Arrogance or Plausible Deniability - The sorry tale of One Barnet Scrutiny

Cllr Richard Cornelius is reported as saying that he hasn't read the 8,000 page contract nor does he expect any other Councillor to have done so. Is this arrogance or that well known political tactic of plausible deniability?  If it is the latter then when the One Barnet contract goes horribly wrong Councillors can say "Not me guv, it was those useless senior officers/consultants".

I think we have heard this before in Barnet. Didn't Councillors deny knowing all the details on the Icelandic bank problem and as a result it was an officer who got the sack. The Catalyst contract problems were blamed on officers and advisors and that ended up costing Barnet residents £10.5 million to sort out.

What makes matters worse is the footage I saw yesterday of the Business Management Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 20th November where Cllr Robert Rams said he didn't go on any of the site visits to learn lessons of how other councils had worked with outsourcing contracts. He said that he had learned it all from officers and desktop research. Not a great idea when so much is at stake and the decision is irreversible.

I will be attending the Overview and Scrutiny committee this evening and I genuinely hope that Councillors will give officers, consultants and cabinet members a grilling. I will be asking a few questions but I know that dozens of questions have been tabled by the public such is the level of concern about the risks involved with this contract. I just hope Councillors take their fingers out of their ears and start listening.

Has any Councillor voting for One Barnet read the 8,000 page contract?

Yesterday it was disclosed that the contract between Capita and Barnet Council is 8,000 pages long. Has any Councillor read the 8,000 pages. No, but they will vote on committing us to this contract for the next ten years. Are residents allowed to read this contract - come on, don't be silly. Residents aren't allowed to know anything because they are only residents. Not only that, they would then know more than councillors (no big surprise there). So who is protecting our interest here?

Interestingly the Council report going to Cabinet have not been signed off by Barnet's shared legal service. No, it has been signed off by Trowers & Hamlins, the lawyers who have been advising council on the entire legal process.

Now call me old fashioned but I would have thought that in order to maintain checks and balances and to protect the interests of Barnet residents, it would be inappropriate for the lawyers drafting the contract to sign off the papers setting out the recommendations for Councillors. Surely Barnet's own legal department should be the people drafting the paper for Councillors. If they didn't have enough skill then they could have brought in their own legal support.

In Barnet, scrutiny, checks and balances, good governance, all seem to have gone out the window during this process and in my opinion that it utterly unacceptable.