Globe News
EXCLUSIVE: MP to drop political bombshell on Wirral Council
5:20pm Monday 6th February 2012
Frank Field is set to rock Wirral Council to its foundations with a blistering Parliamentary attack against senior officers.
One the eve of his Westminster Hall address, the Birkenhead MP told the Globe he will ask whether government commissioners should be called in to run the council’s affairs.
Mr Field, who said he will be calling for the resignation of certain officers of the council, said: “If there is a political failure then the government has the power to send in commissioners.
"I want to know what powers the government have on sending in commissioners if officers aren’t up to the job.
“It is a long-standing issue I have tried to deal with as an MP over a number of decades”
He revealed that he had called for a further report from the Audit Commission relating to the role of chief officers in placing one of Wirral Council’s biggest contracts – a multi-million pound highways maintenance agreement.
Last October the Globe exclusively revealed that Mr Field asked the Serious Fraud Office to investigate allegations of “serious irregularities” after whistle-blowers brought his attention to certain issues.
He said: “The whistle-blowers told me what to look for.”
He alerted the SFO following a town hall meeting with senior officers of the authority during which he discussed concerns about the circumstances surrounding the council’s handling of the highways maintenance contract.
Mr Field said today: “The most recent issue flaring up is over chief officers taking over two years to get in an application for a new academy which cost £40m.
"The timetables were laid down and the officers failed to deliver.”
He added “I would be really unhappy if Wirral’s officer team continue as they have been doing.
"The (initial) report from the Audit Commission is a devastating one on the quality of leadership from senior officers.”
Fellow Wirral MPs Angela Eagle (Labour, Wallasey) and Esther McVey (Conservative, West Wirral) have asked to take part in the debate which starts at 12.30pm in Parliament's Westminster Hall. It can be seen online at Parliament TV.
Wirral Council’s ethics and culture have recently been called into question with the publication of the damning Anna Klonowski Corporate Governance report.
It follows the scandal surrounding the treatment of former social services manager turned whistle-blower Martin Morton.
The six-month AKA investigation, costing £250,000, found that a “corrosive and insular” culture had all-but overwhelmed the authority.
It claimed that the council’s own bureaucratic machinations had been put before the needs and rights of Wirral people.