NVQ Fraud report names guilty staff

September 22, 1999

Metrochange House

A top level report into NVQ fraud at the Councils former Metrochange House Training centre has finally been shown to senior councillors from all parties.

Councillors have ordered a further investigation into possible disciplinary action against certain named council officers. This will be undertaken by The councils Regeneration Director David Kennedy.

Bradford Councils Internal Audit began the detailed inquiry into allegations of fraud following the suspension of NVQ awards at Metrochange House 18 months ago. The 1200 page report, which remains secret to all but a handful of councillors and officials, is said to be "thorough".

Former Metrochange House training boss Denise Dring is the most likely of the staff to face disciplinary proceedings.

Other training centres at Bradford Itec, Keighley Training Group and Mitre Court, have all since been re-approved as awarding bodies.

See: Main feature - NVQ Scandal

See also; Report to Regeneration Committee, September 22, 1999.

Size doesn't matter

September 11, 1999

[1999 organic produce show]

This year the West Yorkshire Organic Group brought its annual Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Show (its 10th) to Bradford. Sixty five exhibitors showed a total of 492 entries in classes as diverse as "organic beers and ciders" and "3 turnips". The range was quite staggering, not just in terms of the number of classes but in the varieties within each class. Many exhibitors had grown unusual or heritage varieties with the widest selection being shown in the tomato and potato classes.

Opening the show Dianne O'Conner, Bradford's Allotments Officer commented on the increasing popularity of organic growing and said that the produce on show was proof that organic gardening was a great deal more than just old carpet and no fertiliser.

In what must have been a daunting task given the quality of the entries, the judges were finally able to award prizes in each group. Unlike the conventional veg show, it's not the biggest beetroot or longest leek that wins. In an organic show the entries are judged mainly on flavour.

The shield for best exhibit in the show went to Julia Prola who also won best fruit and best produce - Well done Julia!

Labour unveils new Council "cabinet" structure.

September 7 1999

[City Hall and Ian Greenwood]

The Labour group on Bradford council last night chose its new model for the Council, which has to be "modernised" by 2001 under government legislation.

And fears that the group would pick a one-party "cabinet", meeting in secret, have proved groundless.

The group are proposing a 15 member "executive", with 6 members coming from opposition benches, whose meetings will be open to the public.

There will also be 5 cross-party "scrutiny committees", which will oversee decisions made by the Executive, but will have no power to change them.

A "standards committee", with a councillor from each political group but chaired by an "independent lay member", will referee proceedings.

Update 15/10/99: The council last night approved the new system. Council leader Ian Greenwood will receive a salary of £25,000. Other "cabinet ministers" and key councillors will be paid between £12,500 and £17,500. Backbench councillors will get £7,500.

David Smith, the Bishop of Bradford, will become the first "lay" chair of the new standards committee.

Full story

Shock TV picture of child poverty

September 6 1999

[A family crushed by Heroin addiction]

Shocking images of child poverty on a Bradford estate were shown on a BBC TV documentary "Eyes of a child" last night.

Young girls from one family in Delph Hill, spoke candidly of their parents addiction to Heroin and their step-fathers nightly "burglary" expeditions.

The programme featured lengthy interviews with children from a number of areas, including Leicester and Sheffield. And although clearly playing up to the cameras at times, overall the picture of a circle of deprivation and violence for some children was both convincing and distressing.

The number of children living in poverty has tripled in the last 20 years.

Crime Quango joins secrecy club

September 3, 1999

[CDRP]

Meetings of the recently formed local Crime Reduction quango are being held in secret, with members of the public excluded from observing.

Also excluded are members of the press, with the exception of the Telegraph & Argus, which has been selected to act as the sole public outlet of information from the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership.

The main focus of the new crime quango will be securing a massive £1.3 million extension of the City Centre CCTV spy camera network, which will set up 22 high tech spy cameras around the centre, linked to a new control room under City Hall.

Details of the bid for government cash remain secret, but it is believed that a direct video link will be included to the police control room; that CCTV systems in Keighley, Bingley and Shipley will be linked directly to the system; and that private companies in the City will be able to add their own cameras to the system.

The huge cost of running and maintaining the system will fall on local ratepayers.

It comes at a time when the country's leading crime experts have called for a moratorium on such schemes as evidence mounts that they are ineffective.

Full story

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