Peace in our time! So long as the public sector pay for it!

Attend a meeting today with Constructing Excellence which I think we all find a bit embarrassing, although we make the most of it and agree to put out some best practice material. Sorry for being so cryptic but I need to watch what I am saying.

The story starts a couple of weeks ago when we issued a briefing about the OFT investigation into cartelling and price fixing, I checked this over before issue and was confident that we were well within the legal boundaries on the issue. However after a week or so I get a letter from the Construction Confederation accusing APSE of all sorts and threatening to sue us. On reading the letter my immediate reaction was laughter, it was the usual sort of bullying stuff, distorting what we had said to try and move the spotlight from what the real issue is - a number of the contractors who have admitted to being investigated by the OFT also working on Billions of pounds worth of public sector projects. Maybe I am just old fashioned about these things but surely there is a public interest in communicating information already in the public domain to those in public authority in order to ensure that any possibility of the public purse being ripped off is mitigated against.

That is when I started to get angry and basically told the bullies that if they wanted to take action against APSE then to bring it on - this is one argument I am perfectly happy to have in public to spread the news as far and wide as possible. Needless to say you all know what happens when you stand up to bullies, no matter there size they back down and explain that you have misunderstood their intentions and they really want to be your friend.

This is when I was pointed in the direction of Constructing Excellence who promote on behalf of the Government best practice in the construction procurement sector. We will issue something jointly in the next month or two as I believe this is really an organisation who have the public interest at heart.

Not quite 'T' in the park!

At the MJ dinner on Park Lane tonight, one of those events that everybody who is anybody is at (well in local government anyway). Andrew Marr is the presenter for the evening and the sarcasm is cutting as the reshuffle is well and truly underway.

The first tier has been done with 20 of the 23 senior ministerial posts changed. Ruth Kelly has left local government for Transport, Hazel Blears is the new Communities Minister and within an hour or two of her appointment arrives to address the 900 plus guests at the drinks reception. What a coup for Michael and Heather at the MJ.

Phil Woolas does a hysterical routine on stage where he talks about having packing crates outside his office when he arrived this morning, with a civil servant telling him it is just in case! He also continuously checks his phone waiting for the dreaded call, for Phil however I think it will be at worst sideways.

Tameside win the well deserved council of the year trophy and I congratulate Janet Callendar the Chief Executive as she leaves the stage, well done to her and all her team, the hard work has payed off.

A great night is had by all and its after 1.30am when we slope of into the night.

Night of the long knives!

Went to the New Local Government Networks summer reception at Parliament this evening and the tension was almost unbearable. Today Gordon Brown received the keys to number 10 and the inevitable ministerial reshuffle was only hours away.

There was lots of Ministers and MPs buzzing about in expectation, anticipation and maybe even fear. Nick Raynsford gave a speech and whilst he is still excellent value he probably knows his days of high ministerial office have came and went. Ruth Kelly also said a few words and probably knows that she will be on the move, the gossip can't quite make up its mind as to whether it will be demotion or enhancement. Angela Smith is also there and I would hope her star is rising, as she has always been kind to APSE.

It was good to catch up with a number of the familiar faces on the circuit, swap stories and scoff the orange juice and canapies. The terrace at Westminster is a beautiful setting, pity about the rain.

Blood on the floor!

Its the Scottish AGM of APSE today at Perth Racecourse and with all the changes in Scottish Local Government at the recent elections we know its going to be an unpredictable outcome. It makes a change from the usual cries of unopposed, as we have up to 3 nominations in some of the categories for election as chairs.

Pat and me spend the night before drafting standing orders for the meeting and we get these adopted at the start of the meeting along with the passing of the constitutional amendments to ensure that nobody can gripe after the event. The format is to be secret ballot done on an exhaustive basis. Although there are over 60 in attendance, there are only 19 member bodies present and therefore every vote is crucial.

The first election is for Scottish Chair and we have 3 candidates, after the first vote we have a split of 8, 6, and 5. So the candidate on 5 drops out and the membership vote again, this time it finishes 10 votes to 9 and Cllr Frank Anderson of West Lothian is elected.

There are a number of other close run contests during the process and despite some long standing members losing out, I can't help feel that the competitiveness of the occasion added to the status of APSE and the atmosphere of the meeting.

Scottish Climate Challenge!

Another day, another climate change conference, this time its at the Scottish National Football Stadium, Hampden Park. I am Chairing the event and I set off at 6 am to get there in time.

The event goes well and the debate is encouraging, but I still can't help get the feeling that not everyone gets this yet.

Evan Williams from the Scottish Environmental Protection Unit does a good impression of Al Gore by utilising a lot of data from 'an unconventional truth', and its a very good way of getting the message across.

Northern Soul!

With APSEs headquarters being based in Manchester many in our Northern Region see themselves as being the soul of the organisation, although other areas would argue this point.

It's there annual seminar and agm in Durham and I am invited along to do a slot on climate change. I have done better presentations but I am heartened by the level of debate that takes place and start to think that issue is starting to register amongst all those involved in service delivery, which is the message I wanted to get across.

To many people see it as something someone else deals with in the authority rather than something that everyone should be addressing.