Topic: | Re:Re:Chris Grayling says | |
Posted by: | Cllr Sam Hearn | |
Date/Time: | 19/11/15 17:44:00 |
Talking about making party political points I remember a Labour Candidate in the 2010 who may great play of the fact that Conservative led Coalition had made provision in its final budget for all councillors to have dedicated lap top computers (if they wanted them). I forget the exact words she used but Vanessa can probably help us out there "unnecessary waste of public money in this time of austerity" springs to mind. In May 2010 this Labour Candidate was elected and become a Cabinet Member. Blow me if a few months later she was not issuing us all with laptops etc - whether we wanted them or not. Essential she said for us to do our jobs as councillors. I returned my very slow laptop a couple of months later and continued to use my home PC to access my council emails (as did most councillors). A few weeks before the 2014 local election we were all told we must not use our home PCs to log on to our council emails because this broke some security protocol (it did but we had been doing that for years). We had no way of seeing what residents were emailing to us unless we slepped into the Civic Centre and queued up to use the communal teermianls. Within days of the 2014 election all councillors were called in and issued with Samsung mobile phones, I-Pads and blow me new lap tops - whether we wanted them or not. This month our I-Pads have now all been returned for a 2 hour upgrade (it in fact took 24 hours). I returned my unused laptop and took possession of a brand new I-Phone that links to my I-Pad. Is all this a waste of money? Whose to say? Perhaps you would like to comments Vanessa? I know that a few laptops etc are not mega-bucks but then perhaps you would like to discuss the millions that LBH proposes to spend on new garbage trucks when the contract is brought in house. |