Letter from cllr Andrew burns to Cheif exec of the finance & Resources Commitee

Today at 12:03pm
Hello

By way of further update - following this morning's meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee - please see the e-mail below which I have just sent to the Chief Executive of the Council.

Please do feel free to forward this, and the earlier update sent last night, to any others who you know have an interest in the current tendering process.

And, if you have any queries, don't hesitate to get in touch with either myself or Lesley Hinds ... many thanks.

Andrew
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Andrew Burns

Labour Councillor for Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Ward

Leader, Labour Group, City of Edinburgh Council



Tel: 0131 529 3287 (w) or: 07880 502 212 (m)






From: Andrew Burns
Sent: 03 December 2009 11:10
To: Tom Aitchison
Cc: Phil Wheeler; Mark Turley
Subject: Care and Support Services tender
Importance: High

Tom

Firstly, can I say thanks for the efforts you've personally made to keep the Opposition Groups informed of events over the last few days ... its been appreciated.

I do though have to complain to you, as Chief Executive, in the strongest terms at the way this morning's Finance and Resources Committee meeting was handled.

Councillor Wheeler simply read out a pre-prepared statement (which is fair enough) and then refused to take any questions and all Officers and Administration politicians present simply walked out of the room.

We have three very serious concerns that now remain totally unanswered:
no one knows if the previously communicated deadline of 3rd December (today!) for Direct Payment applications still stands and/or if Direct Payment applications will now be accepted up until the 21st January - or any date in between? In addition, there was no discussion at all about how any of this is now to be communicated to clients and carers - it would have been helpful to have at least been reassured about what communications plans are now in place, and to have been informed about the potential scope of any investigation?
we were told by Officers, in totally unequivocal terms, at the 19th November Council meeting (and at several others meetings, including recent User-Group meetings) that the contracts HAD to be awarded by the 4th December (under the 240-day rule from the original contract documentation) ... nobody knows if this has now been extended via negotiation with the successful tenderers and/or if another arrangement has been arrived at? In addition to this important query - how can we now have confidence in legal advice we are given at Council meetings by Officers?
finally, we have additional serious concerns about previous tendering processes (specifically for Homelessness Services) conducted by this Administration and do feel, in the light of what has happened with the Care and Support services tender, that the investigation which is about to take place should look at some of these issues ... we were given no chance to raise this important point? It is worth remembering that this current tender would have been awarded on the 27th October, and thereafter again on the 19th November, if Opposition Groups (and the public) hadn't maintained a vigorous questioning of the processes being followed.
But in many ways, worse than us - as Opposition politicians - not knowing the answers to these points - neither do the hundreds of clients and carers affected by this whole saga. Many of them were present this morning and I can only assure you they were appalled at the inability of anyone to query Officers on the points above.

Tom - today's meeting only happened because of Opposition and public disquiet over these issues. Today's meeting only happened as a result of an Amendment (now an Act of Council) moved by Councillor Hinds and seconded by Councillor Chapman. I feel very strongly that over the coming weeks much more Officer attention should be paid to those who have led the Council on this, and who have the majority support of the Council behind them.

I look forward to your response to these points.

Andrew