Good news, well from my point of view and those who are against the Shared Services (JV) venture the number of petition signatures has passed 6000! As of 8th October the actual and verified number of signatures is:

Paper: 1885

Online: 4348

That gives a total number of signatures (as of the 8th October) of: 6233

The paper petitions are still coming in as I have a further three that have not been counted. I still cannot express how amazed I am on the number of signatures. If that does not show the Council on the 23rd the feeling of the public, then I do not know what will.

The confidential briefing on the JV took place today at County Hall.  Even though the briefing was marked as confidential, I checked with legal to ask what I could and could not say. Saying that, I still believe what I am about to blog is in the public interest, and will defend that right if anyone wants to say otherwise.

The first announcement of the day was one of the bidders has pulled out. CSC have decided not to progress with their venture, and informed the Council yesterday! Maybe it would have been nice to know as it happened. Not over 24 hours later.

This leaves BT as the only bidder in the process, and today they gave their presentation of how they are the best company to deal with. To stick within the rules, I will not be discussing the financial figures, even though they are important to the bid.

The first point I will clarify is if the contract is awarded to BT, all staff that are transferred WILL be transferred to a wholly owned company of BT. So the staff will not be employed by the Council but BT.  In the deal, 750 council and 250 ‘health’ staff will be transferred. If that is not outsourcing I do not know what is!

BT has promised to create 1043 jobs in the first four years. However, 38% of those jobs will be low-skilled. This is not a made up figure, but taken from the presentation today. My understanding is many of the higher-skilled jobs will be in health. I am really worried the 396 will be low-skilled and low paid because why would a company pay more than the going rate in the area. This point was raised by many Councillors and they were concerned with this aspect of the bid.  I know a job is a job, but when it could be little more than the national minimum wage, I do not think that is good enough.

Much emphasis was also placed on a lot of services being ‘self-service’. In other words by the dreaded soul-destroying call centre and you having to push more numbers than is in a complicated maths equation. I know I hate this type of service, and would imagine many others are in the similar view.

While I am grateful for BT being open about their deal, and their presentation was very good; I am though concerned it is business as usual and yesterday’s fun and games is being treated like it never happened. I am also worried with only one bid in the running, which could be to the advantage of BT.

I guess everything now will rest on the 23rd to see if the Council finally gives the killing blow to the current proposals, or allows it to go ahead.

Roll on the 23rd!

Yes, we did it!!  In under three weeks, the magic target of 5000 signatures has been reached!! I really cannot believe how quick this target has been reached. I believe people have really got behind it, because they feel so strongly about what is happening at Cornwall Council.

The ePetition is near the 4000 signature mark, and the paper version is over 1200. The paper petition final total is going to be much higher as many of the paper copies have not been returned for counting! If you do have a paper version, please could you sent it back as soon as you can? I know the 5000 mark has been passed, but I really believe the total number will be nearer 6000.

There are so many people to thank who have made this possible to name them all would fill the page. I would though like to say thank you to all and everyone. You really have made this possible.

Now, once I have all the various copies and version in, I will present them to Cornwall Council for final verification. Then, I will make sure, along with my colleagues this is an agenda item at the next full council meeting. It will not be on the 16th, as the time frame for checking and getting all the petition in is a little tight!

I will keep you informed.

Again, thank you!

I hope readers of the blog will not tire from the subject of stopping shared services. I feel this subject is really worth repeating because if it goes through, it will change how Cornwall Council provides services.

The ePetition has in a week, attracted 2500 signatures. This is halfway to the magic number of 5000 for a debate to happen at the full council. This does not include any paper petition signatures that have been collected ether. As for those I have sent out (on request) 15 of these paper petitions.

First the democratic majority of Cornwall Councillors showed they were against the Partnership for Shared Services, but now and more importantly, the citizens of Cornwall are showing they are against with so many signatures in such a short space of time.

I feel and so do many other people who have contacted me that democracy has been undermined with the original Motion being so quickly ignored. I have been taken aback with the emails and phone calls I have received on this subject. People feel they elect someone to do their best for their community and when they then find out their democratic representative is powerless; even though a viewpoint has been expressed and voted on.

The Government, Local Authorities and town and parish council’s all try to get people in standing for office and taking part in elections by voting in them. But why should they now, when the recent debate and vote has shown the elected majorities view is ignored; with the real power in a few hands. How is that good for democracy? Simply it is not.

I have seen and understood the frustrations town and parish council have when dealing with the bigger cousin authorities. I saw the struggle and arguments between the District Council’s and the old County Council. Now, I have seen the Cabinet system that is simply not engaging with its full council. For instance, one senior Councillor said to me telling his colleagues ‘ignore the council at your peril.’ I think that peril is now very apparent. Something has to change, and change fast.

The executive system, more commonly know as the Cabinet system was introduced to speed up decision-making, and stop the often long and bureaucratic old-style committee. In parts it has worked, but it has also undermined democracy itself with putting too much power in too few hands. The Cabinet system could be better if the scrutiny function could do more than just make recommendations. However, it cannot and adds to the flaws in the system.

I have blogged before about Cornwall Council undertaking a Governance Review. At the start of the process it was pretty balanced on the Cabinet verse the Committee system. Now that feeling has swung firmly behind the Committee system. While the Committee system is not perfect, it does give greater accountability and inclusion in any decision-making process and policy.

So sign the petition not just to stop the privatisation of council services; also if you believe in democracy, and want to place that democratic power back into the hands of all Councillors, who are directly elected by you, the people

The Petition is HERE:

The Petition to stop Cornwall Council’s Cabinet privatising many of the core  council services has reached a landmark place. In just three days, the Petition to stop the ‘Strategic Partnership for Support Services’ has 1100 (and counting) signatures. This is amazing, and I would like to thank everyone who has signed and helped promote this Petition.

The next landmark place is 5000, as that is the number for the full council to debate the issue again, but with the backing of the people of Cornwall. However, to make a real impact I really want as many signatures as possible. Hopefully 10′s of thousands. As that will those supporters against this privatisation the ammunition to stop the Cabinet selling council services to the highest bidder.

The Petition is HERE, please sign, or if you can help out, I can send you a paper version of the Petition

(Note: If you are CC staff and want to sign, just put in a suitable name in the nickname box as then your name can’t be seen)

With the Cabinet arrogance of ignoring the will of the elected majority of Cornwall Council, I and my fellow motion supporters have created a Petition.  These are  Andrew Long, Jude Robinson, Geoff Brown, Graham Walker (and me). The Cabinet might think it can ignore the majority of elected councillors, but will it dare to ignore the will of the people?

The Petition can be found HERE. I will also make paper copies available to anyone who wishes to collect signatures.  If you would like a paper copy drop me an email and I will send you one. Or contact the other supporters who also have copies. As with most things, there are rules to the Petition. These are; you have to be a resident of Cornwall, or you are in full-time education, or you work in Cornwall. There is no age restriction.

The Petition will remain open until December 3rd, or if enough signatures are gathered before, it will be submitted. As for the numbers we wish for, well that is simple. We want as many as humanly possible. But to give an indication where the Petition will go after submission, you need 1000 signatures for it to go to the relevant scrutiny committee and 5000 to go to the full council. However, I would like 1000′s, as that will show the ten on the Cabinet the feeling of the people.

If you really care about the future of Cornwall and the services Cornwall Council provides, then please sign the Petition. Just sign the Petition once, as Cornwall Council do check all the signatures are legal! If you want a paper copy of the Petition, drop me an email and I will sent you it.

The Twitter hashtag for the campaign is #stopsharedservices

The link again is HERE

Thank you and pass the link on to anyone who can help.

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