Cornwall Council leadership will be without the Conservatives

Over the past two weeks, I have been working with people from all the other groups on the new Cornwall Council to seek to form a new administration. I blogged last week about the Liberal Democrat desire to bring all the parties together and create a true 'rainbow alliance'.

Now it looks like things are moving forward.

The shame is that it appears that the Conservatives will not be part of the new arrangements. The even bigger shame is that I think a deal could have been done with them if their group leader had engaged better with the process.

It wouldn't be right to give a full blow by blow description of everything that happened. But the leaderships of both Independent and Liberal Democrats groups sought to discuss policy ideas with Cllr Ferguson on many occasions but got no response. We wanted to make sure that there was a firm foundation for the new council which set out a vision for the next four years. In the end, we couldn't even reach Cllr Ferguson to get an answer to our proposals for Conservative involvement after she went away to consult her group.

In fact, the first anyone heard that the Conservatives would definitely not be part of the new administration was when Cllr Ferguson appeared on the radio talking about a load of policy issues that she never thought to raise with us.

As a result, the new council administration will be without a number of talented Conservative voices. I have no doubt that those groups that are serving on it will seek to listen to the views of Conservative councillors and do the best for their divisions as well. But it could have been so much better.

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Tories in turmoil (non-Eastleigh edition)

Huge congratulations to Mike Thornton, the new Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh. With the Conservatives coming third behind UKIP, there are sure to be some serious recriminations within Mr Cameron's party.

But these are happening in Cornwall Tories too. Here the Conservatives seem to be imploding as a result of the budget vote on Tuesday when some blues backed the Lib Dem alternative plan for a council tax freeze and investment in services.

A month ago, the cabinet's portfolio holder for finance quit because she didn't approve of the budget drawn up by her own department (apparently she had been on holiday when the decisions were taken). Yesterday we saw one Tory cabinet member fired by the Leader because he voted for the freeze and against the official Cabinet line for a 1.97% rise.

We also saw two (so far) Conservative cabinet members quit their party and become independent. I understand that this is due to the tactics of the Conservative group leader. And I hear that there might be at least one more Tory who will leave the party in the next few days.

The Conservatives were already in three factions in County Hall. Now it seems that at least two of those factions are falling apart. And the war between the different factions is becoming both public and personal.

Council Leader Jim Currie on Steve Rushworth, the cabinet member he sacked yesterday saying he had "a beef" and "He is not compatible with the rest of the cabinet, it is as simple as that." 

Meanwhile, group leader Fiona Ferguson (who quit the cabinet last month) said she no longer considers Mr Currie to be a Conservative, claiming he has effectively become an Independent leader.

Elections in Cornwall are in two months and one day.

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Tories force through Cornwall Poor Tax

From April this year, if you are poor and of working age in Cornwall, you will be forced to pay at least a quarter of your council tax bill for the first time. That is the decision made today by the full council.

This will impose a poor tax averaging about £265 a year on the 26,000 poorest families of working age. At a time when the Conservative group leader is busy campaigning for a council tax freeze without explaining what services will have to be cut, her attitude seems to be that the poorest should still have to face a massive tax hike.

Today's debate looked at two options. The Conservative proposal was to impose the poor tax. The amendment that I put forward on behalf of the Liberal Democrats looked to retain the current system and to pay for this by cutting the spending on consultants and agency staff.

Cornwall Council currently spends more than £1 million a month on consultants and agency staff. Some of this is absolutely essential - it is spending on social workers and call centre workers and the council could not function without them. But that total (according to the figures given to me by the council) is around £5 million out of the total of £13 million. So the council would still be able to save the money without threatening lifeline or essential services.

There was a lot of bluster from the Conservatives claiming that every penny that they spend on consultants and agency staff is essential. Yet just two years ago they were spending £4 million per year less and their leaders were claiming it could be cut back further still. If we could spend so much less then, why can't we do so now and protect the most vulnerable from this tax hike in the process.

I am clear that this decision today will force thousands of families into debt that they will not be able to cope with. There will be thousands more county court judgements and bailiff visits and many more families struck down with the stress and worry of it all. I'm glad that there will be a £1 million hardship fund and that we will be giving the Citizens Advice Bureaux extra money to help counsel people. But the hardship fund will disappear after a year and I fear that the CAB money is far too little for the extra work they will be faced with.

This was never an easy decision to take. But when the Leader of the Conservative group says that she "knows nothing about these people," I think it tells you far more about her and her party's attitude to the poor than anything else.

UPDATE - BBC and WMN coverage of the decision

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Cornwall Tories lose another councillor - the Fiona-shambles continues

Another day, another problem for accident-prone Cornwall Tory leader Fiona Ferguson.

Cllr George Trubody, councillor for Rame and the cabinet support member for localism, has quit. Not just his job as a portfolio holder, but from the Council completely.

