Together with national journalism, national politics is held in high disrepute. In the public mind the expenses scandal is seen alongside the hacking scandal. Turnout at elections continues to decline. We are told this week of a proposed 11% pay rise for MPs. Never mind the details that it is proposed by Ipsa and not by MPs, and there is a reduced pension later on – the 11% headline is what will stick in the public memory. And it gets worse.

In his recent blog the leader of Manchester council complains about MPs having ‘nothing better to do’ than put their oar in on council issues, such as the state of the roads or the level of Council tax.

Women MPs are said to be planning to stand down at the next general election in unprecedented high numbers, having endured the sexism of “debate” behaviour in the House of Commons along with feeling irrelevant as MPs – so near government and yet so far from being included.

Until recently, it was the received wisdom that the introduction of Select Committees of MPs was a great step forward, giving MPs a strong scrutinising role across the departments of government, being able to take the time to master their brief. But apart from the Public Accounts Committee, it is hard to see that these scrutiny committees have much improved an aspect of government policy or delivery in recent times. MPs on other committees may bemoan that the PAC gets all the star witnesses, and therefore TV coverage, but good and steady work in the background should still be possible for any select committee worth its salt.

Talking about his book, The Blunders of Government, (2013), Professor Anthony King has commented that reform of the House of Commons is now more important than trying to modernise the House of Lords, and he is right.

I had a recent conversation with a young man from Scotland. Last year I would have said that Scottish Independence was unlikely, the vote maybe 35:65. This year I’m not so sure. What crystallised this change for me was talking to this young man about the feelings of his friends about the bedroom tax (spare room subsidy). It is keenly felt by them, rightly or wrongly, as indicative of a wide gulf between the cultures and economic pressures of the south east of England and of Scotland.

I would like to think that a stronger, reformed House of Commons would have sensed this feeling early on and spoken its truth to power. But instead, MPs themselves say they feel sidelined, left only to issue local press releases on the state of the roads.

In 2014 the independence vote will come after the European elections, which themselves seem set to widen divisions within the parties as well as between them. All this fracturing within the House of Commons will be unedifying and will not help Parliament regain public trust.

Maybe we should vote for Professor King instead.

Disclaimer – personal views only, as ever.

Why not pay everyone £20k a year Universal Income?

I’ve written about this previously, as I think it is far better economics and social policy than complex bureaucratic welfare benefits such as Universal Credit. I particularly think it is a good policy for mental health reasons – if someone needs a break to paint pictures of butterflies in a shed for a few months, why not?

Essentially the Universal Income is your tax allowance, but guaranteed. Anything else you earn gets taxed, again a simpler system than now. It can also be set to sort out a Living Wage.

Ireland looked at it seriously around six years’ ago, and now Switzerland is considering it too.

I would tweak the £20k for the extra costs faced by disabled people, and the ‘old’ Disability Living Allowance is tried and tested, paid to people regardless of being in work or not working.

Countries could set different levels to adjust for cost of living or purchasing parity, so the reasons for moving to country X would not be financially driven.

Link –

timharford.com/2013/11/a-universal-income-is-not-such-a-silly-idea

It is good to see energy-efficient LED street lights being used widely in Los Angeles and now New York.

Perhaps the first LED street light in Manchester, 84 watt, was on show by CCI in the CUBE Gallery on Portland Street, even if it was indoors!

New York:

http://singularityhub.com/2013/11/10/new-york-city-to-replace-250000-street-lights-with-leds-by-2017/

Manchester:

http://www.ccinw.com/uploads/documents/nwckh/north_west_construction_knowledge_hub__final_evaluation_2012.pdf (page 20)

In the twenty first century, at the completion of one ERDF project I managed we archived over 80 lever-arch files in 23 large boxes. The boxes were placed on metal shelves in a storage room for the next twenty years or more. We had to book a lorry to move them. It really was like the closing scene from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Only, apparently the director used special effects to save money.

In the 1970s I studied computers for my first degree and we used what was called a mini computer which lined a wall. We needed a false floor for all the cable connections and ventilation to remove the heat. It had a name, the PDP-8.

Today, anyone’s smart phone has more capacity and memory than did our dear old mini computer.

But also today, we still archive boxes of paper for ERDF projects in a way that is only slightly more modern than the Dead Sea Scrolls. Or rather, the public sector does.

In the private sector, especially in larger firms, ECM (enterprise content management) is key to business efficiency. When you phone the company, all your records are on screen. Your company is invoiced electronically, which is accepted by the tax authorities. The handwritten coupons have been optically scanned into computer files, thousands at a time. The recruitment agency scans paper and electronic CVs with software which automatically recognises phone numbers, address, job titles, names of previous employers. Untouched by human hand. Deliveries are tracked with barcodes, inventories are real-time and warehouses are replaced by just in time ordering.

In the public sector … we have email. And some marketing people are allowed on Twitter. Oh, so modern.

We also, dare I say it, have some officials who seem only to trust an A4 sheet of paper. Not wishing to be unkind, but I sometimes wonder about the conversations they might have with younger family members. "So, you can do updates on a website like Facebook using your phone while on a bus?" "Yes Pops, like, everyone does," and eyes roll.

So, just for the fun of it, you may be interested in a short paper I have written on ERDF and electronic records. Working group to consider in 2032.

Private sector – please click below to download.

Public sector – please send a large, stamped, self-addressed envelope to …

ERDF and Electronic Documents, Discussion Note (Tony Baldwinson, 2013).doc

Background Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_content_management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_preservation

Usual disclaimers

I am currently on contract to DCLG on ERDF Compliance, and nothing in this blog or post represents official policy, just my personal views.

This blog and post are in the interests of general and professional discussion and nothing constitutes particular advice for any project or person.

