Coronavirus York updates; 16th Sept 2020

Deaths and test results

There have been no further COVID 19 related deaths in the City

There have been NINE additional positive test results announced today bring the total to 1070

Neighbourhoods with the largest number of cases during the last 7 days are Tang Hall, Heworth North and Haxby.

Other neighbourhoods have between 0 and 2 cases

Transparency

Sky video makes a very good case for widening the amount of data published at community level. They make the, very valid, point that “positivity” is a key measure (the percentage of positive test results) rather than the absolute number.

The authorities are reluctant to provide this information on a daily basis at local authority level nor do they provide information on the number of COVID occupied hospital beds or the characteristics of the cases we are seeing.

Local MPs should be leading the campaign for more openness. Instead they seem to be posturing on the sidelines

Grants for businesses

The Government’s Small Business Grants (SBG) and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grants (RHLG) closed for applications on 28 August 2020.

The York Council is now reviewing its performance in helping business. A report has been published today.

It says that over £70 million in business rates relief has been processed.

£46 million has also paid to 3531 businesses in the small business and retail, hospitality & leisure sectors.

£1.1 million was granted to “micro businesses” from Council funds. A further £2.2 million came for government. However requests for aid exceeded the funds that were available.

Councils decision making in limbo?

Each week the York Council updates a list of upcoming “decisions” that it intends to make. It is known as the forward programme and covers a four month period. It lists issue areas and gives the date that a decision meeting will take place on.

The intention is to give back bench councillors and members of the public advance notice that changes may be proposed.

City of York - York City Council Meeting 12/17/2019 — York Council meeting – archive photo!

The system has always been slightly opaque with some quite obscure descriptions covering potentially radical change. Nevertheless, the system works after a fashion and was sustained during the peak of the COVID crisis.

During that time decisions were delegated to officials on the basis that they needed to act promptly to address health concerns.

The York Council has been slow to get back to a fully transparent and democratic decision-making process, with meetings still taking place “online”.

Many may think that this is not a bad thing as far as what are termed “executive member decision meetings” are concerned. Essentially this involves one person siting in a room solemnly declaring agreement with often mundane officer recommendations. Provided that written representations are allowed and recorded, remote meetings of this sort have the advantage of avoiding unnecessary travel (and can be viewed live on video by interested parties).

Meeting to consider community stadium shelves

The Councils planning and scrutiny processes are rather different.

There some real debate and probing is necessary to ensure that all options are fully understood and considered. Other Councils have returned to “live” meetings. York should follow suit.

It could start by scheduling its first full Council meeting for 6 months.

The latest “forward plan” suggests that a backlog of work is building up. No fewer than 7 items which have been included on the plan – in some cases for over 6 months – are now shelved.

There is no indication when, or even if, decisions will be made.

They include a review of Homelessness, the agenda for which was published last week and then hastily withdrawn without explanation.

Another report was intended to provide an update on the commercial arrangements at the new Community Stadium complex. There is no clue given as to when a report will be ready despite the start of the new football season being imminent.

Several of the deferred items relate to housing issues. A new Head of Housing has recently been appointed. He will need to get to grips quickly with the backlog.

In the meantime the Council should either schedule the shelved meetings or withdraw them for the list

The deferred items include

25. Homeless Review 2019-20 Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Decision due: ; The original meeting this item was scheduled to be considered at has been cancelled, therefore this item has been postponed until a new meeting date has been identified. Originally due: 25/08/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 28/07/2020
26. Make it York Service Level Agreement Decision maker: Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities Decision due: ; In consultation with the Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning Originally due: 14/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 24/02/2020
27. Project Executive Fee Level Decision maker: Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education Originally due: 21/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 02/03/2020
28. NSLC Commercial proposals (Community Stadium) Decision maker: Executive Decision due: ; This item has been deferred to enable a more detailed report to be prepared. Originally due: 13/02/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 13/01/2020
29. Organisational Development (OD) Plan Decision maker: Executive Originally due: 23/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 16/03/2020
30. Garden Assistance for CYC Tenants Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Originally due: 30/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 03/02/2020
31. Communal Areas Policy (Housing Owned Land) Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Originally due: 14/05/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 03/02/2020

Truce signed by York Council Group Leaders

The 5 group leaders on the York Council have sent a letter to the “local media” saying they are working “together constructively” and are leaving “partisan politics to one side” during the COVID crisis.

