It's also a bit rich to see the Director of Law quoting 'Natural Justice' in his email, sent cynically just prior to this council meeting. His tenure has witnessed bullying, abuse of power, abuse of learning disabled tenants. He didn't agree that there was disability discrimination also going on on his watch.
What a kick in the teeth for the Wirral electorate that it's practically impossible to get rid of the Director of Law, who enjoys special privileges written into the Local Government Act
@gorkys6 I don't really understand what natural justice means in the context that Bill Norman used it. If Wirral Council's Director of Law agreed that there was disability discrimination going on, wouldn't it mean that Wirral Council would get sued for the disability discrimination that happened? The mere fact these people were all in receipt of Disability Living Allowance should have been a clue (hint it's in the name). For good legal reasons it's very hard to get rid of a Monitoring Officer.
@gorkys6 One more thing to point out is that if disability discrimination lawsuits aren't brought within 6 months of the discrimination that happened, then a court can decide it gets thrown out. Anything more than 9 years ago would be very hard to prove too... sadly even if it's proved a disabled person has been treated unfairly, the legislation has many loopholes that a government department can use in their defence as such cases don't often attract legal aid.
@gorkys6 The Conservative councillors if memory serves me right tried to remove Bill Norman as Monitoring Officer earlier this year, but the Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors outvoted them by voting against the Conservative proposal. Like you say Bill Norman enjoys special privileges as does Ian Coleman...
He wants the department to 'move forward'. He wants the council to 'move forward'. Well, rather than suppress information that is massively in the local public interest, he needs to get the information OUT THERE and keep his meddling fingers out of what has been written. Anna Klonowski has written this report. OK she may need to make a few minor changes as part of the right to reply process, but input is not needed from the Council.
@gorkys6 It's Wirral Council paying her (or more accurately Anna Klonowski Associates Limited), about £250,000+ at one estimate. From what I can gather Anna Klonowski names cllrs, former councillors, officers and former employees of Wirral Council in her report. I thought the whole point of naming and shaming was the naming though...
Personally if there's anything that needs to be changed, I don't know why they don't just release the rest with a "we'll publish this bit once we sort it out".
Sorry about the poor sound quality, hopefully the subtitles will compensate. It was recorded in the public gallery and all the hard surfaces tend to echo the sound around the chamber and gallery.
It's also a bit rich to see the Director of Law quoting 'Natural Justice' in his email, sent cynically just prior to this council meeting. His tenure has witnessed bullying, abuse of power, abuse of learning disabled tenants. He didn't agree that there was disability discrimination also going on on his watch.
What a kick in the teeth for the Wirral electorate that it's practically impossible to get rid of the Director of Law, who enjoys special privileges written into the Local Government Act
gorkys6 2 months ago
@gorkys6 I don't really understand what natural justice means in the context that Bill Norman used it. If Wirral Council's Director of Law agreed that there was disability discrimination going on, wouldn't it mean that Wirral Council would get sued for the disability discrimination that happened? The mere fact these people were all in receipt of Disability Living Allowance should have been a clue (hint it's in the name). For good legal reasons it's very hard to get rid of a Monitoring Officer.
level80 2 months ago
@gorkys6 One more thing to point out is that if disability discrimination lawsuits aren't brought within 6 months of the discrimination that happened, then a court can decide it gets thrown out. Anything more than 9 years ago would be very hard to prove too... sadly even if it's proved a disabled person has been treated unfairly, the legislation has many loopholes that a government department can use in their defence as such cases don't often attract legal aid.
level80 2 months ago
@gorkys6 The Conservative councillors if memory serves me right tried to remove Bill Norman as Monitoring Officer earlier this year, but the Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors outvoted them by voting against the Conservative proposal. Like you say Bill Norman enjoys special privileges as does Ian Coleman...
level80 2 months ago
He wants the department to 'move forward'. He wants the council to 'move forward'. Well, rather than suppress information that is massively in the local public interest, he needs to get the information OUT THERE and keep his meddling fingers out of what has been written. Anna Klonowski has written this report. OK she may need to make a few minor changes as part of the right to reply process, but input is not needed from the Council.
It's time to take it on the chin and own up.
gorkys6 2 months ago
@gorkys6 It's Wirral Council paying her (or more accurately Anna Klonowski Associates Limited), about £250,000+ at one estimate. From what I can gather Anna Klonowski names cllrs, former councillors, officers and former employees of Wirral Council in her report. I thought the whole point of naming and shaming was the naming though...
Personally if there's anything that needs to be changed, I don't know why they don't just release the rest with a "we'll publish this bit once we sort it out".
level80 2 months ago
Sorry about the poor sound quality, hopefully the subtitles will compensate. It was recorded in the public gallery and all the hard surfaces tend to echo the sound around the chamber and gallery.
level80 2 months ago