George has got another job which means he will be unable to continue with his councillor role and I wish him the very best for the future. But it is another blow for the Conservative group and their leader.

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Official: Fiona Ferguson costs Cornwall Council £300,000

Cornwall Council officers have confirmed that a decision by Tory group leader Fiona Ferguson when she was a cabinet member will cost the authority £300,000 next year.

Cornwall Council inherited a real mess of six different policies regarding discretionary rate relief. This is the discount that the council can give to voluntary and community organisations on the business rates that they pay.

For fourteen months, a group of councillors and officers worked to put together a new, uniform policy that would apply across Cornwall. This new policy would iron out some of the anomalies and get rid of a few of the sweetheart deals that were given to organisations that should not be getting such a handout at a time when the authority is having to save every penny it can.

This new policy was due to go to the cabinet for agreement in time to allow the new policy to be implemented at the start of the new financial year in April. All organisations likely to be affected had been written to warning them of the new policy and officers were planning on the additional £300k of income it would generate.

Except that Cllr Ferguson pulled the item from the cabinet agenda when she still held her post.

So it is now too late to implement for the coming year and Cornwall Council will be £300,000 out of pocket as a result.

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The lie detectors behind the fig leaf

It may be widely regarded as a fig leaf as a reason for Fiona Ferguson's resignation, but that doesn't mean that the issue of Cornwall Council commissioning lie detector tests isn't a genuine concern. And I am certain that it is an issue on about which Cllr Ferguson is passionate.

The story is this:

Anyone who lives on their own (or with other people who are not liable for council tax) receives a 25% discount in the council tax that they pay. Cornwall Council is concerned that some people might be claiming the discount even though they are not entitled to it. And so they commissioned a review.

That's fair enough. None of us wants to see people defrauding the council. But there are concerns about the manner of the review.

I first raised problems with the process when I learned that Capita would be conducting the review on a 'no win, no fee' basis from Kent. Why couldn't a Cornish firm do the job, I asked, and wouldn't the bounty hunter basis lead to pressure on Capita to over-report

All of these points were made to the Chief Executive of the council but it seems nothing was changed.

What was unknown to the rest of us, until now, was that Capita would be using lie detector technology in their phone interviews with some of the discount claimants. It has been suggested to me that this should not be a concern - that if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide. Except that, as Cllr Ferguson pointed out in her resignation email, the technology is viewed as unproven by no less a source than the Department of Work and Pensions. If you have an unreliable system - particularly if that system throws up false positives - then it becomes a real concern.

And what about the attitude of Cllr Currie?

If Cllr Ferguson is to be believed, he did not want this issue becoming public and threatened to sack Fiona if she told anyone about it. Is that really the sort of attitude we expect? That controversial issues will be swept under the carpet on pain of dismissal.

We now know that Cllr Currie is refusing to review the use of the technology. His email to all councillors today makes that clear. He says:

"While I am aware of Fiona’s views over the issue of voice recognition software, the use of this technology is a key part of the review of council tax single person discount which is being carried out by CAPITA. 

There is tremendous pressure on the Council’s budget and we need to do everything we can to prevent fraud. This will not affect people making genuine claims but we estimate that identifying and removing inappropriate claims could save the Council at least £1m.  This money could then be used to support essential services.  On balance, therefore, I am not prepared to place any restrictions on our contractor at this late stage."

Personally, I am not reassured by that statement. I believe that councillors should have been told that this sort of system was in use and that it was considered unreliable by the DWP (among others). I will certainly be signing the petition that Cllr Ferguson plans to present to stop its use.

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It was only a matter of time...

Anyone who has been following recent events at Cornwall Council will not have been overly surprised by Fiona Ferguson's resignation from the cabinet today.

Many of us were slightly disappointed by the manner of it, however. I was sitting in the same scrutiny meeting as the Leader, Jim Currie, when Cllr Ferguson sent her email. I, and others with laptops or iPads, therefore knew about the move long before the Leader. He had to wait for an officer to come in with a printout of the email. It's disappointing, even discourteous, not to at least make sure the addressee of a resignation gets it before everyone else.

Whatever your view of the reason given for Cllr Ferguson going (I'll blog on that in a bit), we all knew it was coming. One Tory backbencher described the lie detector issue to me as a 'fig leaf'. She has been at war with the leadership ever since she was appointed to the role back in November. After admitting that she was under instruction from Tory central office as group leader to try to seek a council tax freeze, on Tuesday last week she announced she would be doing so at the budget cabinet meeting. But when that took place the next day she seemed reticent to propose the move. Perhaps she had realised that a freeze was unlikely to be possible without front line service cuts. Perhaps it was because she knew she didn't have the votes behind her. As it turned out, only one other cabinet member backed her stance and the majority (the majority of Conservatives even) voted for a rise.

