ALMOST A YEAR AFTER HE COMPLAINED TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONERS OFFICE, MATT FINNEGAN HAS FINALLY BEEN VINDICATED!
MATT FINNEGAN WAS HOUNDED OUT OF HIS HIGH POSITION OF MEDIA CHIEF OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL AFTER CONFIDENTIAL EMAILS WERE "FOUND", DURING AN INVESTIGATION FOR OTHER TRUMPED UP CHARGES.
THESE EMAILS WERE USED IN A REPORT AND SENT TO ALL 90 COUNCILLORS OF LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL.
LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL HAVE BEEN INFORMED BY THE ICO THAT THEY ACTED ILLEGALLY AND HAVE BREACHED THE DATA PROTECTION ACT OF 1998.
WILL THIS CHANGE ANYTHING WITHIN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS?
WILL IT EVER IMPROVE MATT FINNEGAN'S EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS?
CAN WE EVER TRUST LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL AND THEIR "PREFERED PARTNERS
" SUCH AS LIVERPOOL DIRECT AND ENTERPRISE AGAIN?
HOW CAN LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL EVER CLEAN UP IT'S ACT?
VOTE THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS OUT OF OFFICE NEXT MAY 2008, IT IS THE ONLY WAY!!!!
 |
Jun 7 2007 | |
by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post | |
LIVERPOOL city council broke the Data Protection Act in the way it released details of private emails between former leader Mike Storey and the town hall’s top spin doctor, a government commissioner has ruled. Matt Finnegan, who resigned as assistant executive director for media after more than a year under suspension, took the case of the emails to the Information Commissioner’s Office. It was the latest skirmish in the long-running saga sparked as part of the public fall-out between Cllr Storey and former chief executive Sir David Henshaw. Last night, Mr Finnegan’s law-yer, Rex Makin said: “I made it clear when the emails were pub-lished that a contravention had taken place. The council’s res-ponse was opposite, and now the Commissioner has ruled I was correct. I think it flawed the disci-plinary proceedings the council was taking against Mr Finnegan.” Mr Finnegan, who headed the council’s news operation from Dale Street, was suspended and a council audit team, as part of a routine exercise, examined his computer and mobile phone. These revealed communications between Cllr Storey and Mr Finnegan relating to the future of Sir David. One of Sir David’s key officers, resources director Phil Halsall, sent a draft report to all 90 city councillors which contained full details of the exchanges of emails. The commissioner’s report says: “It is primarily the premature circulation of the detail contained within the draft report which raises concern.” Mr Halsall, in the draft report, included a covering letter stating the full findings of the investiga-tion had been published “some-what sooner than intended due to media interest generated by the existence of the report”. It then went on to say that, as the draft report also contained information which may lead to a disciplinary investigation, mem-bers were told to treat the details contained within the document as “strictly confidential”. “What is most pertinent is not the actual contents of the draft report but the untimely manner in which it was distributed,” said the commissioner’s officer. “It is clear the decision was taken to distribute the full contents of the draft report somewhat premature-ly in response to ‘media pressure’ which we believe was unfair (to Mr Finnegan). It is therefore our view that Liverpool City Council has breached the First Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 in this instance. “Whilst it is acknowledged this is perhaps an extraordinary case in terms of the events which occurred and the high profile of individuals who were involved in the investigation, the disclosure, having been circulated at such a premature time, was still unfair. If the council felt it needed to res-pond to media pressure on the case, a summary of the necessary facts may have been sufficient.” The commissioner has now written to the city council advis-ing that the untimely manner in which the circulation of the Draft Report occurred could have had further consequences in that it may have compromised disci-plinary proceedings which might have subsequently followed. Although no action is proposed against the council by the ICO, Mr Finnegan now has the legal right to take court action against the council for their breach. Last night, Mr Finnegan said: “It has always been my contention that the city council broke the law by publishing confidential emails, and the ICO has now confirmed that the Data Protection Action was breached by them. “This is a small, if belated, victory for democracy and a vind-ication of my actions in obeying the leader of the council. If the council had any decency, it would now issue an abject public apol-ogy to me for acting illegally. But I won’t be holding my breath.” Mr Finnegan is now calling for the council to take legal action against Sir David Henshaw, chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority, for contravening the Data Protection Act and to suspend Mr Halsall, who is still employed by the council, pending a full investigation into his actions. A city council spokesman said last night: “The city council accepts the findings of the Information Commissioner and notes that he has recognised the exceptional circumstances that led to the complaint. We welcome his decision not to take any further action.” | |||