They say that they estimate that there will be “over 700 deaths in York by October”. (Currently 120 deaths have been reported at the York hospital).

They promise to make their communications “constructive”.

This outbreak of bonhomie is all the more surprising given that it has taken 10 weeks of crisis management before it has actually appeared. Residents may have assumed that everyone was working collaboratively behind the scenes.

Maybe not it seems.

The decision to parade their credentials before the media – rather than the City as a whole – seems strange.

There has been no criticism of the Councils Key Worker staff. Rather it is the activities of senior managers and Councillors which is being scrutinised.

Communication with residents has been very patchy during the last 3 months.

Pandemic fears, expressed by at least one Councillor (Mark Waters) in February, were brushed aside.

York recorded the first UK cases of coronavirus but the authorities declined to confirm that the victims had recovered.

Although crisis hubs were set up promptly, the Council failed – and still fails – to provide food delivery information that is fair to all traders and is made available in an up to date format that is accessible to everyone.

Newsletters were promised but it took a long time to get them through letterboxes.

The Council Leadership eventually stopped replying to correspondence and a range of requests for information were ignored.

We still don’t know how many COVID tests have proved to be positive at the Poppleton testing centre. Some will worry about whether the “700 deaths” forecast is based on data from that source?

The number of road traffic accidents has not been publicly monitored (thought to have reduced).

Nor have vehicle speeds been checked using the automatic equipment available to the Fire Services

A decision making process of sorts was introduced. It limps along. Papers – although written in advance – are not published to the public before decisions are taken.

We have seen a half-baked contraflow cycle lane introduced on Bishopthorpe Road at a time which coincided with road works on the suggested alternative route. The result was unnecessary congestion which could easily have been avoided if proper advice had been taken.

A similar impulsive decision seems to have been made about reducing the size of the Marygate car park.

Extreme opportunism and posturing seems to have replaced the measured, pragmatic approach which effective crisis management demands.

So when the Group Leaders have finished with their socially distanced conga, they might like to take some time to offer a transparency commitment to the people of York.

Call for more transparency from York Council – how many, how much, how quick?

The York Council should publish daily updates “online” giving details of the progress that it is making in dealing with assistance requests.

The proposal comes after the Council issued a media release saying that it had settled £34 million worth of claims for the governments small business support grant. The claim, contained in a media release from the Council, failed to give details of the value and total number of claims received, the number and value of those processed and the number of claims where the recipient had confirmed that the money was in their account. There was no indication of the number and value of outstanding claims and how long they were expected to take to process. There was no indication how many claims had been rejected and for what reasons.

There is a similar lack of figures for business loans, rate rebates, hardship payments, food deliveries, rent rebates, ward committee payments, use levels at the “Hubs” (that the Council set up 3 weeks ago at the governments behest) as well as the volume of work that has been passed to the 3000 volunteers who the Council says it has on its books.

At the moment the Council seems to be focusing on issuing “sound bite” media releases which encourage politicians to put their own “spin” on the figures.

The Council has been criticised for poor communications. A leaflet due to be delivered 3 weeks ago has still not been received by some residents. The information in the leaflet does however duplicate information readily available via radio, TV, social media and local noticeboards.

Now it has emerged that the Council plans 3 separate leaflets delivered from next week using Royal Mail. The promised “Our City” is still not ready and there is still no “on line” database detailing the doorstep delivery options available in the City – the County Council (which covers a much larger area) has one up and running.

There is little scrutiny of what is going on. There have been no virtual Council meetings although one will have to take place in May to elect a new Lord Mayor. The obvious option of having an “on line” discussion forum has not been taken up. No Q & A “on line” sessions with the Council leadership are taking place. Some Councillors are not answering Email requests for information.

The Labour opposition on the Council, while indulging is some public hand wringing about “not being political”, is trying to move work and funding to an organisation set up by one of their party officials.

The local Labour MP is playing every issue for maximum personal publicity and political advantage. (In fairness the Outer York MP – a Conservative – has been more circumspect.

We have a continually changing situation.

Things are not “all right”.

They may be as good as could be expected in what is a unique situation.

