It is particularly surprising, because it was Nathan Elvery
who brought Nicola Bulbeck in to the Council after the dodgy deal involving Sean Ruth was
exposed.
The deal that would have allowed Sean Ruth to give up being Chief Fire Officer but continue as Executive Director Communities and Public Protection on the same salary. A deal that was costly, as it meant two highly paid posts were needed to replace one. Despite Sean Ruth deciding, or being told to walk away, Nathan Elvery went ahead with the extra post at an additional cost of around £180,000 a year.
The deal that would have allowed Sean Ruth to give up being Chief Fire Officer but continue as Executive Director Communities and Public Protection on the same salary. A deal that was costly, as it meant two highly paid posts were needed to replace one. Despite Sean Ruth deciding, or being told to walk away, Nathan Elvery went ahead with the extra post at an additional cost of around £180,000 a year.
So, what part has Council Leader Louise Goldsmith played?
Well we know that the County Council told the Information Commissioner that
Councillors were not involved in the dodgy deal and that there were no records
of who came up with the deal, who approved it or why the decision was taken. However,
as Nathan Elvery was the only council officer senior to Sean Ruth, he must be a
strong suspect.
Louise Goldsmith & Sean Ruth
Now, if Council Leader Louise Goldsmith and Cabinet Members were really not involved, then why is it that they are refusing to investigate to see if the
decision breached regulations or standing orders? Even after a Judge led tribunal was highly
critical of the County Council’s “surprisingly poor record keeping practice”, they refused to review the adequacy of those regulations and standards.
Coming after their shocking admissions of failure regarding Children’s
Services, it is difficult to have any confidence in changes orchestrated by Nathan
Elvery and approved by Louise Goldsmith. Especially when they were responsible
for earlier changes that they now seem to be undoing!
BBC News
We don’t know why Gavin Watts is leaving now and we may never know
the real reason, but it does raise worrying questions, including:
- Is it anything to do with inadequate funding, or the failure of Cabinet Member Debbie Kennard to get answers about unfair Government funding?
- Is it to do with the report of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, which is due soon? I could quite understand that he would not want to be the fall guy for failings that result from his predecessor’s decisions and the failings of local and national politicians.
- Is it to do with the imposition of the new management structure and the loss of wider public protection responsibilities?
- Is it because the County Council has diverted money, which should be going to fire & rescue, to prop up other services?
- Is it because fire & rescue is going to face even bigger cuts to fund the measures needed to fix the problems in Children’s Services?
- Did the Chief Executive pressure the Chief Fire Officer to leave?
Or might it be all of those things?
As for Nicola Bulbeck’s post vanishing, it seems to be confirmation of what campaigners said at the time, that it was an unnecessary post and a waste of money. As for Nicola herself, there is no news. If she has in fact been purged, I assume it will once again cost taxpayers a lot of money.
"The Times" 14 June 2018
Less Safe & Weaker Communities
We were told that fire & rescue, community development and regulatory services were brought together "to help build safer and stronger communities”. Yet Mr Elvery is now removing responsibility for other public protection departments, such as Trading Standards and the Resilience & Emergencies Team, from the Chief Fire Officer.
Is he really trying to build less safe and weaker communities, or were we lied to before?
Public protection is strangely being added to the Director of Environment's already significant responsibilities, and the new Chief Fire Officer is going to be required to report direct to the Chief Executive.
Or is something else being plotted? Perhaps fire & rescue is being separated from other WSCC departments to allow for more than just fire control to be taken over by "inadequate" Surrey County Council?
None of these changes will improve the safety of West Sussex residents
and continuing secrecy and lack of scrutiny is an insult to residents
More alarming is the fact the position has not been advertised with the Chief Fire Officers Association and the advertisement states "Fire Service experience would be helpful, it is not essential for this leadership role". With the Assistant Chief just left too it is worrying.
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