17 July (Part 1) - Questionable practices
Bexley council has indulged in so many dishonest and sometimes illegal
practices over the years that some of them fade into obscurity at the back of one’s mind.
I was reminded of one at last Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, the only meeting
at which the public is routinely allowed questions - but only for 15 minutes
including the often padded out answers.
In an effort to eliminate questions Bexley council once
introduced many rules, one of which said that every resident asking a
question must agree to having his name and address published on the council’s
website. Young adults living with parents and people separated from abusive
partners and indeed anyone who values a private life were effectively partially disenfranchised.
When the Information Commissioner got wind of Bexley’s disregard for data protection
the practice was stopped although the timing suggested that Bexley council,
which was already in a lot of trouble with the Commissioner at the time, jumped before they were pushed.
To replace that discouragement a new set of restrictions was introduced. Among
them was that questions would only be permitted on matters of policy. When
questions were carefully crafted to be about policy, Bexley council wriggled
away from them by saying that once a policy was adopted it became a protocol,
and questions about protocols were not admitted. When it was argued that a
thesaurus defined policies and protocols similarly it was further stated that
protocols were merely operational rules and operational matters were
excluded from council question time.
The fact is that all this nonsense was designed to stop Mick Barnbrook and his
pals asking questions, the rules were never applied to Tory lackeys embarking on
sycophantic expeditions.
Eliot Smith’s question at the council meeting
in April; “Given the lack of a safe crossing outside Trinity School, will you [Cabinet Member Don Massey]
assure parents that you are taking their concerns seriously” was a long way from being a policy matter.
Another rule is that the questioner must be in the chamber to ask his own
question. Until this week there had only been one instance since the new offices
were opened of a questioner not being present and a substitute was happily
accepted to voice her question.
Elwyn Bryant’s question was not caught by the policy net either but when he fell ill earlier this week
he dropped straight into the other trap. Mick Barnbrook asked if he could be
stand-in with the
inevitable result. Maybe it is because Eliot is a Tory supporter or perhaps they feared Elwyn’s supplementary question; I do not know, but Bexley council are
certainly inconsistent when it suits them.
The
decision to leave Elwyn’s question unstated and unanswered left 29 minutes for
councillors’ questions and the rarely heard Christine Bishop (Conservative,
Crayford) was first to her
feet and after the customary struggle with the microphone asked cabinet member
Philip Read to say what Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons had to say about
Bexley’s Youth Offending Team.
Had the answer been in any way negative the question would not have been asked
so I hardly need report Read’s answer in detail. “It was highly commendable” and
he took 90 seconds to say that.
The supplementary question which does not appear in the Agenda was clearly
arranged beforehand because councillor Read was able to answer it with a
prepared written speech, a phenomenon he repeated throughout the evening.
Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) asked an additional question but councillor Read refused to answer it.
Councillor Ross Downing asked why Social Workers preferred to work for an agency
than for Bexley council. Philip Read produced a list of reasons.
Better off in cash terms. Personal circumstances may make higher cash payments more attractive
than a pension. Flexibility of employment and agency work is seen as “a short
term career option” - which sounds rather worrying for a Social Worker.
Councillor Read referred in critical fashion to Social Workers who set
themselves up as limited companies for tax reasons and Bexley was taking a
leading role in attempting to put a stop to the practice.
Councillor Joe Ferriera (Labour, Erith) in an obvious reference to
the Bexley magazine
announcement asked why there were no Recycling Roadshows in the North of the borough.
Cabinet member Craske pretended to know nothing of the
earlier announcement and simply indicated that Joe’s question was based on a fallacy.
The reason for Craske’s claimed failure to understand the question is because he
has quietly slipped in a Roadshow outside Morrison’s in Erith and is planning
one for Belvedere. He and his cronies seemed to think that it was a very clever
response when in reality those with longer memories will see it as a repeat of
the Parsons Brinckerhoff question when Craske denied he had signed a £4 million
pound contract with them. It was a number of contracts adding up to £4 million.
Such underhand tactics merely confirm everyone’s opinion of Craske. His council
friends think he is a political genius and everyone else realises that
dishonesty comes far too naturally to him.
A supplementary question produced an interesting statistic. At close of business
on Wednesday, 9,121 people had signed up to pay the bin tax. Craske said he was
confident of being on target but as the door to door canvassing and roadshows
may have picked up all the eager gardeners already and the publicity period is
more than half way through, signing up fewer than a third of the target
subscriptions may be no cause for optimism.
Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) asked how much the Chancellor’s changes to the welfare
budget would cost Bexley council but cabinet member Massey did not know pending a
meeting with the Finance Director. The Finance Director was present but she said
nothing throughout the meeting. Nice work if you can get it.
When councillor Francis referred to the probable effect on housing and levels of
poverty, Massey told him it was “political rhetoric” and “ping pong politics”.
It was “a shame” that councillor Francis had asked his question. It sure was, supplementaries
can be difficult to answer when the cabinet member hasn’t scripted them in advance.
Ping pong politics and rhetoric may be frowned upon by councillor Don Massey but
that didn’t stop him welcoming such comment by councillor David Leaf. “Does the
cabinet member agree with me that the summer budget would help most families in Bexley?”
Of course he did, “it is something well worth stating” and went on to crow about
the Conservative’s General Election victory. Not bad for a man not keen on
political rhetoric and all within a time span of 75 seconds.
Councillor McGannon (UKIP, Colyers) was concerned about knife crime in schools. Cabinet
Craske overcame the continuing microphone deficiencies with an acceptance that
the statistics were getting slightly worse. Councillor McGannon thought the
closure of parks may have a bearing on knife crime but councillor Craske
professed not to understand the question.
Councillor Sharon Massey said “crime was a parental responsibility, not just
schools” and said she was “particularly concerned about the inference the rise
in crime is attributed to young people”. All in the same sentence! Parents,
schools. Hasn’t she just done the same thing?
Councillor Rob Leitch briefly became a self-publicist
when he asked if cabinet member Craske “would welcome interest from the local
community to maintain and enhance the rose garden at Sidcup Place?“
“Absolutely” he would. Craske went on about campaigners and protesters “moaning and
complaining” but the rose garden was “a good initiative”. Which set of ‘moaners’ could he have in mind?
Councillor Craske said the Labour group were “sneering” but as I could not see
any of them all facial expressions were unknown to me, but they certainly said nothing.
Councillor Ferreira began to refer to the residents’ group which looks after
Erith’s Riverside Gardens, however the mayor called time and cut him off in mid flow.
It was a fairly interesting half hour under one of Bexley’s better mayoral chairmen (councillor
Sybil Camsey) and at no time did I feel inclined to nod off, which is more than I can say for some people.