What people need, and deserve to have, though are up to date facts.

People can then make up their own minds about whether change is needed.

“Don’t know” response to York Council contracts probe

The York Council has said that it doesn’t hold records of how its public service contracts are being let. A Freedom of information request was submitted asking for the publication of the register which indicates when a Council executive member had – as regulations require – authorised contracts valued between at £250,000 and £500,000.

Extract from City of York Financial regulations

The issue had arisen following the (correct) decision taken by Cllr Nigel Ayre to formally approve contract letting at a public decision session in November. There was no suggestion at that stage of any impropriety, but the decision was welcomed as a move towards greater transparency.

The report to the meeting made it clear that, what were termed, “routine” decisions had previously been agreed by circulating a copy of a register to executive members.

A copy of the register has now been produced (below)which shows only 10 entries during the last two years.

“Routine” contracts register (FOI response)

Officials can’t say when items were approved by Councillors. There appears to be no documentation which would confirm that Councillors had even seen the register.

The register is also difficult to reconcile with the “on line” contracts list (for all local authorities) which can be found here

Any contracts valued at over £500,000 require formal member approval and should appear in the Councils forward programme of decisions. Some, but not all, have been listed.

Of course, the main question is whether the Council is getting good value for money?

There is still a lack of communication on contract specifications with sometimes on line descriptions being impenetrable (e.g. £880,000 being spent on “hard facilities management services”). There is also a lack of information on a contractors subsequent performance against targets. Mostly monitoring is done behind closed doors, if it is done at all.

We have asked the responsible Councillors to review contract letting and management arrangements.

More light shone by York Council on contracts

More details are being made available of a contract for the supply of furniture and “white goods” (e.g. fridges) to Universal Credit claimants in York.

It is part of the York Financial Assistance scheme, which is designed to help the poorest members of our community cope with budgeting pressures.

The contract is expected to be worth over £250,000.

Once again the Executive member (Nigel Ayre) has agreed to consider this proposal at a public decision meeting which is being held on 16^th December.

Although the decision to seek tenders for this service isn’t particularly controversial, and any expenditure will be within budget allocations, the move to publish background papers will be welcomed by many taxpayers.

Hopefully other Executive Councillors will adopt a similar approach to transparency in the future.

The cost of new contracts entered into by the York Council can be viewed on a national register via this link https://procontract.due-north.com/ContractsRegister/Index

The Community Furniture Store (CFS) is the current provider of household goods for the York Financial Assistance Scheme (YFAS). The scheme, which is funded by City of York Council, provides basic furnishing for people in need as a result of a urgent personal circumstances.

More details can be found by clicking here

The York CFS is located at the Raylor Centre in James Street. It also has branches in Selby and Scarborough.

Residents are urged to donate any unused items of furniture, which are in good condition, to the scheme. The CFS arranges to pick up the items.

Background information published by Council

Transparency returns to York Council decision making process?

Two decisions on the award of large IT contracts are to be taken in public next week as the York Council takes its first tentative steps towards a more open approach. It is not the decisions themselves which have attracted attention but rather it is the justification offered for placing them before a public meeting.

The report states “that councillors consider routine procurement decisions over £250k in value in line with procurement regulations and the public have the opportunity to see transparent decision-making in operation relating to major procurements.”

That is always supposed to have happened but some officials have sought to exploit loopholes in the budget process to justify making implementation decisions behind closed doors. Such “routine” decisions must be reported to the responsible executive member in a “register” This has not been done routinely in a transparent way.

It appears that the Executive are now insisting that proposals are tabled individually. That is a step in the right direction.

The two decisions being made on 18^th November relate to

Expenditure of £323,800 on an “on line” customer payments system
A £710,000 investment in a new document management system.

The meeting will also hear that the Council is scrapping a proposed joint procurement with Harrogate to appoint a technology provider.

Instead the current provider in York will continue until summer 2020 with a new supplier, for managed network services, taking over then. The Council current spends around £2 million per annum on this service.

Full marks to Cllr Nigel Ayre who is taking the first tentative steps towards making the Council more open and accountable

Psst, can you keep a secret?

A York Council committee will be considering how to make settlement agreements – made when employees leave the Councils employment – more transparent.