And so we now have three Conservative groups at County Hall - the Currie Cabal; the Ferguson Faithful and the Robertson Rebels, if you like. What you don't have is a strong cabinet all pulling in the same direction trying to do their best for the people of Cornwall at a very difficult time for the authority.

What we won't be getting is a replacement for Fiona. Cllr Currie has announced that he will be taking on the role himself, rather than trying to find a third finance portfolio holder in just over two months.

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Fiona Ferguson resigns from Cornwall Cabinet

I've just received this email which was sent by Fiona Ferguson, the Cornwall Cabinet member for Finance, to Council Leader Jim Currie:

Jim,

As you know, it came to my attention that the contract let to Capita (before I took up my portfolio duties) to survey claimants of the single person’s council tax relief will include the use of “Voice Risk Analysis” (VRA) techniques when making phone calls to claimants.

These techniques are sometimes called “lie detector” tests.

It is clearly right that Cornwall Council takes a strong line against people who deliberately mis-claim tax benefits but in this case I am more concerned about the impact on the vast majority of honest claimants.

In passing, although this does not deal with my fundamental ethical objection, I note that the techniques used by Capita were trialled by the Department of Work and Pensions in 24 local authorities on the processing of Housing Benefit between August 2008 and December 2010.

Their report issued in September 2010 said: “From our findings it is not possible to demonstrate that VRA works effectively and consistently in the benefits environment. The evidence is not compelling enough to recommend the use of VRA within DWP.”

I have discussed this matter with the Monitoring Officer.  He has advised me that, as this is an operational matter in relation to a contract that the Council has already entered into, he strongly advises me that I should not require  that this software is not used.  If, contrary to his advice, I maintain my stance that we must not use this software then officers will comply provided you also agree.

You have made it clear to me that you will not agree.  Indeed, you have said that I will be ‘sacked’ if I inform members that this software will be used.

That will not be necessary.  Please accept my resignation with immediate effect. 

May I say that I have no reason whatsoever to believe that you were aware of this aspect of the contract before I drew it to your attention.  I also appreciate that you are in a difficult position in view of the Monitoring Officer’s advice.  But, I do not believe that his advice is correct and I cannot accept it on ethical grounds.  I also do not believe that it will help the Council to pursue fraud (which we must surely do) if the public think we are using this software.  Finally, I fear that it will be extremely damaging to our reputation.

Therefore, I am launching a petition to require any use of this type of technology to be approved by Full Council.

Fiona

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Hapless Fiona blunders into another row - UPDATED

Not content with falling out with half her Conservative colleagues, Cllr Fiona Ferguson is now at war with a group representing people with disabilities in Cornwall.

In the debate on council tax benefit on Tuesday, a number of councillors raised the issue of the effect of the cabinet proposal on disabled people in Cornwall. They quoted an email that councillors had received from Disability Cornwall. In rebuttal, Cllr Ferguson played the man not the ball and launched an extraordinary attack on the credibility of the group. She claimed that the chief executive was paid £60,000 per year and expressed doubt about the work that the group does.

In response, Steve Paget, Chair of Disability Cornwall, sent an email correcting the claims that Cllr Ferguson had made. He stated categorically that the benchmark for a chief executive of a group like theirs was £46k per year but that they could not afford to pay that amount and do not do so.

Far from taking Mr Paget at his word and apologising for misleading councillors, Cllr Ferguson renewed her attacks on the organisation. She claimed that the group's annual report had made the £60k claim and attacked the 'glossy magazine' produced by the group.

Mr Paget responded again to point out that the reference to £60k salaries is one required by the Charity Commission and had no link to any pay rates offered by his organisation. He also corrected Cllr Ferguson to tell her that the 'glossy magazine' is funded largely by adverts and only appears when the group has enough adverts to cover the costs.

Of course, all this row could have been avoided if Cllr Ferguson had bothered to talk to Disability Cornwall and find out the facts before launching her ad hominem attack. But even if she didn't do so, it would have been the decent thing to do if she apologised when first corrected. As things stand, it's yet another example of why the Lib Dems don't believe that she is fit to hold a position on the cabinet.

UPDATE - Cllr Ferguson has now issued what amounts to an apology to Disability Cornwall. Let's hope she will also make the same apology at the next council meeting.


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Blue on Blue - Cornwall Council cabinet at war

It was war at Cornwall Council's cabinet this morning as Conservative and Independent members rowed among themselves about their budget proposals. Chief target was Fiona Ferguson, Cabinet Member for Finance, who announced that she would not be supporting the budget proposals for which she is responsible. Liberal Democrats have said that Cllr Ferguson's position is untenable.

As I have blogged before, Cllr Ferguson says that she is taking her national party's line and wants to see a council tax freeze. This appears to have been the outcome of a Tory group meeting last week. But today she admitted that such a freeze might not be possible.

