Northgate and the 235 phantom jobs

[steveL]

It's a constant puzzle. Do The Mail work for HBC's PR Department or is it the other way around?

Anyway, here's a few bits that were missing from the Mail story.

Northgate has been the ICT Provider for HBC since 2001. The existing contract has been due to run out and if you remember, a new deal had been negotiated in 2012 in Drummond's era which would have seen an estimated £10m of savings for the council over 7 years rather than the £7m now on offer. The £3m difference mostly came from the transfer of the council's Revenue and Benefits function to the new provider in preparation of the introduction of Universal Credit. This would have meant the transfer of the current HBC's Revenue and Benefits staff to the ICT Provider. However, UNISON objected to this.

As a result, the Labour Group at the time, led by 'UNISON activist' Christopher Akers-Belcher ,scuppered the deal which completely cocked up the next year's planned budget and led to threats of de-selection of the then Labour Cabinet Members. Those cabinet members chickened out and went on to fail to support the budget that they themselves had been working on for over a year.

The contract as it now stands involves the transfer of 235 jobs from Wynyard to Hanson House which had been vacated by HBC after it moved its existing staff to the Civic Centre and Brougham Enterprise Centre to save costs.

So instead of Fastsnax and the other local cafes getting their business from council staff from Hanson House they will now get their business from Northgate staff - so no extra £2.9m from additional footfall going into the local economy as claimed - just different feet.

The Northgate Academy offers little above what Northgate already do as they already run apprenticeships but it's been re-packaged to make it appear as if this is something extra. It isn't. What's on offer is an average of 5 apprenticeships a year which is about the same as Northgate have been offering for several years.

There remains the question of the £3m savings scuppered by CAB and his UNISON mates but of course there is no mention of that in The Mail article.

There are some good aspects to this story. Having 235 jobs in town makes them far more accessible to young starters who don't have a car to get to WYNYARD. However, for the most part this story is so full of spin targeted at covering up CAB's original c**k-up that it's impossible to take it seriously. As for the attempt to link it to 'The Vision' - well, what can I say? 

[craig finton]

So The Mail gives CAB not one but two chances to spin the spin on this. Is it not time Joy Yates considered changing here name to PATSY?

[The Great Dictator]

There are no new jobs, Northgate is just moving their offices from Wynyard to Hartlepool..

[ARC86]

So PHF would like to Hanson House empty?? who do PHF propose moves in?? All bluster and no answers yet again!!