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| TOP MAN! |
The Dame hears staff at Hornton St were throwing their hats in the air and cracking open bottles of champagne at the news the very popular Nicholas Holgate was stepping up to replace the less than popular, Mr Myers. Mr Myers was universally disliked and was inextricably meshed with the ludicrous Pooter.I am pleased to tell you that subsequently an internal process was run to appoint someone to step into the role and Nicholas Holgate, Town Clerk and Director of Finance RBKC has now been offered this opportunity and has accepted. He will retain his formal finance role for RBKC.This appointment will take effect from November."
Nicholas Holgate is a very different kettle of fish.
Whereas Mr Myers was a ambitious social worker made good, Mr Holgate was a top flight civil servant and previously Director of Welfare Reform at the Treasury.
Nicholas lives in the Borough and said on his appointment as Finance Director,“It will be great to contribute the work of such a vibrant organisation; and as I live in Olympia, the borough affects my quality of life outside the office too.”
The Two Nicks will make a great team.
An perceptive comment from our friend, "Worked at RBK&C"
WorkedatRBKC25 September 2013 17:54
The other thing that might be worth a FOI request would be
to ask how much money they spent on the recruitment
process that was unsuccessful. RBKC HR have always
believed that there is better outside the borough than the
existing workforce which on the other hand they say they
take pride in the high level of skill and competance of.
There were strong internal candidates at the time Myres got
the job and Moira Gibb springs immediately to mind. She
went off to Camden and did and excellent job of turning
round somewhere that was failing while Myres and Pooter
snuggled up together and caused chaos taking the place into
a downwards spiral.
How Moira was overlooked remains a mystery but the dirty
hands of the HR team were definitely in there and possibly
she was much too straight talking for Pooter. Then again,
Moira was at the forefront of tackling the poor practices in
the HR team at the time so that may explain it.
Replyto ask how much money they spent on the recruitment
process that was unsuccessful. RBKC HR have always
believed that there is better outside the borough than the
existing workforce which on the other hand they say they
take pride in the high level of skill and competance of.
There were strong internal candidates at the time Myres got
the job and Moira Gibb springs immediately to mind. She
went off to Camden and did and excellent job of turning
round somewhere that was failing while Myres and Pooter
snuggled up together and caused chaos taking the place into
a downwards spiral.
How Moira was overlooked remains a mystery but the dirty
hands of the HR team were definitely in there and possibly
she was much too straight talking for Pooter. Then again,
Moira was at the forefront of tackling the poor practices in
the HR team at the time so that may explain it.
If the staff are popping champagne bottles - something is very wrong
ReplyDeleteIt's a figure of speech.....
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed good news. Myres was never good news and the comment about social worker made good is indeed accurate. That said he even messed up things that a social worker should have had a modicum of sense about at the forefront of which was Chelsea Care. His ideas about that and how it should run were to say the least bizarre though publicly of course others carried the can when it went wrong. Holgate is a popular choice with the staff most of who are very good people simply because he is fair without fear or favour and after the Pooter/Myers years of dubious morals and ethics perhaps the course is set for rotton to become royal once more. There are still a few senior people who need to be cleared out (not retired early with enhance pensions) and some key appointments to make but I think we can be quietly confident that come the new year those things will start to happen.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Bore, Laura Johnson and who else?
DeleteJean Daintith, Stella Baillie, Rachel Wigley, the former is retired and the latter two promoted to director level Wigley as 'Tri-borough Director of Finance' great progress for someone who could barely add up when she started. Just goes to show that a major foul up doesn't slow down your career or at least it didn't under the Myers & Pooter Partnership.
DeleteExcellent news. Perhaps Mr Holgate will start by initiating a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the public tendering processes which resulted in both H & F and RBKC signing grossly overpriced waste management contracts, apparently with two different firms.
ReplyDeleteHaving done so, perhaps he will encourage other Central London boroughs to follow his lead regarding their respective: equally overpriced waste contracts.
