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17 March 2024
** Quote from a resident when he read one of my e-mails below.
It’s been a long break but there is a Full Council meeting of Hughenden Parish Council next Tuesday so I thought I would do an update.
As normal, not much has happened in the last two months. But here’s a couple of things.
Environment and Services Committee and safety of playgrounds
E and S Committee met on 6 February. There are no draft minutes available so I don’t know what the Committee decided. Next week’s Council agenda asks Council to consider recommendations from the Committee. But the agenda then states there are no recommendations.
Which is all very odd because there were some substantive items on the Committee’s agenda.
One of those items was the latest inspection report of the Council’s playgrounds. As you can see from my previous blog of 24 February 2024, the inspection reports have been flagging up risks to children using the playgrounds at Templewood and Great Kingshill for nearly a year - and the Council has done nothing.
The internal auditor has suggested that this lack of action might have invalidated HPC’s insurance if there was an accident at the playgrounds.
So surely E & S Committee would have made recommendations to Council about these risks? But no, it hasn’t.
Council has had proposals from the Committee for a mural for Cockpit Hole. It has had recommendations for umpteen site management plans for fields which the Council owns. If the Committee has had the time to recommend a mural and plans for managing a field, surely it had the time to make recommendations about the safety of children in its playgrounds?
Surely the safety of children is a priority?
Or perhaps members of the Committee didn’t make it to its February meeting and the Committee was inquorate? Well, you tell me.
In the meantime, I made a complaint to the Health and Safety Executive about the playgrounds. HSE agreed it was serious enough for them to write to HPC.
I then wrote to Mr. Truppin, HPC’s locum Clerk, copied to Council. The correspondence is below and I hope it is self-explanatory. I am waiting for a response. No one else has commented.
It just beggars belief.
First e-mail
“From: Linda Derrick <Linda.Derrick@hughenden-pc.gov.uk>Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2024 4:55 PMSubject: Re: Playground inspection reportsImportance: High
Dear Mr Truppin
I said I would make a formal complaint to HSE if no action was taken to make the playground at Templewood safe. No action was taken so I duly complained.
I understand from HSE that this matter falls under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. HSE informs me that it has written to the Council, presumably to yourself, to ask for a response to these child safety concerns and you have told them what action you have taken. I also understand HSE took the opportunity to remind Hughenden Parish Council to thoroughly review their responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Can I first say how dismayed I am that HSE needed to write to the Council at all. And how dismayed I am that it has taken an intervention from a regulatory body, HSE, to get HPC to take action to prevent harm to children at the Council’s playgrounds. This should have been a priority for the Council.
I also have to say that I am surprised and concerned that you have not copied the correspondence from HSE, nor your response, to Council. I am surprised that you do not think it necessary to circulate a letter from a regulatory body about possible breaches of the law on child safety to Council, and surprised that you do not think it necessary to copy your response.
I am doubly surprised when proposals for [contracting out the renovation] of the playgrounds are on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Full Council meeting. I have not read the supporting papers yet but Council should be provided with the necessary information to make well informed decisions on these proposals – and obviously information about Council’s compliance with the law on playground safety and the action you have apparently taken is essential information.
I would be grateful if you could provide copies of the correspondence urgently please.
I am left wondering what other correspondence you might have received that you have not thought it necessary to circulate to Council.
I am copying to the internal auditor as he raised this issue in his latest internal audit.
Kind Regards
Linda
Councillor for Widmer End
Hughenden Parish Council”
Second e-mail
“From: The Clerk <clerk@hughenden-pc.gov.uk>Sent: 14 March 2024 16:59To: Linda Derrick <Linda.Derrick@hughenden-pc.gov.uk>;
Subject: RE: Playground inspection reports
I am aware of your complaint and have responded to the HSE
Philip Truppin
Locum Clerk
Hughenden Parish Council”
Third e-mail
“From: Linda Derrick <Linda.Derrick@hughenden-pc.gov.uk>To:The Clerk
Thu 14/03/2024 17:02
Dear Mr Truppin
Thank you for your prompt response but I asked for copies of the correspondence urgently. Council is ultimately responsible for HPC complying with the law and it therefore needs to see correspondence to and from regulatory bodies.
