15 April - Your life in their hands
How did I miss the councillors discussing their take over of health responsibilities? I have been
checking my notes to see where things went wrong. I didn’t have to go back very far.
The subject was on the Agenda of the
General Purposes Committee for 20th March
2013. It is 113 A4 pages divided into eight sections. The whole meeting lasted
just over half an hour and ‘The Transfer of Public Health to London Borough of
Bexley’ was Agenda item seven. My notes reveal that no one asked any questions.
This was the meeting which approved pay rises for three Deputy Directors and confirmed that Bexley council pays its
care agencies less than any other nearby borough.
My recollection is that Deputy Director David Bryce-Smith briefly explained what
was to happen which is that staff will be transferred from the Care Trust and fill up to 20 posts
at Bexley council. The precise number seems to vary according to where you look but as you might expect,
most will be part of Director Peter Ellershaw’s Wellbeing empire reporting to his deputy
Bryce-Smith. A couple will be under Director Mark Charters and his Deputy Director
of Policy, Maureen Holkham. Thank goodness it is only the two given
Charters’ OFSTED achievements
and Maureen Holkham’s record of never being able to answer questions at council
meetings. If Charters has any sense he will be working out his excuses right now.
The details are probably not very interesting to the average reader, even the
councillors were so bored they nodded it through without a word. To be fair that is all they were asked to do.
Here
is a list of what Bexley Council plans to take over. All good stuff…
Smoking, drinking, eating too much and taking exercise. In its own words, ‘lifestyle interventions’.
Note: With thanks to one of the usual suspects for prompting some belated research.