| |||
Almost a third of over 50s in the North West who care for their spouse or partner are unaware of the benefits they may be due, a new study has suggested. National charity Age Concern said 30% of older carers in the region do not know they could be eligible for benefits for their work. Launching a campaign to put more than #100m into the pockets of elderly people across the country, the charity said help was often available to meet the considerable cost of full time caring. A spokeswoman said: "Many pensioners wrongly believe that they are not entitled to carers' benefits because they are already in receipt of the state pension, yet this is often not the case. "And many carers under state pension age are unaware that putting in a claim could give their finances a double boost, by giving them a weekly credit towards their state pension as well as topping up their regular income." Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, added: "The cost of caring can be a big weight to bear for many people, but claiming carers' benefits can help to lighten the load. "Yet thousands of carers across the UK are each missing out on cash benefits of up to #2,500 a year, often because they don't realise they are entitled to the extra help or just don't understand the system." He added: "Age Concern benefits advisors can make it easy for carers to find out what they are entitled to and to make a claim." Anyone wanting extra information can call Age Concern's free helpline on 0800 00 99 66.
WHAT PRICE IS IT TO GET OLD?
£130,000 IS THE AVERAGE PAY FOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF LIVERPOOL.
THE SALARY OF HIS UNDERSTUDIES OR ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS, IS OVER £100,000 PLUS A 20% BONUS EACH YEAR.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS BONUS?
MAYBE HOW MANY ELDERLY PEOPLE WILL DIE DUE TOT HE REPEATED AND ILL JUDGED CHANGES AND CUTS WITHIN THE HOME HELP SERVICES OF LIVERPOOL?
SEE BELOW THE EXTRACT FROM CITY OF THE DEAD BLOGSPOT, THIS SHOWS JUST HOW THE FEELINGS OF LIVERPOOL RESIDENTS IS GETTING LOUDER.
DON'T JUST SIT BACK AND LET YOUR SERVICES BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU!
WRITE TO THE BLOGS, WRITE TO YOUR COUNCILLORS, WRITE TO THE PAPERS, WRITE TO JOE HANSON!
JUST DO SOMETHING
City of the Dead*: IT'S CRIMINAL: "'THE COUNCIL ARE OVERSPENT AND NEED TO FIND MORE MONEY TO FUND CAPITAL OF CULTURE..."
Stanford88 has left a new comment on your post "THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE...":
IS IT REALLY A COINCIDENCE THAT THERE WERE 10 SPOILED PAPERS IN THE
CROXTETH VOTE??
Wed 6 Dec 2006
Posted by admin under: PoetryThat death has no destruction is the prayer oft said
The City Council vandalised Kirkdale graves instead
For what doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffered the loss of his own soul?
What exchange shall a man give for his soul?
M.6
For two centuries mourners entrusted the Councillors with due care
Once in Liverpool there was a Civic Pride in how the dead were buried there.
Family Friends faithfully committed to the ground to the earth.
There stood proud headstones in words of wisdom and of dearth
Not now the City Councillors sign in for a fee and voted to destroy
These Councillors gave no thought they needed not the vote of the Hoi Poli.
Go and see their work, they smashed the ancient stone once new
They left a message, the reason. stuck on fallen stones for the dead to view.
“Died in Jan 1806 Gave his life for his country now dead
Died in Feb 1820 once in pain now at rest it said.”
The message left in Red cannot be seen the family has no blame
The Councillors gave the nod to the evil officers plan of no claim.
Today the sun shone to warm the cockles of your heart
Today the bright sky is fleeced in clouded art
Today the grass is cut the smell is all around us
Today we visited the grave of Ken and Doris and of Tom
The Kirkdale Cemetery with its wall of sandstone
For two centuries the burials lined the grass with headstone
To count the mourners through the years is a task in vain
Come to see the words set in stone in prayer in verse in pain
These fields of smashed and fallen stones vandalised by Councillors is our SHAME
These wicked violent acts the destruction of our stones is done they say in our name.
