Tuesday 24 June 2014

Madness, Sheer Madness

Here's the latest from the NorthWest - a statement from Annette Hennessy & Kevin Robinson, CEO's of Merseyside and Cumbria/Lancashire CRC's

"As you know we have always aimed to bring you the latest news and developments within the TR agenda as soon as possible.
Yesterday we were formally informed that The Manchester College were unsure about continuing with the competition bid to deliver probation services across Cumbria Lancashire & Merseyside, which needs to be submitted by this Monday 30th June. We understand this decision is due to concerns around the commercial and legal terms within the contract. Innovo are in a joint venture and therefore cannot submit an independent bid.
We understand that negotiations with The Manchester College have come to an end, although Innovo are still in discussions with the MOJ. Due to the ethical wall we are not aware of what is being discussed at the moment, but we expect Innovo will release a statement asap.
It is important everyone acknowledges the hard work that Geri Byrne-Thompson, Dave Christian, David Beddow and all those involved have done, and continue to do to get to the final bid stage. This late decision by The College is a huge disappointment for the Innovo team and we would ask you to give them your support for the excellent work they have done to date.
Ultimately, the CRCs are still in the same position of preparing our businesses for share sale and whilst this is very disappointing news it is only with your continued support, motivation and professionalism that we will be able to continue building our CRCs to make sure whoever wins the competitions get a top performing organisation. We will continue delivering the good work we have done so far and not forget our values of why we are here, to work with our service users to change their lives, reduce re-offending and protect the public."
"Ultimately, the CRCs are still in the same position of preparing our businesses for share sale"

In relation to running a public service involved in supervising and rehabilitating offenders and protecting the public, doesn't this statement sound utterly ridiculous and surreal? 

PS Actually, since publishing this, I've been thinking about it in the queue at the chippy. How can CEO's sleep at night having spouted crap like this and that goes counter to everything probation stands for? Were they ever proper probation officers? Is this comment true?

'Can anyone confirm that the CEO of the Lancashire CRC stated in an event that probation had been doing it wrong for 100 years and now it was time to do it right?'

32 comments:

  1. Are there any mutuals left in this bid process? If all withdrew surely this would jeopardise the "validity" of the share sale and Gov't demands within the contract terms??

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    1. Didn't Joanna H cover this as another scandal of misleads sold into the non checking whip compliant follow the leader simple Simon says, and how high would like me to jump Tory back benchers and every lickspittle in the treacherous Lib dems.

      Who incidentally are looking at their last year as the country and every student rounds on them for their election manifesto betrayal.

      Dino

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  2. Can anyone confirm that the CEO of the Lancashire CRC stated in an event that probation had been doing it wrong for 100 years and now it was time to do it right?

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    1. No, this is not what I have heard. He has said, on several occasions, that we need to remember our proud 107 year history and build on all the great work we have done so far and remember this in order to provide great probation services in the future.

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  3. Isn't Kevin Robinson linked with the CRR Partnership anyway?

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    1. There is no truth in this statement

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  4. Told you so. Jim you said there would be more casualties.shame it is mutual had heard them and they were credible (compared to big ones),the stage is clear for multi national mash up,!

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    1. Its not a shame its a Mutual its all privatisation it may sound cuddly but its the same enemy ! The big players will be ushered into the Tory scandal rescue as no small mutual can really hack the big issue of INDEMNITY. The government know this is an uninsurable risk burden to any smaller venture than the multi millions with deep pockets to buy their way of scandal corporates if and when their driving down of skills hits the fan.

      Just be glad another one in the dust !

      Dino

      Dino

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  5. is anyone else thinking " I bet they will come in later subcontracting to one of the primes?" it stinks doesn't it?

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  6. I think that there are only a couple of players in town Sodexo being the main bidder as they want to create a corridor from northumbria to Cambridge. The smaller bidders are ghost bidders there to make up the numbers. The whole process is corrupt and goes against the moj competion rules of no less than three bidders. As for CEO of lanc he wasn't know as Kevin knobinson for nothing!

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    1. Kevin Knobinson? Thats quite good. Did he really earn such a distinguished title?

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    2. I WISH SOD-EXO WOULD PISS OFF.

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    3. Yep. Actually he deserves all the genitally proscribed insults. Oh, and he's an arse.

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    4. Poor old Cumberland & Westmorland. First they get amalgamated into one unified made-up Cumbria (with unwanted bits of Lancs added on), then they get Mike Maiden, then Annette Hennessy OBE, then Rusty The Bruce, and now KR with accompanying plaudits.