Independent cabinet member Mark Kaczmarek was not impressed that Cllr Ferguson was toeing the party line:

"We should not be seeking to impose Westminster political party priorities on Cornwall Council" 

Asked why she disagreed with her own budget, Cllr Ferguson said:

"It can't be said that I agree with the budget because I was on holiday when it was sent out"

Apparently the idea that a local authority might be compiling a budget in December and January came as a shock to the finance cabinet member.

Cllr Ferguson has also angered her cabinet colleagues by announcing the areas where she thinks savings could be made (economic development, tourism and the chief executive's department) on the radio without discussing these with the relevant portfolio holders.

Even without a council tax freeze, Council Leader Jim Currie admitted today that the Conservative-Independent administration:

"will be leaving a £21m black hole and 5% council tax rise next year"

The Council's cabinet eventually agreed by seven votes to nil with two abstentions to approve the draft budget for recommendation to full council. That budget proposal includes a 1.97% increase in council tax. The two abstentions were Finance portfolio holder Fiona Ferguson and Economy and Regeneration portfolio holder Steve Rushworth.

Lib Dem group leader Jeremy Rowe said this:

“We are forced to ask how Cllr Ferguson can remain in the cabinet when she disagrees so completely with major aspects of Cornwall Council policy, including those within her own portfolio. Given that it is the Leader himself who is now writing and promoting the budget it may be that he could save some money by sacking Cllr Ferguson and using her special responsibility allowance to avoid some of the cuts.”

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Council rejects all options on council tax benefit

It was a case of good news / bad news at today's Cornwall Council meeting where council tax benefit cuts were on the agenda.

The good news was that the Conservative proposal to impose a 25% rise in council tax on the poorest families in Cornwall was defeated by 43 votes to 37.

The bad news was that the Liberal Democrat alternative to continue with the current scheme was also, very narrowly, lost by 44 votes to 41. A number of councillors were controversially excluded from the meeting because of their relationship to people who receive council tax benefit.

That means that there is currently no proposition on the table and councillors must reconvene before the end of January in order to seek a solution.

My argument was that it is wrong to expect families which have no spare income to pay anything between £250 and £1000 a year. Most simply cannot afford to do so and if they cannot pay, they won't. The council will therefore be tied up with endless court procedures, summonses and bailiffs. Instead, I argued that we should be using the new income from closing the loopholes on second home and empty homes council tax - which is the same amount as the cut to benefit funding.

My colleague, Ruth Lewarne, asked the Leader whether he had met with any groups representing people affected by his proposals - or any individuals likely to be affected. He confirmed that he hadn't, saying that he was too busy to do so. In a similar vein, Cllr Ferguson said:

"I don't know anything about these people"

when asked about people who would be affected by her proposal.

Cllr Ferguson, the cabinet member for finance, proposed a hardship fund of £1 million to be found by cutting the higher education bursary. This idea was heavily defeated, partly on the basis that any scheme that requires a hardship fund of around a quarter of the total amount has not been properly thought through.

The council will seek a fresh alternative before the 29th January but Liberal Democrats will be seeking to ensure that this on the basis that the poorest families who cannot afford to pay should not be made to.

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So why is the Conservative Leader's budget not the same as the Leader of the Conservatives' budget?

It seems like Cornwall Conservatives are bidding to out-omnishambles George Osborne with their budget.

On Wednesday, the Leader of the Council - Conservative Jim Currie - published his administration's finance proposals for the coming year. They are looking to find about £6.3 million of front line service cuts (despite the promise made last year that there would be no need for additional savings this year). They also propose a rise in council tax of 1.97% after two years of freezes.

But last night it emerged that there will be a different Conservative budget which will seek a further year of council tax freeze. We don't yet know any more details of this proposal and might not do so until just before the formal council tax setting meeting in mid February. That's because amendments aren't subject to formal scrutiny (but do have to be signed off by the chief finance officer of the council).

What is most strange about this whole scenario is that the cabinet member for finance is Fiona Ferguson, the Leader of the Conservative group on the council. So it appears that she is set to vote against the budget she is responsible for.

I'm inclined to think that her position on the cabinet (at least in the finance role) is untenable if she continues to oppose her own budget. Surely she must back the administration's official budget, persuade her colleagues to adopt her budget as the official one or resign from the cabinet?

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Fiona Ferguson becomes fourth Tory leader in a month

Congratulations to Fiona Ferguson who was this evening voted in as the new leader of the Conservative group on Cornwall Council.

Fiona becomes the fourth leader of Cornwall Conservatives in just over a month. Alec Robertson resigned... Armand Toms was picked to be the Tory nominee for the council leadership but withdrew... Jim Currie was voted in ac council, but not group leader... and now Fiona.

Rumour has it that if Fiona resigns they are lining up Rafa Benitez next

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