EMERGENCY VAM EMAIL BULLETIN 3 - APRIL 2005
VAM NEWS
Message from Rob Arnold
Dear All
For those of you who were unable to attend today’s (Thursday 7 April)
Scrutiny Committee meeting I have to inform you that we were not successful
in persuading enough Councillors to overturn the decision or to take a
closer look at the process. I am afraid that the universal opinion of those
people that I spoke to afterwards was that there was nothing that we could
have done against a Council that was prepared to use procedure to prevent us
receiving a fair hearing and from stating our case in full. The debate (or
lack of it) proved that the new system of scrutiny is a waste of time and
that the Council are not interested in listening to the views of the
voluntary and community sector. We were grateful that the Chair allowed us
to speak at the meeting but, unfortunately, the procedure did not allowed me
to present our case effectively.
Furthermore, it was clear that Geoff Little (Head of Corporate Performance)
was determined to get his paper through at any cost. His paper and his
letter to Councillors was full of inconsistencies and misinformation and he
gave false information to the Committee on at least two occasions. In
particular, he gave false information about the consideration of TUPE in the
tendering process and he stated on a number of occasions that the
Independent Report commissioned by the Council and CN4M did not give a
recommendation that the contract should be awarded to a partnership of key
existing support agencies. I was sat next to him at the time and could see
his papers and I could see where the report said that they gave a STRONG
recommendation that this should happen.
I can tell you that we are not prepared to accept this decision and will be
taking detailed legal advice with a view to asking for a judicial review of
the decision and seeking the advice of the Local Government Ombudsman over
the decision, the process used and the behaviour of Council Officers.
Despite the incredibly difficult time that my staff have faced over the past
few days I can assure you all that the messages of support that we have
received from VCS colleagues and the knowledge that many of you have tried
to lobby Councillors on our behalf has been humbling and a source of
inspiration to all of us.
We would be grateful for any support that any of you could offer.
Best wishes and thanks for the overwhelming messages of support that we have
already received.
Rob Arnold
Director
VAM
Other information
If anyone would like to see Geoff Little's rebuttal of our case, and our
rebuttal of their rebuttal then email us at vam@vamanchester.org.uk
and we will send it to you.
We will keep people up to date about any future developments and the
services we will be able to provide during this transitional period.
Subject: EMERGENCY VAM EMAIL BULLETIN 2 - APRIL 2005
EMERGENCY VAM EMAIL BULLETIN 2 - APRIL 2005
VAM NEWS
The following is a message from the Director of VAM, Rob Arnold.
I would like to begin by thanking all of you who have responded to our call
for help in trying to overturn the Council’s decision to withdraw core
funding from VAM, CTAC and CAS. We have received hundreds of messages of
support and we are aware that more than 80% of Councillors have been
contacted by community groups to protest about this decision and to call for
the matter to be referred to an Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
VAM has also been contacting Councillors and, as a result of your efforts, I
can now tell you that Councillor Bernard Priest, the Chair of the Finance
and General Purposes Committee, has called in the decision to be reviewed at
the meeting of that Committee at 10a.m on Thursday 7th April. We believe
that this process has been rushed and that Councillors ought to be given
full information on the issues involved and an opportunity to review the
decision at greater length. However, we are now working on the assumption
that the decision will be reviewed at Thursday’s meeting and are making
representations for the voluntary and community sector’s views to be heard
at that meeting. We would be grateful if as many representatives of the
voluntary and community sector as possible could attend that meeting to
support our case. Please let Jane Taylor know if you are able to attend.
You can contact her at info@vamanchester.org.uk
or telephone 0161 234 2929.
We are also able to tell you that the contract has been awarded to the
Scarman Trust. For those of you who do not know this organisation I can tell
you that they are a London based charity who have a small presence in the
North West. They have not been involved in any of the key strategic
partnerships that the contractor would have to lead on behalf of the sector
(e.g. CN4M, Manchester Partnership, Compact, VSSAN, Manchester Change Up
Consortium, etc). The Green Fish Partners have been lead agencies in all of
these partnerships from day one.
The other issues of concern to us that we will be asking Council Officers to
address are as follows:
· No Councillors (or service users) were involved in the decision making
panel. There was a lack of consultation with the sector over the decision to
undertake a tendering process. The only consultation with the sector was
around the Cordis Bright Report, which recommended that a contract (with
increased funding) be awarded to a partnership of key existing support
agencies. No one within the sector (to our knowledge) has been consulted
about the decision to withdraw funding from a respected local (and locally
governed) organisation to give to a national organisation.
