Archives for June 2010

That is what Eric Pickles last month called setting up more unitary authorities, as he killed off plans to replace several county and district councils.

The new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wasn't holding back:

"When the priority must be to tackle the immense public deficit we have inherited, it is ludicrous that taxpayers' money is being wasted imposing a council reorganisation."

But that's not the way his Conservative colleagues on Wiltshire Council see it.

"It couldn't have come at a better time for us," leader Jane Scott says of last year's change to a unitary authority.

She is adamant democracy hasn't suffered; few tears are shed for the likes of West Wiltshire District Council.

But finances have benefitted.

The transition cost £17 million; now the savings are coming - £18 million this year, and in years to come it's expected to be even more.

In these tough financial times, she hopes the Secretary of State takes notice:

"I think we can ride this storm in a better position than we ever would have been if we were one county council and four districts."

Some might even suggest sticking with the old system would have been a ludicrous waste of money...

Sometimes the Freedom of Information Act is useful for sweeping, investigative stories; at other times, for digging around in the detail.

Remember the Sky Leaders' Debate at Bristol's Arnolfini way back before the election?

Remember the reams of protesters, and the reams of police officers?

We wondered how much all that policing cost - and the FOIA is a wonderful tool for that type of detail.

Now we know: the total cost to Avon & Somerset Police was £118,710.

As you might expect, the vast majority (£114, 642) went on officers.

To sustain them, £497 was spent on "subsistence" and £3,155 on "feeding" - I'm not sure what the difference is there, but that's how it has been broken down.

Perhaps they should have popped into the area reserved for journalists; there was plenty of tea and biscuits on offer there - courtesy of Sky.

£116 was spent on "publications".

Still, protecting the three party leaders cannot be an easy job - and the money came from budgets allocated centrally, so at no extra cost to the local police.

With our forces all having to make savings over the next few years, presumably they will be hoping any future debates take place elsewhere - unlike us political hacks.

New government, new openness.

That's the theory anyway - shame that spirit hasn't filtered down to some of our councils.

We've found out recently what the PM's special advisers earn, joining a long list of public servants whose salaries have been made public.

Cameron himself has set the benchmark for public sector pay at the top; plans are afoot for anyone who earns more than him to have it signed off by the Chancellor.

No one knows yet whether these rules will be retrospective though.

It seemed an apposite time then to revisit the pay-off made to Somerset County Council's Chief Executive, Alan Jones, when he departed the council in July 2009.

But the council won't play ball: a Freedom of Information request about the payments made and benefits accrued to Mr Jones when he left was rebutted.

"This information is exempt under section 40 (personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as the information constitutes third party data," a spokesperson told us.

"Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be unfair to that person as it is confidential."

The Information Commissioner has already upheld several judgements along these lines from other councils, according to Somerset.

That won't stop us going back to him, as it's hardly in the spirit of David Cameron's new open Government: particularly when Somerset CC has just had its grant cut by £3m, and will - like all councils - be looking to make savings soon.