      You guys must have been really bad in another life. Maybe its payback for the Border Reivers? Maybe you should make a bid to extend the Scottish border and encourage the 'yes' vote?

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  7. Let's be absolutely clear. Most of the 'mutuals' are not 'mutuals'. They are consortia. Watching them fail is no great loss, from what I hear from both sides of the ethical wall.

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  8. Do we have a definitive list of who is left? The bids have to be in by the end of the month (put back another fortnight so some bidders can have a GOOD root round the back of the settee).

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  9. The 'mutuals' were only ever amateur noms-mutant-ninja-bidders into which moj poured cash to try to prime them into being half decent options. KR & AH (now OBE) are merely fighting for their futures (having long forgotten their roots) and as such have probably been on 'how to' courses for motivational speaking. Maybe Mike Maiden mentored them? Or would that cross the ethical boundary as Carillion are also bidding for the Cumbria/Lancs/Mersey group?

    I don't think there's any truth in the suggestion that KR is linked to CRR, otherwise his CRC role would be unlawful. Its believed that Mike Maiden's Carillion (road menders and house builders) and Roger Hill's Sodexo (french caterers) are the remaining bidders for the NW. So, hot croissants or topless men leaning on shovels?

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  10. http://www.publicco.co.uk/team

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    1. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257001/noms-probation-west-midlands-nov-2013.pdf

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  11. From 38 degrees:

    Some brilliant news! The government has announced that they won’t allow the privatisation of our child protection services.

    Back in May, 38 Degrees members sent a tidal wave of over 77,000 messages to education secretary, Michael Gove - telling him to keep child protection services away from private companies.

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  12. First payday for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland CRC staff tomorrow including our eagerly awaited £100 honorarium payment/insult. Iv just finished on the phone to my bank who inform me that Im only getting paid £80 tomorrow (honorarium minus the tax), that there is no sign of my wages and that all my debits/standing orders will bounce. It seems that every part of TR is failing miserably.

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    1. Dunno where you got this from..in Leicestershire we were told payday remains the same i.e. last working day of the month which I think is the 30th. I know nothing about an honorarium.

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    2. Same in DTV. What's this £100 all about?

      More beer tokens :)

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    3. Some were treated to lunch, some a bottle of wine, others a picnic in a park. Maybe thats where the £100 comes from?

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  13. Message when trying link:

    This video is unavailable.

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  14. Sedoxo and Sentinal have both appeared in the national press today with both having their previous wrong doings announced to the world and they haven't even won a contract yet!
    So if I was a bidder for TR, that youtube clip would not reassure me at all, but rather it would terrify me.
    When it goes wrong and it probably will go wrong, then it goes f*****g wrong so you best be employing us to try and off load sime damage limitation. It means less money for your shareholders but by god you're going to need us!
    Roll up. Roll up!!!

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  15. Oh dear as if it's not bad enough - Dinos cropped up - must be an election coming up!

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  16. Ha ha that's very funny but so true.

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  17. NPS staff have been issued an email with a contact number for Shared Services in the event we either
    1. Don't get paid at all
    2. Don't get paid correctly and notice there's a significant reduction
    3. They have paid our wage into the wrong bank account
    All I can say is it sounds like payday is going to be a nightmare for some! I doubt lenders will accept it was a Shared Services error when loans, bills and mortgage payments bounce! We risk getting black marks on our credit reports and I don't recall seeing anything in the email to say that they will pay charges in the event of a cock up!!

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  18. The 100 honorarium is a thankyou gift from DPT, I'm guessing that payroll is still being done seperately at the moment cos our pay date is definitely the 25th of each month and if definitely only been paid £80 today

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    1. DLNR CRC payroll is now run by Notts County Council. Payday is last working day of the month and this starts this month (I received my new payslip today which confirms payment is due on the 30th).

      I guess if DPT is dishing out honorariums then that will be the last payment you get via your old payroll lot and hence why it was due today. Expect your salary on the 30th from Notts county council - payslip is probably on the doormat waiting for you.

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  19. I went to see a play, "Catch 22" last night. Most of you will know this is from a book exploring the madness of war. If you are familiar with it, I wonder if Milo Minderbinder's M&M Enterprises could join the bidding. Sheer madness. btw, I can't seem to get on to this in any way but "anon". I'm Brian Stevenson, retired PO, looking at all this with great sadness. Why ruin a perfectly good service? The people laughably in charge of the work have long ago given up any vestige of credibility.

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