flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Two Jenny Hastings? The one I refer to is the Ameo Training/ independent. See below link http://www.newcollege.leicester.sch.uk/newcollege/files/Meeting-25.01.12.pdf The one in the letter referred to by Roger Phillips is the independent consultant in the link above or is that just a huge coincidence? Quote
gdj Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 I just think it is a shame that the HT, aside from some quite technical pieces by Bill Tanner, seems to consider itself part of the establishment. The piece this week supporting Hoople - this must be the result of a council communication because, as we all know, no-one is allowed to see the figures in detail as it isn't subject to FoI. The HT would actually serve its readership better by challenging the authorities (which can be done professionally and politely) - ask the questions and test the answers. If it is true that HCC employees have jumped the housing queue, or even that there is an investigation, a journalist should be on the phone trying to get answers. In response to the Tony Johnson inaccuracies in his statement on road building and the HA, it needed questions and follow up questions not just the printing of a statement. I don't think it is a matter of "balance" - if allegations are made, and they are found to be true, there is no "balance" in not publishing because it is considered `moaning`. If allegations are untrue, then truth is served by publishing what the actual situation is, to put an end to rumours. There was a poster on the HT website this week who said that the Head of Barrs Court special school is or was suspended. If true, then this should be a big story - what is the reason?. That headteacher used to be an assistant director in the council and was under investigation for wrongdoing when she left there. Why is the HT ignoring the story? Why aren't journalists doing some digging? Are Councillors even aware of the situation? Quote
gdj Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Jenny Hastings who has had contracts from Hoople is based in Somerset and makes no mention of school education on her linked in page The Jenny Hastings who inspected the school seems to be a school governor in Leicester and is an educational advisor - so I assume they are different. How about this snippet that could explain how the Dearing/Ward/Hastings triumvirate has extracted so much money from HCC: From Jenny Hastings' linked in page: Using this learning coupled with ten years experience as a NLP Executive Coach working with senior managers and directors, a workshop facilitator and more latterly as a hypnotherapist I offer a unique perspective for skills development and behaviour change to underpin successful delivery of creative leadership programmes, mentoring and coaching Mr Johnson, look into my eyes, look into my eyes, Hoople is great, the numbers do add up, Mike Dearing is a miracle worker, sign this cheque. Good, now you're back in the room! Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 GDJ who is responsible at the Council for looking into wrong doing? Is it the overview and scrutiny committee or is it Law and Governace, any idea? How on earth does an ex-Director of HC under suspicion of wrong doing get an appointment as a Head teacher? In my day if you managed a team and someone in the team was guilty of a wrong doing it was your head in the chopping block! Who had line management responsibility for the Director and why wasn't he/she asked how this happened on their watch! Is that the CEO I wonder? Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Lol well spotted GDJ Still like Roger to confirm which Jenny Hastings inspected the school. There are so many coincidences you can really never be sure. Quote
gdj Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 GDJ who is responsible at the Council for looking into wrong doing? Is it the overview and scrutiny committee or is it Law and Governace, any idea? How on earth does an ex-Director of HC under suspicion of wrong doing get an appointment as a Head teacher? In my day if you managed a team and someone in the team was guilty of a wrong doing it was your head in the chopping block! Who had line management responsibility for the Director and why wasn't he/she asked how this happened on their watch! Is that the CEO I wonder? Flamboyant It was an Assistant Director - line manager was the Director. I don't know what the internal mechanism for investigations are, who controls or scrutinises these things, or what the outcome was - just that there was an investigation that people were talking about at the time and many people were surprised at the appointment to Barrs Court. Quote
stupidfrustration Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Well done for finding this out - it's what the HT should be reporting on, but kudos to you. Quote
stupidfrustration Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Gjd - again well done for exposing this too. Quote
gdj Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Just another thought on the company network here. HCC has paid large sums to Ameo Ltd. Mike Dearing is not a director of Ameo Ltd. However Ameo Ltd is a member of the LLP `Ameo Professional Services'. Another member is Mike Dearing, another member is Mike Dearing's own company Ameo Consulting. LLPs share the assets between the members. It looks therefore like Mike Dearing can, in theory, benefit financially from HCC payments to Ameo Ltd. Whether he did so, and whether HCC realised this possibility is another question. Or was HCC paying for Hoople's MD off the Hoople balance sheet? That would certainly make Hoople seem more cost effective. Over to you, Hereford Times - ask some questions. Quote
