past failures – Page 2 – Waltham Forest Matters

LBWF, the Local Authority Business Growth Initiative programmes, and the Waltham Forest Business Board, E11 Bid Co., and North London Ltd.

Nick Tiratsoo February 13, 2015 Argall Car Parks, E11 BID Co., North London Ltd., Waltham Forest Business Board

A couple of years ago, I started hearing some very surprising things about Leytonstone’s Business Improvement District (BID) company, the E11 Bid Co.. The allegation, in short, was that the directors of the company had failed to keep proper books and neglected to pay their taxes; run up substantial debts; and as a consequence jeopardised the company’s ‘going concern’ status. I had always been suspicious about the E11 BID Co. because there was a lack of transparency about its operations, and a lot of obvious flannel about its alleged successes. I knew that councillors (i... »

Afzal Akram, CCTV cameras, Chris Robbins, Clyde Loakes, contracts, E11 BID Co., LABGI, LBWF, Leytonstone Business Forum CIC, Martin Esom, Michael Polledri, North London Business, North London Ltd., One Stop Shop, past failures, Shifa Mustafa, Terry Wheeler, Waltham Forest Business Board, Waltham Forest Business CIC, Waltham Forest Council, Worknet

Documenting Past Failures: (4) NRF, EduAction, and the Youth At Risk programme

Nick Tiratsoo February 10, 2015 EduAction, NRF, Youth at Risk

Between 2003 and 2006, LBWF paid EduAction £340,000 for a programme called ‘Youth at Risk’, the objective of which was to reduce exclusions from schools in targeted areas, broadly the poorer parts of the borough. From 2006 onwards, rumours about this programme began to spread, with the central allegation being that EduAction had not spent the money as intended. Various investigations ensued, and a complaint was made to the police. The issue rumbled on, receiving extensive coverage in the Waltham Forest Guardian (see links below). Finally, in 2010, thanks to the persistence of several campaigne... »

Corporate Audit and Anti-Fraud Team, EduAction, Iain Duncan Smith, NRF, NRF Youth at Risk, past failures, Waltham Forest Guardian

Documenting Past Failures: (3) NRF, EduAction and an open letter to Cllr. Chris Robbins

Nick Tiratsoo February 10, 2015 Cllr. Chris Robbins, EduAction, NRF

One of the outside organisations that LBWF paid NRF monies to was EduAction, or more properly EduAction Waltham Forest Ltd., a joint venture formed by Amey Plc (‘one of today’s leading public services providers’) and Nord Anglia Education. In the 2000s, EduAction ran the schools in the borough, after a damning Ofsted report at the turn of the century had disposed of the idea that the local authority was up to the job. It was always said that EduAction was receiving NRF monies to help it run special programmes, aimed for instance those at those most at risk of failure or truancy. Ho... »

BNI, Chris Robbins, contracts, Corporate Audit and Anti-Fraud Team, Dr. Foster, EduAction, LBWF, NRF, past failures, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Roger Taylor, Waltham Forest Council

Documenting Past Failures: (2) NRF and Dr. Foster

Nick Tiratsoo February 10, 2015 Dr. Foster, NRF, The BNI

The Dr. Foster episode is one that always will be close to my heart, not only because it demonstrated everything that was wrong about the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF)/Better Neighbourhoods Initiative (BNI) programme, but also because it had a surprising kick in the tail, and one that was highly gratifying to me. The story is as follows – and I apologise for the minutiae, but as will become clear, they are necessary to expose the scale of the duplicity that occurred. In late 2006, LBWF’s Local Strategic Partnership (LSP), chair Cllr. Clyde Loakes, paid Dr Foster Intelligence (DFI) £47,150 f... »

BNI, Clyde Loakes, Colin Moon, Dr. Foster, Dr. Jack Tinker, LBWF, LSP, NRF, past failures, Roger Taylor, Waltham Forest Council, Waltham Forest Guardian

Documenting Past Failures: (1) Introduction

Nick Tiratsoo February 4, 2015 Cllr. Clyde Loakes, NRF, Past failures: overview, The BNI

Over the coming months, and at irregular intervals, I’ll be posting Documenting Past Failures pieces, which will look at some of the episodes that I’ve been involved in since 2004, broadly in chronological sequence. To start with, I’ll be looking mostly at how LBWF used Neighbourhood Renewal Fund monies. The background is as follows. In 2001, the government launched a new National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal which aimed to reverse long-term decline in wards defined as ‘deprived’ by tackling key issues (such as poor health, worklessness, and crime), and at the same time... »

BNI, Clyde Loakes, LBWF, LSP, NRF, past failures, Waltham Forest Council

Some background: a short history of local scandals

Nick Tiratsoo February 2, 2015 Past failures: overview

Here’s an article that I contributed to the Dec14/Jan15 issue of Labour Briefing (which I reproduce with the kind permission of the editors). It looks at some recent Waltham Forest history, and gives more than a clue as to why this blog was set up. Waltham Forest’s missing millions ‘In 2009, spurred on by a spate of bad publicity about its flagship Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) programme, and premonitions that the Audit Commission was about to halve its star rating, London Borough of Waltham Forest (LBWF) appointed an Independent Panel, chaired by the LDA’s Sir Peter Roger... »

BNI, E11 BID Co., Independent Panel, LBWF, Michael Polledri, North London Ltd., NRF, O-Regen, past failures, Private Eye, Sir Peter Rogers, Waltham Forest Council, Waltham Forest Guardian