn't one Denise - as I understand it Natalia Silver one of Geoff Hughes' proteges is now in charge of the legal department, but doesn't have any legal qualifications. Neither does the grandly titled Head of Law, Governance and Resilience who is also in charge of the legal department... One of the Deputy Solicitors is fulfilling the post of monitoring officer. A case of too many chiefs perhaps? As to whether Bill Norman was any good? er...no. Rumour is he hadn't made himself too popular with the Plough Lane bigwigs after a botched restructure of the legal and commitee departments which saw a load of experienced staff depart, but subsequently failed to recruit anyone new. Doh! That might have something to do with his sudden departure from Hereford.

He doesn't have any conscience. This is a man who tore up the rulebook when it came to decent standards of human behavour. I don't have a problem with you, or anyone else sticking the boot into him, regardless of whether he's in mourning or not. I suspect that he's left it long enough before getting another job so that he doesn't have to repay any of his redundancy. No doubt we can expect a tsunami of resignations, bullying complaints and industrial tribunals from his new authority in about, what, three months?

I remember there being a huge crater there about 2 years ago. I suspect it re-appears periodically as the duff repair by Jarvis/Amey/Balfour Beattie* (*delete lacklustre Council contractor as appropriate) wears away.

That's good to hear Osmosis. I did fear that Piggin Wiggin had been in touch with m'learned friends to put the frighteners on. As other members have said it made a nice change to see something resembling a proper story in the HT rather than the usual two paragraph bits of fluff on cats stuck up trees or fire alarms going off at factories. Here's hoping for a hard hitting expose on the financial foibles of the local squirearchy.

Which will be granted in short order no doubt.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, fought between two parties that don't have any oil, is managed by the US to keep oil prices where they want them. Brilliant. Any more insights you'd like to share? Something to do with David Icke and his lizards perhaps? Actually, on second thoughts don't bother.

No small sum, but I think I'm right in saying the bulk of the Council's annual budget comes in the form of a grant from central government? This is what's being cut hence the pressure to raise Council Tax and flog off the family silver. Sounds to me like the Balfour Beattie contract requires some robust management to stop costs spiralling out of control. I won't hold my breath.