Cornwall shared services plan put on hold to allow full debate

“@ Rob1Gillatt
Thank you very much. I do appreciate your comments.

Trevarrow has no inside info on me. I try to help people to be a little more informed as I have much information at hand and sit around waiting. I don't want to go into it but I'm a carer for a terminal ill relative.. I also do volunteer work so see sharing info as a similar worthy cause. If we didn't care where would we be?..

Unlike that Trevorrow he (reads like a he!) is utterly vile and operates on wild assumptions like a naughty adolescent with attention deficit disorder. He's probably a councillor or paid to upset people or just a plain bigot or of similar ilk!!.. Or a combination of all!!!.. Fortunately most folk are super and there are very few like him. I feel quite sad for him unless he's getting paid while he insults people, in which case he's a ** Haha, best not go there…

I've enjoyed reading your comments Rob1Gillatt. Keep up the good work please…
I wish you a good day.”

“@ Rob1Gillatt
Thank you very much. I do appreciate your comments.

Trevarrow has no inside info on me. I try to help people to be a little more informed as I have much information at hand and sit around waiting. I don't want to go into it but I'm a carer for a terminal ill relative.. I also do volunteer work so see sharing info as a similar worthy cause. If we didn't care where would we be?..

Unlike that Trevorrow he (reads like a he!) is utterly vile and operates on wild assumptions like a naughty adolescent with attention deficit disorder. He's probably a councillor or paid to upset people or just a plain bigot or of similar ilk!!.. Or a combination of all!!!.. Fortunately most folk are super and there are very few like him. I feel quite sad for him unless he's getting paid while he insults people, in which case he's a ** Haha, best not go there…

I've enjoyed reading your comments Rob1Gillatt. Keep up the good work please…
I wish you a good day.”

“"The day-long meeting at County Hall, Truro, was calm in comparison to scenes played out in the chamber last week."

You mean that Kaczmarek was able to keep his fists in his pockets?”

“It's a Topsy-Turvy World eh trevorrow?!. Shame you can't get your head round it so continually insult people

BT gambles that Premier League deal will pay off faster than broadband Observer 17.06.12
Spending £738m on football might annoy customers waiting for a fast internet connection, but BT thinks it can afford it

The £3bn carve-up of the Premier League broadcast rights was a shock result that had fans cheering, but investors weeping. The arrival of a formidable challenger to Sky in the shape of BT is to be welcomed, because competition will keep TV & broadband prices keen. But the telecoms provider's expensive foray into sports broadcasting will stick in the craw of millions of households still waiting for a decent broadband connection.

BT is writing a £738m cheque for 114 games, £6.5m a match, which works out at roughly a third of the £2.5bn it is spending to upgrade its creaking copper network to fibre for an increasingly internet-addicted customer base.

That investment will mostly cover urban areas, the two thirds of UK homes that are easiest to reach & already have access to the most reliable broadband, as well an attractive alternative in the shape of Virgin Media's very fast cable network.

But what of the households being left out in the cold? The government has earmarked public money to ensure that, within five years, 90% of the UK will have superfast broadband, with the final 10% guaranteed a basic 2Mb connection – enough for one computer to watch the BBC iPlayer.

That pot of public money is just £530m, comfortably less than BT's football flutter, & the company has offered to match that when it wins contracts from local councils to carry out the work. Further sums may come from Europe. But there are already signs that this won't deliver the 2017 targets.

On Friday morning, as the City was digesting the dramatic shift in Britain's pay-TV landscape by lopping points off BT's & Sky's share prices The football rights only last for three years, & experts at research firm Enders Analysis think it unlikely BT will make a return by 2016. Unless it can take more matches from Sky in the next auction, or dramatically increase the 700,000 subscribers to its BT Vision TV service, the sports channel will probably continue to make a loss.

It's a pattern that bankrupted previous Sky challengers like Setanta, but with £6bn a year in earnings, BT can afford to take the hit. & it argues that good TV content will help sell fibre. Bundle in 80Mb broadb& with top-flight films & sport & you can reel them in.

Ultimately, what BT has chosen to do is invest its money where the competition is. It is laying fibre in Virgin Media areas, & investing in TV in order to keep its own broadband customers from jumping ship to Sky. In Cumbria, nobody is lining up to build a deluxe fibre network.

