December 2000

Unions rally against privatisation (13 Dec, 2000)

First Council "whistleblower" inquiry dismisses allegations (7 Dec, 2000 )

Tragedy mars opening night (2 Dec, 2000)

Unions rally against privatisation

Hundreds of local authority workers gathered in Centenary Square yesterday afternoon to lobby councillors as they gathered for a meeting at City Hall. The demonstration was organized by Bradford TUC and public sector union Unison, as part of their campaign against the council's current privatisation strategy.

The council intend to privatise a number of services, including Education, Housing, City Centre management and other core services.

Amongst the speakers was Bradford's sole Green councillor David Ford, who explained that he was the only councillor to vote against privatisation at the last council meeting in November.

But inside the council chamber you might have doubted his word, as Labour councillors played up to the packed public gallery and attacked the Tories and Lib-Dems for their "return to the Pickles era".

It was left to council leader Margaret Eaton to remind councillors that it was the Labour group who had introduced every one of the current "privatisation" proposals before they lost power in May.

See: previous posting
See also: City Centre to be privatised

First Council "whistleblower" inquiry dismisses allegations

The first inquiry under the Council's new "whistleblower" rules has found "no evidence" to support any of the allegations published in an anonymous pamphlet "The Bradford Whistleblower".

The 2 page leaflet, which was apparently written by a disgruntled council officers in November last year and widely distributed around City Hall, alleged that a number of appointments - mainly of top council officers - were the result of "corruption, nepotism and cronyism".

Initial inquiries were undertaken by the council's monitoring officer Gerry Danby - director of the council's Legal and Democratic Services. The results were presented today to the all-party Standards Committee, headed by the Bishop of Bradford David Smith.

Danby checked the allegations by looking in "relevant personnel and other files, and interviewing personnel and other officers with knowledge of the events described in the allegations". In each case he found no evidence to suggest any of the appointments were irregular or made "otherwise than on merit".

Bishop David Smith emphasised the amount of work that had gone into the investigation:

"I can assure you that members have looked at it and questioned it in very great detail indeed".

He said he understood why a complainant might wish to remain anonymous, but said that this meant the committee didn't have all the facts it might. He said that anyone thinking of making a complaint "ought to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of remaining anonymous".

The committee decided no further investigation into the specific allegations was needed, but recommended rule changes so that in future anyone involved in appointments should declare any interests.

Allegations such as these are rampant in City Hall, and reflect the normal "office politics" of any big organisation. They can become quite poisonous and boost the high levels of sickness due to "stress" that has proved a major problem for the authority.

But there are also legitimate concerns that the council's current appointment and promotion procedures effectively act as a barrier to certain sections of the workforce. The new "whistleblower" procedures do little to address these concerns.

The next inquiry is likely to focus on allegations surrounding the Newlands SRB regeneration Board.

See: Council report on the "Bradford Whistleblower" (in Word format)
See also: previous posting on Newlands Inquiry

Tragedy mars opening night

The police were called to the 1 in 12 Club last night as tragedy marred the opening night of the Drama Collective's latest production.

Fortunately, and typically, members had resolved the situation long before the local constabulary actually arrived, and the performance continued.

In a marked departure from their former productions - notably Noel L. Batstone's excellent May Day trilogy "The Anarchists" - this was played strictly for fun. And great fun it was.

"Murder in the library" is a comic farce of great inventiveness. Its production signals the impressive writing and directoral debut of actress Lin Gunn. The show highlights what a crucible of talent this Club still is.

There are performances tonight (2nd) and tomorrow, but phone first as seat availability is likely to be limited.

See also: 1 in 12 Club

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