Council to launch inquiry into £6m expenses bill; 8,500 council staff to have contracts renegotiated

Council Leader Paul Scriven has promised an inquiry after it was revealed that the Council's employee expenses bill totalled £6m for last year.

The Liberal Democrats say a crackdown on "perks" such as non-essential staff training, car allowances and hospitality has saved half a million pounds compared to when Labour were in control of the council.

Earlier this week unions were notified that up to 8,500 council employees would face changes to their employment conditions, including pay freezes and removal of sick pay.

Councillor Simon Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat Cabinet member for Finance, said: “Whilst some essential training and transport costs are required by vital front line staff such as care workers for example, the Council is spending too much on other unnecessary employee perks.

“If we are to deal with the reductions in our budget whilst trying to protect vital front line services, then Labour councillors in Sheffield must not block our plans. This might not be unpopular with the Unions, but prioritising spend on front line services instead of employee car allowances and subsistence payments is the right thing to do. Labour should put local taxpayers before their Trade Union paymasters.”

It seems, however, that the unions are less concerned with the cuts to perks, as they are with the size of the hospitality bill at a time when 8,500 council employees are likely to have their contracts re-evaluated.

Speaking to the Star, Mark Keeling, Unite convenor at Sheffield Council, said: "Our members are facing a bleak future. If the gravy train is still running for those at the top, it's time it hit the buffers.

"It's not the job of officers to wine and dine using the public purse.
"The council's job is to provide services and employment."

The GMB union revealed this week that they had received notice that 8,500 workers at Sheffield City Council would have their contracts renegotiated. The council say that this does not necessarily mean 8,500 will lose their jobs. A spokesperson for the council said yesterday "There haven't been any figures put on that.

"The Council has not issued staff with redundancy notices and it is misleading to suggest that we have. What we have communicated to the Trade Unions is, that as part of our ongoing negotiations with them, we are following national guidance.

"There is a process that, by law, we have to follow and certain formalities have to be complied with and that includes issuing what is known as a HR1 notice to the Government and shared with the Trade Unions. We are now at that stage.

“This statutory notice is part of the formal and technical process when two parties haven’t yet reached a collective agreement. We are still continuing to meet with the Trade Unions and are still working towards a collective agreement. "

The changes which are being negotiated with trade unions include the removal of the first three days of a workers' sick pay, a pay freeze and the offer of career breaks and voluntary early retirement.

Police to investigate council defector Curran for "downloading personal data from Nick Clegg's office"

UPDATE 29/9/10 - 5.30pm

Cllr Curran has released his first official statement since allegations of data theft were made last week.

He said "The Police have confirmed that there is no case to answer. I hope that, as Councillors, we can all now focus on representing our constituents and doing what is best for Sheffield.”

Ben Curran, the Sheffield City Councillor who defected from the Liberal Democrats to Labour on Friday, is under investigation by the police, it has emerged.

Council leader Paul Scriven has asked Labour leader Julie Dore to suspend Curran for allegedly downloading personal data about thousands of voters from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's office days before his defection.

Lib Dem councillor defects to Labour

Julie Dore welcomes Ben Curran to SheffieldWalkley councillor Ben Curran has defected from the city's Lib Dem group to the Labour group, branding his former party's reasons for cancelling the Forgemasters loan "a pack of lies".

This leaves the Liberal Democrats with only 41 councillors, meaning a combination of Labour's 39 and Greens' 2 councillors could vote down Lib Dem motions and amendments.

Cllr Curran, who had been an advisor to Lib Dem deputy leader Cllr David Baker, said it had not been an easy decision, but that he felt he had "no alternative but to leave the Liberal Democrats and join Labour."

He said: “I was bitterly disappointed with where the party was going nationally with Nick Clegg and I was also left disillusioned with the lack of resistance shown by the Lib Dems locally with all the savage cuts that have hit this city.

“The disgraceful decision to cancel the Forgemasters loan is a case in point. As Sheffield Lib Dem Councillors, we were asked to defend what turned out to be a completely unjustifiable decision and it soon transpired that all the reasons in favour of cancelling the loan were just a pack of lies.

“My personal values haven’t changed but the political landscape has. It is clear to me that Labour offers the only genuine progressive future for both Sheffield and Britain today.”

Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield council said: "Clearly this has come as a real surprise to us as Ben hasn't spoken to me or anyone else in the Group to let us know he was thinking of resigning, let alone defecting. He was only elected in May and just a couple of weeks ago he gave a speech in the Council chamber deriding Labour's record.

"Obviously this is a personal decision for Ben, but it's clear that the move has been orchestrated given that it is on the eve of our national conference in Liverpool. I find it hard to understand how he could have joined a party that has pledged to take money away from the area he represents, took us into an illegal war in Iraq and has bankrupted the entire country."

Sheffield Labour Group's new leader Julie Dore welcomed the defection. She said: "The doors are wide open for any other Lib Dems who feel uneasy with the Tory-led Coalition and who are sick to death of these spiteful cuts, which are being made too far, too fast and hitting the most vulnerable hardest.”

Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central, which includes the Walkley Ward, said: "I know what a difficult decision this has been for Ben. Like many Lib Dem supporters in Sheffield he was deeply distressed by the way that the party has changed under Nick Clegg's leadership, especially since joining the Tories in Government. I welcome him to Labour and I'm looking forward to working with him in Walkley ward in my constituency."

Lib Dems reduce number of council "fat cats"

Sheffield's Liberal Democrat council have announced figures which suggest they have been more successful than expected in reducing the number of highly paid council employees.

In January 2009, the council pledged to reduce the number of non-school employees earning more than £50,000 by 10%. Today's figures suggest that once non-filled positions are factored in, they have achieved a figure closer to 17%.

The council received criticism last week, after it was revealed that nearly all of the savings made from youth service cuts would be swallowed up by the severance packages of just three senior council officials.