They will also touch on the number of “Non-Disclosure Agreements” issued by the Council (over 60 in recent years) and whether these are in the interests of taxpayers.

The proposals are on the agenda of the, normally secretive, Staffing Matters and Urgency committee meeting which takes place on 5^th August. Unusually all the items on the agenda will be discussed in public.

Although the new process will involve the appropriate Executive Councillor, it does fail to lay down clear rules limiting the scale of enhanced payments to a leaving employee. They may still be seen by some managers as an easy way to get rid of under-performing staff.

Non-disclosure agreements will still be possible.

There are no plans to routinely report the nature and value of settlements and agreements to a public committee.

There may still be a suspicion amongst taxpayers that enhanced payments are made solely to avoid the laborious processes and costs of an Employment Tribunal.

NB. The same meeting is being told that the Council has been unable to find a suitable candidate to fill the new post of Director of Governance and Improvement. Instead a Director of Governance is to be appointed at a salary of around £90k.

Shy Council candidates refuse to reveal where they live

We publish below a list of 55 candidates in the York Council elections who are refusing to reveal where they live.

It is only recently that the government changed the rules to allow home addresses to be omitted from candidate nomination forms. Council officials still check that potential candidates are on the electoral register or are qualified to stand in some other way. But there is no transparency about whether a candidate lives in or particularly close to the area that he or she hopes to represent.

The Dringhouses ward fares particularly badly. 7 of the 14 candidates there decline to say where they live.

This is important because many electors will expect their Councillors to regularly check on the quality of public series in the area. A good maxim for Councillors has always been the three “C”’s.

Consult residents, Campaign for improvements and Communicate what you have done.

This can most easily be done if a Councillor lives in or very near to the ward that they represent. From the moment they leave their home in a morning they can be scanning public services like roads, street lights and litter collection to check that everything is OK.

That’s much more difficult if you live several miles away. There is evidence to suggest that, after the first few enthusiastic months, communication with residents declines (until another election comes round).

So, electors have a right to know whether a candidate lives in the neighbourhood.

The government changed the rules in an attempt to protect public servants from intimidation. That’s’ fine. There is no need to publish the house number of a candidate. Just the street name, and confirmation of which ward it is in, would suffice, at least until someone has been elected.

Four of the “shy” candidates are currently sitting Councillors.

Cllr Boyce doesn’t provide either her address or personal telephone number on the Council web site
Cllr Michael Pavlovic also doesn’t provide an address but he has listed a mobile phone number
Cllr Margaret Wells doesn’t provide an address but does list a phone number
Cllr Stuart Barnes does list both his Strensall address and a personal telephone number.

A quick look at the Party websites reveals that they are no more candid about where their candidates live.

All candidates should, before the 2^nd May poll, publish details indicating which polling district they live in, and provide a contact email and telephone number.

Such details will be required by residents if candidates are fortunate enough to get elected.

City of York Council; When things go wrong

There have been some strange goings on at the Council over the last few days.

First up we reported yesterday that there was something seriously amiss with the “planning on line” web site..

Some residents routinely use the site to check what planning applications have been made for the area in which they live. We do so routinely for the west of York and report applications on this site.

There was something unusual about the list of applications which the Council claimed to have validated for the Westfield ward during the week commencing 7th May. Closer examination revealed that the list include applications that had not only been validated months – and in one case 3 years – ago, but all had actually already been approved.

In most cases the planning permission had been implemented.

So a computer glitch?

Yet 24 hours later the incorrect information is still on line.

York Council planning web site 13th May 2018

Equally worrying is the way in which decisions, delegated to officials, are reported in an opaque manner on the Council web site.

Today we are told of a “Decision for provision of the Ways to Wellbeing service is already approved through the Better Care Fund decision making process which is on an Executive Member level”

What? We have no idea what the Council is trying to tell us?

On some occasions the Council seems to be trying to be more open.

It reports today that it has decided what grants to make from an “improving lives” financial advice campaign. Over £166,000 is being handed out to local organisations with Citizens Advice getting the lions share.

But in listing the awards, the Council inevitably prompts more questions; not least “What are taxpayers actually buying for this money?”

At the very least the expected outcomes for the expenditure should be listed, together with a summary of the monitoring process that the Council will use to determine whether it has received value for its investment.