Liverpool Council is yet to inform schools across the city how they will be impacted by its expensive energy contract foul-up.
Earlier this year, a litany of errors at the Cunard Building led to £16m being added to the local authority’s energy bill. Council leaders were not informed that the electricity provider it was dealing with had withdrawn from the commercial market, leading to the local authority - and other city institutions - being placed on a far more expensive contract.
In the aftermath of that error, former finance lead for Liverpool Council, deputy Mayor Jane Corbett said in an interview that schools would not face the consequences of the financial missteps of the administration. However, Jonathan Jones, director of education, told a meeting of the city’s education and skills select committee that “no further assurance” could be given to schools about the impact they may face.
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Mr Jones said the council is facing “various delays” and as a result was not in a position to update councillors or schools further on any potential fees. The director said he recognised there would be “tension and anxiety” in the city’s schools but the authority was “trying to navigate this as best we can.”
Pressed by Warbreck councillor Alan Gibbons, Anne-Marie Lubanksi, interim head of paid service, said it was “not as simple for the council to just pay” the bill and further input was required from the Department for Education regarding funding. The meeting was told that the council’s section 151 officer was in discussions and would endeavour to update members as soon as possible.
In June, the chair of governors at Northcote Primary School in Walton suggested the school was facing the prospect of job cuts after its energy costs had soared to 500% - partly because of the mistakes made at the council. During last month’s meeting of the committee, Cllr Tom Logan, cabinet member for education and skills, acknowledged “on the whole, secondary schools are worried, really worried, simply because of the size”.
The energy contract debacle was criticised by government-appointed commissioners overseeing the council in their latest report. They said it was an example of “the failure of having mixed accountabilities in procurement decision making across the Council. This is not a sustainable or effective model.”
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