Friday 27 February 2009

Yay for leaks

Well.

The Evening Post has scored quite a coup, obtaining a 'leaked' copy of the notorious report commissioned by former deputy Chief Exec Adrienne Roberts then buried because they didn't like the answers it gave them.

Apparently, the report states

"Put simply, this council is dysfunctional."

Hmmm, from my experience working there I'd go along with that.

Inevitably my own experiences were limited to a particular backwater of the social welfare field but descriptions such as

"a lack of strategic direction or prioritisation, poor project management and performance management, where employees are not held to account"

certainly ring true. Nobody had even the faintest idea what our service was for which meant that individuals were free to make up their own minds and push their own agendas.

In addition senior management were described as

"totally ineffective"

The Post has separate articles on its website about how NCC doesn't 'listen and learn', Labour councillors constantly 'interfere and micro manage', and how the opposition aren't much better. Strangely, JoCo didn't come out as bad as expected, merely being described as meddling.

Got to say I'd love to see a copy of the report myself.

Jane Todd has provided a statement but its the usual tosh about how we've 'moved on' and the next audit will show things are all fine and dandy now. Mind you, seeing how easy it is to pull the wool over the Audit Commission's eyes I'm not surprised she can feel so confident.

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