Our mother father grandmother and grandfathers’ all smashed to the ground
Men and women who starved for us who died for us now lay flat all around.
Of all the bad decisions voted by our Councillors this is the most heinous
The ranks of souls committed by the family are flattened by this evilness
It is not us we were ordered by the Councillors it is their evil acts that abound
To see the fields laid flat to stand and see the vandalism and not a care around
Is this our lot to just lie down? To give in to acts so bare, created by the City Solicitors.
The sun has gone down on those who gave their lives for us
And we do nothing
For they are dead and we create no fuss
Shame on us
Well not for us we wish to stand and be counted
We want the stones put back up you knocked them down,
When in all their lives they stood up.
The cost you Councillors say?
Tell us if it is more than the £200m wasted by Labour Councillor Marx Dowd. Socialist R.I.P.
|
Mar 14 2007 | |
Liverpool Daily Post | |
FORMER council leader John Hamilton bequeathed his life savings to Liverpool’s education system. Friends described the former teacher’s generous decision as typical of his passion for improving the quality of learning in the city. Mr Hamilton, who led Liverpool through the turbulent Militant era of the 1980s, died in December aged 84. Education was always his first love, and he demonstrated that dedication by leaving almost all his £320,000 estate to Liverpool University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning. The centre offers courses for skills training and employment advice to people aged 18 to 95, and professional develop- ment for university staff. Cllr Joe Anderson, leader of Liverpool’s Labour group, was a close friend of Mr Hamilton. He said: “His whole life was dedicated to education – it was his passion and what made him tick. “He felt that the cause of socialism could only be furthered if people bettered themselves through education. “His father instilled that virtue in him when he was very young. John always wanted to make sure the city’s future was secure, so this donation just sums him up.” Anne Merry, the university’s director of lifelong learning, said: “We’re extremely grateful for this generous gift.” | |||
| |||
Cultue
A decadent civilization compromises with its disease, cherishes the virus infecting it, loses its self-respect.
Regarding Care Workers Pay.
Can I ask just a simple question ? Why me?
I am a care worker working for an independant Care Agency. I have a mortgage and 3 beautiful children who need all the things that children require. Like food, clothes,toys,outings etc act.
My pay is about to be cut by 30%. Why me?
My hours wont be guaranteed. Why me?
There is legislation against discrimination racial discrimination, age discrimination, sexual discrimination and lots of other discrimination.
Discrimination against private Agency care workers? Doesn’t exist and its rife.
They say it’s to save tax payers money. But why me?
Has anybody asked the tax payers why it should be me?
District nurses do the same kind of job. Why not them?
The ‘In House’ service do the same job. Why not them?
Age concern do the same job. Why not them?
Other big charities do the same job. Why not them.
Its all paid for by tax payers.
Cant get it out of my head. Why me?
Has anybody asked the tax payers do they want to save money on people who care for vulnerable people?
Has anybody asked the tax payers if it should be just me?
I will go home to my 3 kids to night they will ask.
Why you Mum ?
Rose
Hi Mr. Parish.
I am so mad about this.
My Uncle receives care from an agency.
I spoke yesterday with his main carers. They said that if the 30% cut effects them, they will have no choice but leave and find a new job that pays decent wages and offers them stable work. What will happen to my uncle then? If most of the carers in the city feel and act in the same way, who will care for him? I think that carers do a fantastic job and they should not be steamrollered over by the council because they want to save money on the capital of culture. Carers have mortgages, just like Warren Bradley. How would he react to a 30% pay cut?
We need our carers. Something has to be done to stop this nonsense. Reading through your web site, it appears that if the council stopped spending so much money on yachts, paying off its staff and incompetence we may stand a chance of looking after people like my uncle and at least give him some quality of life like he has now with the carers he knows and is used to.
Lets put some things in to perspective, if ONLY one of the councils officials is making say £150 000 per year, and they took a 30% pay cut, £45 000 would pay for over 1 years work of care for my uncle. On the other hand, how many carers wages do they have to slash for the same effect?
Capital of Culture or Capital of Vultures? Leave the carer workers alone. Their job is hard enough without people kicking the legs from under them.