dippyhippy Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Well done Flam, and well done GDJ!! Excellent work! It will be interesting to see if HT do pick up on this now, and do a little investigating of their own...... Quote
dippyhippy Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Afternoon GDJ! I think you and I both thought this one would end in tears. The appointment to this position, was controversial right from the beginning. Serious questions now need to be asked, about payoffs, redundancy payments and ending up in another highly paid role....... Quote
stupidfrustration Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 This is one story they I really hope HT do pick up on, hey they have picked up on much less from this site and others and ran with it, but this one has some real importance to the city. Fffffiona - If you are reading, can you please put the REAL reporter Bill on it? Podge is great on football, but this is too serious for him, nice guy though. Jess - well, again, nice girl, but this is too serious. Bill is the man for the job. Please HT - lets do this! Quote
dippyhippy Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 This isn't the only serious issue that has been raised on these pages, there is a thread which contained many comments, all about ICT contracts! I shall endeavour to find it, and point you in the right direction....it's well worth a read through. Especially some of the FOI requests, that Paul Cardin asked for! This is odd!! It was the "You Don't Deserve Democracy" thread, if my memory serves me correctly! Having found it, it says there are only two comments, when I know there was quite a few pages worth!! Colin....what is going on???? Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 GDJ in 2013 before Ameo training existed. Wiltshire Council paid Ameo a lot of money see link below. According to Jenny Hastings linkedin she has done work for Wiltshire. Coincidence I think not. http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/howthecouncilworks/budgetsandspending/paymentssalariesandexpenses/paymentssearch/byexpensetype.htm?expensetype=Consultants%B4%20Fees&month=09&year=2013 Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Jenny Hastings linkedin has her address as Taunton Somerset Taunton Bourough Council paid Ameo huge sums of money in 2011-2012 & 2012- 2013. £237,322.80 and £260,642.96 respectively http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&q=council+and+Ameo+ltd.xls Now this Is where it gets really interesting. http://ibmwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/southwest-one-scandal.html Also http://www.conservativehome.com//localgovernment/2009/04/lib-dem-councillor-in-somerset-denied-justice-by-his-own-party.html All sounds very familiar Software, compromise agreements and business partnerships promising to save us millions .... How on earth do these people end up at Herefordshire Council? Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 I'm guessing the Director was either Jenny Lewis or Geoff Hughes. There's a lot happening on good ole Geoffs' watch, isn't he the Director of Homes and Communities or is it now called some other obscure name? Doesn't housing come under his control? He's rumoured to earn 120 k a year so I think he should start making his money or retire gracefully and take all his mates with him! They are easily identified they will report directly to Geoff and currently be working on some crazy fictitious project costing a small fortune. The Director has ultimate responsibility for his officers otherwise what's the point of these management structures? Quote
dippyhippy Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 Blimey! The list of Mr Hughes responsibilities is all encompassing! He seems to be responsible for just about everything apart from hiring the school nit nurse! Quote
Denise Lloyd Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 I seem to remember Tony Johnson I think it was saying or writing that Geoff Hughes has 4 roles within the Council. Spreads himself thinly so does he really earn £120k or is he just paid it! Quote
Colin James Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 I would have added this to the previous Hoople thread, started by Bobby - but it has been "archived" and comments no longer allowed??. Colin, if you would like to merge this thread with Bobby's, please feel free! Both merged. Quote
flamboyant Posted May 18, 2014 Report Posted May 18, 2014 He's just paid it. He like the Councillors is out of touch and putting his faith in people who will inevitably by his down fall! Quote
bobby47 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Posted May 20, 2014 His downfall? Perhaps he will but he's very unlikely to ever meet any harm as he hurtles downwards toward the exit door. Not a single velvet glove will land on Geoff. No! Geoffrey will throw himself at the feet of anyone who chooses to ever question him and hold him to account by simply saying this, 'I'm now a wreck of a man. I've reached my personal level of incompetence because I was handed to many areas of responsibility.' And he'll say, 'and if it were not for the managerial mistake of giving me to many areas of responsibility I wouldn't be in the mess that I currently find myself in'. He'll sit back, graciously accept his suspension, if it should ever arrive upon his lap , let it be known that he intends to sue the Council for giving him to many areas of responsibility and sit back and wait for the huge cash windfall that'll be