Kind Regards
Linda
Councillor for Widmer End
Hughenden Parish Council”
Human Recourses Committee
This Committee also met on 6 February. Draft minutes are on HPC’s website.
When I saw the draft minutes I wrote to the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Prashar. My e-mail, copied to Council is below. I have received no response.
You might be interested to see from my e-mail that the monthly invoice received in December last year for the provision of a part-time locum Clerk was £9k.
“From: Linda Derrick
To:Usha Prashar
Thu 14/03/2024 10:25
Dear Usha
I noticed that the draft minutes of HPC’s HR Committee held on 6 February 2024 have been posted on the website. These minutes give me cause for concern and I would be grateful if you, as the Committee’s Chair, could perhaps help give me some reassurance.
1. The Committee discussed the recruitment of a Deputy Clerk and the draft minutes record that: -
“Four candidates were invited to interview, three attended. The Council was pleased with the standard of the applicants and it was the unanimous decision by the interview panel to appoint one candidate. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to accept due to their existing employer extending their working hours. It was AGREED that further discussion would be needed by the interview panel to review the other candidates for suitability.”
I was concerned that the interview panel decided to appoint a candidate. HPC’s Scheme of Delegation explicitly reserves the power to appoint officers to the Council.
So I have to ask on what authority did the interview panel decide to appoint a deputy Clerk?
I am sure that you and Cllrs Jones and Cadwallader, the other two members of the Committee at the February meeting, are aware that appointments are reserved to Council not least because I have pointed this out to Council repeatedly.
I understand the Scheme of Delegation is based on a model Scheme prepared by the National Association of Local Councils. It was prepared by HPC’s then locum Clerk in April last year and carefully considered by Council before its approval in May 2023. You and Cllrs Cadwallader and Jones were at that Council meeting and voted to approve the Scheme.
So I have to ask you why the interview panel and HR Committee disregarded the Scheme of Delegation?
NALC recommends reserving the power of appointment of officers to Council for good reason. It helps ensure that appointments are open and transparent and based on merit. It also helps to prevent nepotism.
It appears that, if it hadn’t been for the candidate turning the job down, Council would have had yet another officer who had not been appointed by the Council and not in compliance with the Scheme of Delegation.
I note that the draft minutes suggest that the interview panel might have gone on to offer the post to another candidate. I would be grateful if you could let me know if the interview panel has done this.
2. The draft minutes above say that “The Council was pleased with the standard of the applicants”. As far as I am aware, Council has not been informed about these applicants, much less expressed its pleasure about the standard of the applicants.
I would be grateful if you could let me know when Council was provided with information about the applicants and when it expressed its views on them. It would be very helpful to have the relevant reference from the Council minutes.
3. The draft minutes go on to say that the Committee had been supported in the recruitment of a deputy Clerk by “Council Human Resources Governance and Support”. Again as far as I am aware, Council has not approved the commissioning of support from this organisation and the Committee had no authority to authorise this expenditure.
But perhaps I missed this. I would therefore be grateful if you could let me know when Council approved this expenditure with the relevant reference to the Council minutes. If Council did not authorise this expenditure, could you let me know who did? Could you also let me know how much it cost? And were three competitive quotes sought?
4. Finally, I note that, in discussing the recruitment of the Clerk, you advised the Committee that Council had agreed to prioritise the appointment of the Deputy Clerk rather than the Clerk.
I can’t remember Council agreeing that prioritisation. I would have prioritised the recruitment of a Clerk, not least because of the cost of retaining locum Clerks. LGRC invoices monthly for its provision of a part-time locum Clerk. Its invoice for 11 December for example was £9006.
I would be grateful if you could let me know when Council decided to prioritise the recruitment of the Deputy Clerk, with reference to the relevant Council minutes.
I will be making this e-mail public. None of the information is confidential, including the costs of the locum Clerk. This payment, along with all other payments approved at a Council meeting, are required under HPC’s Financial Regulations to be included in the Council minutes.
There are other issues in the HR minutes that I would question but will leave the rest for now.
Kind Regards
Linda
Councillor for Widmer End
Hughenden Parish Council”