Agenda item

Parliamentary Question Time by Sir Edward Garnier MP. This relates to governance issues at Oadby and Wigston Council.

Residents asked the Chair for clarification in relation to questions raised at Parliamentary Question Time by Sir Edward Garnier, Harborough MP. This relates to the MP`s speech on governance issues at Oadby and Wigston Council.

The issues in question related to: 214 grievances taken by 9 senior managers against the senior management team; estimated £550,000 spent on investigation, legal costs etc; and critical comments concerning management and governance of the Council.  Residents asked why Forum meetings had been told nothing in the eighteen months since the resignation letter of one of those staff appeared in the Leicester Mercury after the May 2015 election. 

The Chair responded with the following points in relation to questions posed by residents.

• On the day the information was raised in Parliament, the Chair was informed at very short notice this was to happen, with very little time to respond.
• The issue concerns a Council staff group grievance which is still being dealt with by lawyers and is not open for sharing with the public.
• On receiving the grievance the Chair did not assume it was one sided. An independent body went through the evidence. Sir Edward Garnier has taken it out of context and has not visited Oadby and Wigston Council offices since February 2016.
• The grievance if wrongly dealt with could have cost the Council more than half a million. Time is being taken to ensure the Council follows employment procedures properly and get it right.
• Understanding the full context of the issue, may not have led anyone to do a different one from the current one.
• Reserves are in place to cover this type of emergency.
• Sir Edward Garnier indicated a sum of £500,000 for the cost of arbitrating the current staff /employer issue as he has added in funds for temporary staff coverage costs.
• A press release was put out this morning. Most of this press release can be read on Radio Leicester`s website.
• This issue has been on the Council agenda a number of times.
• The Chair is happy to share what is in the public domain. He noted the information is redacted.

A resident stated that there is no way that 214 allegations from 9 senior managers can possibly be ‘just a staffing issue’, it can only be a problem with management and governance. 

A resident stated that the Council does not respond – doesn’t reply to correspondence or phone calls, nor does the Senior Management, and that residents have nowhere to go with issues other than to their MP.  Edward Garnier is acting on behalf of residents. 

Another resident stated the view that the Liberal Democrats have had a majority for over 20 years, do not have a strong opposition, and have drifted to a position of protecting the Council instead of fulfilling their role of holding the Council to account, and representing residents.  The same resident had to ask the Chair why he was shouting at her.

Another resident stated if they were a chief executive and had 214 grievances against them, they would be seriously considering their position.  In addition, in the light of Edward Garnier’s call for the Senior Management Team and the political leadership to resign, they asked of the Chair, ‘Are you going to resign?”   The Chair replied, ‘no’. 

Another resident expressed concern at the enormous cost of the issues and pointed out that this is Council tax money paid by residents.

Another resident asked that this matter be added to the agenda for the next Forum meeting in November 2016.  The Chair agreed to this.

The Chair stated that if any resident wrote to him with their e-mail he would forward relevant documents to them – although some would be redacted.

County Council Minimum Waste Strategy

The County Council has for the past months been consulting on its Waste Strategy. The Local Council has raised objections to having a want a waste sight placed in residential areas. The issue has been raised with the County Council many times and ignored. The County Council has now got a policy. An exception has been raised to this policy.

Calenetics Session

Residents were requested to note, Callenetics classes are soon to take place in South Wigston. For further details contact: Dave Cliffe [dave.c@valonline.org.uk].