described as 'a Compromise Agreement'. Why would he do this? I bloody would! Look at his portfolio of responsibility. You'd have to be superhuman to manage that lot. It's nigh on impossible especially for someone who reached his own personal level of incompetence some years ago. No! He'll be fine and so will all the others who find themselves in areas of difficulty. They'll simple march away with a wad of our money, quickly reinvent themselves via the 'old boys network' and before you know it, they'll be back telling you, me and anyone else who's prepared to listen that, ' I am driven to save you millions and if there's a chance in hell, I'd like to help you all to create a thousand jobs. No! Geoffrey will be just fine. Don't worry about Geoff and his well trained sycophantic lap dogs who daily throw themselves upon the carpet as they roll around in hysterics when Geoff says something that requires a laughing response and cries of 'god Geoff! You are the funniest and greatest line manager I've ever had the pleasure to creep around'. Quote
flamboyant Posted May 20, 2014 Report Posted May 20, 2014 The incomparable Bobby strikes again! Hilarious! Quote
gdj Posted May 20, 2014 Report Posted May 20, 2014 My two pennorth on this Director vs democracy thing is that we actually expect too much from elected councillors. My own councillor (and it seems many others) will roll up there sleeves and get involved in the nitty gritty problems of their residents. The housing, the drains, the litter, the roads, benefits and the like. And all power to them for their efforts to support the least fortunate and to support their communities. However we also expect them to be on top of some highly technical and complex areas of public administration, made even more complex by the likes of Hoople, Balfour Beatty, Hereford Futures etc and ever changing government requirements and funding. These are completely different skills and knowledge qualities. We on here can highlight with some patient research, the conflicts of interest and the dodgy dealings of the likes of Geoff Hughes, Mike Dearing, Jo Davidson and their ilk, but in a council meeting these people control the information and councillors are not confident in challenging what they are told. The missing link is the pre-publication of what is to be put in front of councillors/cabinet/OSC etc and a method for council staff or other people who know the issue well to alert councillors to inaccuracies, hidden implications etc. Councillors need to harness the expertise of, well, experts. The prospect of real scrutiny, by the public, would quickly eliminate a a lot of the self serving control of information, of `editing' reports to make them more palatable. Quote
Denise Lloyd Posted May 20, 2014 Report Posted May 20, 2014 Bobby I think you must have worked at the same companies that I have. Brown nosing goes on in every company BUT eventually wait long enough and they all come tumbling down and the crows come home to roost. Take note you highly paid suits!! Quote
Cloudberry Posted May 21, 2014 Report Posted May 21, 2014 My two pennorth on this Director vs democracy thing is that we actually expect too much from elected councillors. My own councillor (and it seems many others) will roll up there sleeves and get involved in the nitty gritty problems of their residents. The housing, the drains, the litter, the roads, benefits and the like. And all power to them for their efforts to support the least fortunate and to support their communities. However we also expect them to be on top of some highly technical and complex areas of public administration, made even more complex by the likes of Hoople, Balfour Beatty, Hereford Futures etc and ever changing government requirements and funding. These are completely different skills and knowledge qualities. We on here can highlight with some patient research, the conflicts of interest and the dodgy dealings of the likes of Geoff Hughes, Mike Dearing, Jo Davidson and their ilk, but in a council meeting these people control the information and councillors are not confident in challenging what they are told. The missing link is the pre-publication of what is to be put in front of councillors/cabinet/OSC etc and a method for council staff or other people who know the issue well to alert councillors to inaccuracies, hidden implications etc. Councillors need to harness the expertise of, well, experts. The prospect of real scrutiny, by the public, would quickly eliminate a a lot of the self serving control of information, of `editing' reports to make them more palatable. I think you have hit the nail on the head here gdj. Many Councillors do work very hard on the practical things that affect their areas. And it's not surprising if they don't also have time to read and digest the implications of all the papers that come their way. And even if they read them, and see questions that ought to be asked, imagine how much time is needed to do more research and be sure that a challenge is appropriate. Once upon a time there were enough council staff to do research and make sure the Councillors were briefed with facts, enough to make properly informed decisions in a more transparent way. But now..... So now it's up to people on Hereford Voice etc. to help dig up the real facts and expose the innaccuracies, the blatantly misleading statements, and the conflicts of interest. Quote