The government has no plans to divert significant new sums into broadband before the next general election, despite the economic benefits that good internet access can bring. The argument from the ministers in charge, Jeremy Hunt & Ed Vaizey, is that the private sector will fill the gap. But the Premier League's pay rise suggests that more money will flow into football than fibre

Here today, gone trevorrow”

“One of numerous classic examples why we don't want more private sector contracts

A4e is a business consultancy that offers to make millions from the unemployed by treating them as a commodity to private and public companies. They've received billions of public money & in 2012 had contracts for £438million just with the back to Work program

June 09, The Observer disclosed a fraud investigation into A4e which was instigated after the Department for Work and Pensions uncovered discrepancies in its confirmation of employment forms - discrepancies which centred upon the falsification of employers' signatures by a number of recruiters

June 10, A4e announced employee's laptop containing personal details of 24,269 people had been stolen. The laptop wasn't encrypted or recovered

Sept 11, A4e were awarded £250,000 contract to advise David Cameron's office on future privatisations & how to design welfare contracts with private firms & getting value for money in contracting out. A4e has been hired by the Cabinet Office to advise on rules governing 4 experimental schemes aimed at families

Jan 12, Four former employees of A4e were arrested on suspicion of fraud dating back to 2010

Feb, The Guardian revealed A4e had forced jobseekers to work unpaid in its own offices, had been investigated nine times by the Department for Work and Pensions since 2005, and had been forced to repay public funds on 5 occasions after government investigations found irregularities. Thames Valley Police's Economic Crime Unit was revealed to be investigating alleged theft by A4e staff of 'tens of thousands of pounds' worth of vouchers meant to help unemployed back to work

Chairman Emma Harrison resigns as David Cameron's personal adviser in the wake of being investigated over allegations of multiple fraud. The next day, she resigns as chairman of A4e amid criticism of conflicts of interest regarding government contracts & allegations of routine fraud

March, Another case of signature forgery while A4e was working for Redcar & Cleveland Council to help disadvantaged young people into education, training or work. An inquiry found signatures had been forged to exaggerate the number of vulnerable people the project had reached

The DWP announced it had been made aware of an allegation of attempted fraud in relation to a Mandatory Work Activity contract with A4e. It stated that it had begun an investigation into this allegation & also as a result of the allegation an independent audit of all our commercial relationships with A4e

Newsnight revealed that they had received a leaked document suggesting systemic fraud at the company

The Skills Funding Agency revealed A4e to be a preferred bidder for prison education contracts and awarded A4e 2 such contracts worth up to £30million

April, Police officers raided A4e's office in Slough after allegations were referred to them by the DWP

May, Exaro news published leaked internal audit report which exposed potential fraud at A4e. The report compiled by the audit & risk department examined a sample of 224 of the company's job placements & found potential fraudulent activity is not confined to one particular geographical area & shows systematic failure to mitigate the risk towards this behaviour at regional level

Channel 4 revealed A4e had only found 4020 jobs that lasted over 3 months in the 10 months up to May 2012,for its 115,000 compulsory attendees at a cost to the taxpayer of £45 million

It was revealed that Harrison was paid an £8.6million shares in 2011, in addition to her £365,000 salary. A4e also paid Harrison £1.7m over 2 years for leasing properties, including her 20-bedroom stately home, to her own firm. £4m was shared between other directors through Personal Service Companies, avoiding payment of National Insurance.
All funded by taxpayers”

“The present Council is so mired in sleaze, so chaotic and discredited in the eyes of the electorate, mainly as a result of poor leadership and elected members' antics that no major decision should be made or contract placed this side of an election.

We have a lame duck administration under a new Conservative leader who doesn't have a majority in his own party group. Indeed, the party group to which he owes his allegiance is still 'led' by the discredited former Council leader that he has replaced.

Th new leader - Jim Currie - is not standing for election again so he is in every sense a caretaker between now and the election.

After an election the new Council should discuss openly any and every major contract. The cabinet system is undemocratic and is little more than an excuse to pay and additional £30k a year to a privileged group of the local political class.

I vote for a councillor who (pretends at least) to represent me. Not a furtive cabinet who make decisions in secret.

We need an election and a commitment thereafter to open decision making by the whole of the elected body.”