· Does the deal really provide value for money as the Council Officers
claim? Any savings that might result from our price being undercut have to
be set against the money that would have seen to have been wasted on the
development of the Greenfish Resource Centre just 9 months ago (£250,000)
and the cost of any transitional arrangements (at least £175,000).
· Is the service deliverable by the Scarman Trust? The outputs suggested and
the methods of delivery would represent a huge gamble for the Council. Our
outputs were very challenging but based on clear irrefutable evidence of
current provision. Significantly higher outputs promised by Scarman Trust
would be guesswork and based on a lot of experimental delivery mechanisms
being successful with no real evidence that they would be and no evidence
that this is what the sector wants. If the Council wanted a new and
innovative service why did it not consult the sector about this or include
it in either its report to Councillors or in the tender specification?
· The quality of service provision should be the overriding factor in
providing support to the voluntary and community sector. Neither the Cordis
Bright Report nor the Council have offered any evidence that the services
provided by VAM, CTAC and CAS are not of a high standard.
· No credit has been given for the Greenfish Partner’s past experience,
history and knowledge. No credit has been given for the key contacts and
partnerships we have built up over the years or for the investment in our
services that the Council and other funders have made over many years.
· The implications for the three organisations have not been considered.
What can you do now?
We would be grateful if you would continue to contact Councillors on our
behalf to highlight your concerns about this issue. We have attached a list
of members of the relevant Committee if you wish to contact them as well as
your local Councillor. Please let us know if you either contact a Councillor
or receive a reply from them. We would also appreciate it if you came along
to the meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Overview and Scrutiny
Committee at 10a.m. on Thursday to support VAM, CTAC and CAS.
Clarification on Position of CTAC and CAS
We would like to point out that whilst the failure to award this contract to
The Greenfish Partnership will almost certainly lead to the closure of VAM
at some time within the next 18 months, the position of CTAC and CAS is
slightly different. CAS and CTAC will lose the City Council funding and this
will lead to the cessation of training and advice sessions previously
provided to groups in Manchester on a free or subsidised basis. Despite
this, both CTAC and CAS are continuing with ongoing fee work and
independently funded projects and are not anticipating closure.
Thank you for your support.
Rob Arnold
Director
Voluntary Action Manchester
Finance and General Purposes Committee
The names link direct to the relevant section of Manchester City Council’s
website.
· Councillor Andrews
· Councillor Cameron
· Councillor Fisher
· Councillor Isherwood
· Councillor Keller
· Councillor Morrison
· Councillor O'Neil
· Councillor Priest
(chair)
· Councillor Rothery
· Councillor Sandiford
· Councillor Trotman
VAM NEWS
This emergency VAM Email bulletin is being sent to you because the
Green Fish Partnership (Voluntary Action Manchester, Community
Accountancy Service and Community Technical Aid Centre) has finally
learnt the outcome of the evaluation for tenders of the supply of
infrastructure support services to the voluntary and community sectors
in Manchester (i.e. the services that each of the partner
organisations currently provide).
Unfortunately the Green Fish Partnership has not been successful. The
decision will take effect at 4pm on Wednesday 6 April, unless the
decision is called in for scrutiny before then. The decision may be
called in by five elected members of the City Council and the Green
Fish Partners are endeavouring to make sure that this happens.
If the decision is still against the Green Fish Partnership this will
mean that the work that all the partners do for the voluntary and
community sector within the City of Manchester will be severely
affected and Voluntary Action Manchester will no longer be able to
provide any advice, support, training or information services. It will
also almost certainly lead to the closure of all three organisations.
The Green Fish Partnership would be grateful if those of you who live
or work within the City could contact their local councillor and ask
them to contact Rob Arnold at Voluntary Action Manchester for further
details about the reasons for requesting that the decision be called
in for scrutiny.
Details of local councillors can be found on the Manchester City
Council website at
www.manchester.gov.uk/localdemocracy/councillors/index.htm
Finally, if you do contact your councillor could you please let Jane
Taylor know. Her contact details are info@vamanchester.org.uk or tel:
0161 234 2926.
Contact details for Rob Arnold are:
Mobile: 0777 375 0966 (Any time)
Work: 0161 234 2930 (Monday to Friday)
Email: rob@vamanchester.org.uk