bobby47 Posted May 21, 2014 Author Report Posted May 21, 2014 Denise, it is an odd thing isn't it? The art of creeping! The ability to not only creep, grovel and ingratiate yourself to the one positioned above you on the foodchain, but more importantly, and not to be underestimated, to be able to transmit this trait in your nature to your target clearly indicating to him or her that its you who should become the chosen one. Yes, you are the choice they should make if they want to continue to hear laughter, high praise, an hourly assurance that you are a remarkable person and you've no problem in allowing another to crawl up and into your anus and be covered in sh.ite. The wonderful thing about being the creep is that the workforce around you quickly realise who you are, what your new status is and, from hereon the creep begins to undergo a change. Remarkably, cognisant of your new found status, they start creeping around you. Oh, they laugh and fall about whenever you say something mildly amusing desperately trying not to let you know that they too have the ability to crawl up the masters anus and eventually challenge you for the best bunk in the house. And round and round it all goes. Never a challenge to the most blatant of mistakes. This is the way of things. This is the structure of management within our Council. Oddly enough, after the creep has spent enough time crawling about inside the masters anus the realisation hits home. The creep is not the only one with this remarkable ability to burrow up his masters arse. The master is at it as well. He has his head buried deep into the Chief Executive who, like Geoff, enjoys to hear people laugh at his pithy comments, marvel at his George Medal and be told, 'thank God you left Southampton. Without you, my life would be incomplete'. And for those who choose to do their work, do it well and quietly go home at the end of the days labour, well they get to do that every day for as long as they can stand it. No warm embrace for them and when they do pluck up the courage and say, 'this ain't right. It's a mistake', the whole structure and culture of the way things are then kick in and the poor soul who never wanted to creep finds himself or herself in the next pen destined to be made redundant when the next cuts arrive. Yep! Creeping! Not so nice is it? And, worse, it has a devastating impact on all of us who want our funds spent well. Quote
stupidfrustration Posted May 21, 2014 Report Posted May 21, 2014 Bobby47 - Sounds like you have been through the mill a good few times. I hope you are happy in what ever you are doing and can still make a positive difference where ever you are. Quote
bobby47 Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Posted May 22, 2014 Stupidfrustration, Hello mate. Actually, no! In my old life I had a rather easy time of it all. Because I and my colleagues were all at rock bottom, without any prospects of ever leaving that position, creeping was never really an option. Besides, if anyone had have crept and tried to oil their way into favour with those above us, and there were many of them, then you'd have been thrashed. They told me what to do, I did it and throughout the entire process of 'you do this', I moaned my way through the entire excercise that lasted near on five decades. Five decades, unblemished by any form of achievement that were rarely ever interupted by a performance of mediocrity. As for the future, seeing as I did hit rock bottom very quickly and managed to sustain my performance and remain there, I think that there's every likelihood that I'll provide nothing of any use or importance to the society I'll surely be departing from soon if I continue with my chosen lifestyle of drinking, smoking, betting upon uncertain outcomes and shovelling out this pigswill that comes so naturally and with such ease to me. No! I've not been through any Mill that you can imagine. My Mill was a joy to be in even though I moaned my way through the entire thing. My warmest regards to you. Quote
dippyhippy Posted July 24, 2014 Report Posted July 24, 2014 According to a Hereford Times report......Hoople, is to become two companies. Double the trouble, or the beginning of the end.....??? Quote
megilleland Posted July 24, 2014 Report Posted July 24, 2014 Hello Dippy: Yes, two companies. The council will go for this method of operation as it has the magic word "transformation" in the clause. No matter what happens "tranformation" will sort it out. I suppose they will have to have another tier of management to run the two. Looks like pay rises on the way for the chosen few. 23 Commercial / Public – Create separate trading arm – services provided commercially by Hoople – excluding council support services – would be structured into a separate corporate entity: a trading company. A council support organisation would maintain its Teckal status. The council could put additional services into the Teckal company as part of a transformation. The trading company’s aim would be profitable growth. Splitting the organisation, if done in the right way, could ensure the Teckal status of the company delivering services to the council leaving the trading company free to pursue its corporate aims. A lot of statistics under item 5 Quarterly Performance Report inviting Cabinet Members to consider performance for the first quarter of 2014/15 following the Quarterly Performance Review held on 15 July 2014. Notice under Performance Measure in the APPENDIX C - ECC Databook Jos created in the first quarter of 2014: Job opportunities identified in investment commitments made on Enterprise Zone In addition to 6 jobs already created, a further 43 are committed with the investment that is currently being made in the ongoing construction activity on site. Along way to go if they intend to create 1500 by December 2015. Quote
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