Madness!
Thought you all should know, despite the private sector being told to take a 30% cut in wages with no minimum hours, the Council run in house home carers are being made redundant.
The work they did have was given to the private sector, no new work is taken on except for 6 weeks if you are just out of hospital. Most of the carers from the council do not have work to do, this is because the stupid adult services let the service run down on purpose.
The aim of the council is to get rid of all the carers, of what is termed generic, they cost too much in paying staff to go home and wait until they get a call with some work, or walking the streets, many have become so disillusioned they have gone off ill. This of course costs a lot of money, so lets just get rid of them!
This needs just as much publicity as the private sector.
Care in Liverpool is excellent,when allowed to give it.
The Capital of Culture should not be cut, the disgusting high wages of these so called heads of the council and the Chief Executive, this is wht should be cut.
WHAT PRICE IS IT TO GET OLD?
Keep the pressure up Care workers, private and council.
If you are getting old, be very afraid as unless you have lots of money, there is nothing down for you.
Oh and lets not forget the Day Centres that the council are always trying to close down, Venmore Mews?
What has happened to that one?
Notice how the cuts in services for the elderly were not publicised until after the election?
Dirty Liberal Democrats, dirty dirty....
I am just a simple tax payer. I have nobody using the care services in Liverpool.I am sure I will need to use the serice at some time in my life.(Although I hope not) All I can ask is what the bloody hell is going on in Social Services in Liverpool? In House facing cuts.Private sector facing cuts.....everybody facing cuts.and they say the service is getting better. JUST WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON ?? (after all it is my money they are using)
I think that's right - we should not have to choose between Culture and Care. Both are important to people. What is wrong is the huge salaries for incompetent officials like Halsall and Hilton and Harbrow and the millions they have wasted on yachts and trips abroad and being sent back to school so they can find out how to do their jobs properly. We have seen no benefit.
I'll wager that someone somewhere in the City is doing very nicely thank you out of this and I bet that he or she is within the Evil Cabal
You bet your life someone is doing very well out of this and its not the service users or care staff.Its immoral
Every civilization when it loses its inner vision and its cleaner energy, falls into a new sort of sordidness, more vast and more stupendous than the old savage sort. An Augean stable of metallic filth
"Wherever you see a man who gives someone else's corruption, someone else's prejudice as a reason for not taking action himself, you see a cog in The Machine that governs us."
Let's not get too esoteric now - people's livelihoods are at risk here....
Glad somebody realises livelihoods are at risk.
That’s right Mr Parish.
There’s nothing mysterious or cryptic about my 30% pay cut!
The only mystery I face is how I pay my mortgage and feed my kids from July !
I'm getting old and I'm getting very very scared at the thought of my arthritis getting worse and my sight not improving, I cannot get around much at the moment but I manage without help for most of the time. I know that soon,in maybe 3 years, I hope its not so soon, but I know at some time I will need someone to look after me and help me with my essential needs.
Who will help me then?
Some young girl just out of school looking for a few bob now and again?
Or will we all stand up now and tell the council ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
The elderly of today are the very people who helped build the services the council is now trying to destroy.
Do we agree that our elderly are not important?
Is your Mother of no importance now ?
Why did your Grandad go to War?
Was it so he could be treated like dirt now?
Private or Council Home carers, we need to stand up for the elderly and show that sometimes the cost of a service should not be the first factor of consideration, cutting costs is not the answer in care, providing quality services using highly trained and committed workers, who actually care about the people the look after! This is the most important factor.
The most effective way of achieving a balanced budget is......?????
Colin Hilton Take a cut in your wages, I survive on £325 per week with 2 children, why can't you?
Phil Halsal.. You are supposed to be good at finances? Try this one for size then... take a cut in wages yourself! I know a mad idea, but just try it you will be amazed at how easy it would be for you, anyway your son can keep you in the custom you are used to, is he on the Sefton Pops?
All the other useless AED's of Liverpool City Council and the senior managers who don't seem to actual manage anything? TAKE A CUT IN YOUR WAGES FOR ONLY A YEAR AND WE WILL BE BACK ON TRACK!
LEAVE THE ELDERLY ALONE!
WE WILL ALL BE OLD SOON!