A great day for the Royal Borough
ReplyDeleteNow that Cllr Paget-Brown has got this important piece of business off his chest there can be no further excuses that he has no time for tackling important issues like the scandalous £1 million a year subsidy to Opera Holland Park
ReplyDeleteI know that there are still greater priorities than the Holland Park Opera, believe me, the scale of waste there does not equal that in some other places.
DeleteThe other thing that might be worth a FOI request would be to ask how much money they spent on the recruitment process that was unsuccessful. RBKC HR have always believed that there is better outside the borough than the existing workforce which on the other hand they say they take pride in the high level of skill and competance of.
ReplyDeleteThere were strong internal candidates at the time Myres got the job and Moira Gibb springs immediately to mind. She went off to Camden and did and excellent job of turning round somewhere that was failing while Myres and Pooter snuggled up together and caused chaos taking the place into a downwards spiral.
How Moira was overlooked remains a mystery but the dirty hands of the HR team were definitely in there and possibly she was much too straight talking for Pooter. Then again, Moira was at the forefront of tackling the poor practices int he HR team at the time so that may explain it.
I think that there are a lot more names who should go. A big clear out in the Planning Department to start with.
ReplyDeleteK&C Planning is currently dysfunctional. Lack of respect for colleagues and residents all around. Behaviour typified by small minded people exercising power for their personal gratification. Officers routinely run rings around the Councillors and take them for granted. Councillors just want to turn up, dress up, and feel important. The whole process is discredited in the eyes of residents whether they are applicants or objectors. The Planning Department is demotivated and Councillors privately consider it a joke.
DeleteAll part of the Cockell legacy and his failure to Lead the organisation. Time for a new broom. A person who can re establish values of respect, professionalism and caring. And above all, a recognition that Planning (and all the other Council Services) are paid for by residents via their Council Tax and Hornton Street has a duty of care to its paymasters. This has long since been forgotten but it must be brought to front of mind.
Is Paget-BRown up to it?
Unfortunately Nick is not up to it. A limited man and beyond his competence
DeleteOrganisations frequently think that they can find the "best candidates" from outside. People they know nothing about except they present well and do a good CV. More often than not the best candidate is an internal candidate and it does wonders for staff morale and of course the internal person hits the ground running. Well done Cllr Paget-Brown. You seem to have got there in the end. Took a bit of time though and it seems quite a bit of money was wasted faffing around. But a political triumph to have landed a second K&C person in the job. After all, it was the turn of Hammersmith!
ReplyDeleteI will once again ask if anyone knows what plans have been made for if and when H & F again goes Labour? Has the H & F Labour party said they'll continue the current experiment, or will local government collapse in West London? Residents have a right to know.
ReplyDeleteThey are locked in
ReplyDeleteThe Tri-borough arrangement has been set in stone such that it would cost H+F council tax payers an arm and a leg to get out of the arrangements. And all this was instituted without any democratic involvement by residents as to whether they want this. Front line services are suffering very badly now, but councillors are unable to scrutinise what is going on as it is all taking place outside the normal scrutiny procedures., Nick, Nick, Nick, Pip and Charlie have a hard job ahead of them to unpick the folly of their predecessors.
ReplyDeleteWhy is chaos not being scrutinised by the Councillors, public money is being used for it? Why have residents not been told that such major changes are happening to our communities without being consulted with. These are questions this council had better be able to answer when election time comes round. It is not a simplistic answer about one chief executives salary anymore, it is affecting services for vulnerable people. Residents are furious, this Tri Borough is a step too far.
ReplyDeleteSocial work managers in H and F are supervising social workers in K and C without being able to access their files and case-notes as they operate on a different computer framework. Complete and utter chaos.
ReplyDeleteIf 16.47 is correct, it could lead to potentially dangerous situations for vulnerable people and children. Where does confidentiality for residents figure in this as they have probably not agreed to their information being shared with non RBKC council employees. Residents never voted for this madness, but are being assured of our sovereignty by Councillors whilst the officers drive the Tri Borough Express. It will be a matter of time before it all hits the fan. And the Councillors better be prepared for it.
ReplyDelete