ERDF and Electronic Documents, Discussion Note (Tony Baldwinson, 2013).doc

Please click the link below to download this book.

ERDF – An Independent Guide, 2nd Edition, 2013, by Tony Baldwinson

This is an updated version of a small guide I wrote in 2012, hoping to be useful to people who are new project managers using the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the UK.

ERDF is probably one of the most demanding funds to be involved with, with levels of penalties and fines not usually experienced within other funding streams, and therefore ERDF is not everyone’s cup of tea.

However, I feel that with care it can be used to good effect, helping communities develop and regenerate even in these austere times. Also, you could say that once you are proficient in managing an ERDF project then there is no other scheme you could not cope with. I’ve tried to be fair without glossing over the difficulties.

I would add that I learn something new about ERDF pretty much every week, sometimes realising that a section of the Guide is no longer current. Plus sometimes there are competing interpretations, where we need to wait a little longer to get a definitive answer. So, all the mistakes are mine but I also welcome feedback and comments.

Above all, I hope you find something in it that is useful.

Disclaimers:

I have worked on contracts to DCLG on ERDF Compliance, and nothing in this blog or post represents official policy, just my personal views.

This blog and post are in the interests of general and professional discussion and nothing constitutes particular advice for any project or person.

ERDF – An Independent Guide, 2nd Edition, 2013, by Tony Baldwinson

First impressions do count.

Looking at the range of activities that the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports, I get a sense that ERDF can be seen by people in two distinct ways. For some people it is seen as a source of finance; but for others it is seen as part of a defined project. The choice made between these two approaches will largely decide the success of the venture, in my view.

The problem with seeing ERDF just as a source of finance is that the wider objectives of the fund, and the attached obligations, can become ignored. A source of finance just asks for receipts or accounts, and maybe also for repayments or dividends. The contract is purely financial.

But ERDF is more than just finance – it is a tool for economic development and therefore it comes with a wider set of conditions. To be fair, these wider obligations are sometimes hard to get a clear sense of when reading the dozen or more pages of standardised legal clauses. The National Handbook is sometimes overlooked as a source of help here.

So for me, the first impression of whether there is a sense of a project will often come from seeing how the files are organised.

Open the cupboard doors and what do you see? If there are shelves of files, numbered and labelled, from publicity to procurement, from consultations to claims, then we know we are cooking on gas.

However, if there are only boxes of receipts, maybe connected to each claim by an old rubber band, then it is time to order the strong coffee and prepare for disappointments.

Hopefully the projects you will work with are in the former category. If not, this checklist is from my ERDF Guidebook, just in case it helps.

PROJECT FILES

General

1. Funding Agreement as signed
2. Changes to the Project, as signed
3. Planned and Actual Progress
4. Organisational Status and Project Structure
5. Contingency Plans
6. Risk Management
7. Insurances, Equality Policies, Health & Safety
8. Agreements with Delivery Partners, as signed
9. Procurement of Contractors, as signed
10. Governance Roles, Records of Meetings
11. Data Protection and Privacy

Finances

12. Financial Procedures as followed
13. Accounting Software, Cost Centres
14. Retrieval of Original Invoices, Receipts
15. Accounting Records, Budget Approval
16. Scheme of Delegation
17. Value Added Tax
18. Claims Compilations – Claim 1 onwards
19. Apportionment – Methods and Data Sheets
20. Matching Funding Details
21. Capital Costs, Valuations, Depreciation
22. Salaries, Staffing Structure, Job Descriptions
23. Timesheets
24. Prior Agreement on Overheads Method, as signed

State Aid

25. Details of System, as used
26. Copies of Letters, Notices, Agreements

Procurement

27. Details of All Procurement Exercises
28. Any Single Tender Action Contracts Awards
29. Any Preferred Supplier Contracts Awarded
30. All Formal Tenders
31. Any Contract Extensions

Publicity

32. Publicity Examples by the Project
33. Publicity Examples by Third Parties

Other Matters

34. Defrayal by the Grant Recipient
35. Defrayal by Named Delivery Partners
36. Document Retention Arrangements
37. Project Assets and Useful Economic Life
38. Project Final Audit, if applicable
39. Records for Cross-Cutting Themes
40. Records for Outputs and Results.

Disclaimers:

At the time of writing I was on contract to DCLG on ERDF Compliance, and nothing in this blog or post represents official policy, just my personal views.

This blog and post are in the interests of general and professional discussion and nothing constitutes particular advice for any project or person.

Art may seem an unusual approach to ERDF project management, but please stick with me here. We find different styles in art, such as Impressionism, Realism, and Minimalism. None of these really covers ERDF though, especially not Minimalism, and ERDF probably needs a whole new style of its own, something like Completeism.

My advice to any new ERDF project manager is, the only thing you should throw away is the waste paper basket. Every scrap of paper is part of the records of the project, to be indexed and kept on file for the next 20 years. It may seem a flippant remark, but the truth is not far from it.

It is in the public domain that a substantial proportion of ERDF audits find issues with procurement, and especially when concerning high-value contracts. My impression is that a decent number of these issues could be resolved if project managers follow the approach of not throwing any records away. Of course, there will be some audit findings where the correctness of the process followed is in question, and not just the records.

Currently, section 12 of Guidance Note (GN): ERDF National Procurement Requirements, ERDF-GN-1-004 covers Record Keeping (page 20). The following seeks to expand on this point with two operational examples, but obviously always refer to current guidance.

For what it is worth, I would suggest that the following file structure, or something similar, may be a useful checklist for project managers on the completeness of the records required for high-value procurements. Remember that these records will be Commercially Confidential, so secure storage and Non-Disclosure Agreements will be required. For details on OJEU thresholds please see www.ojec.com/Thresholds.aspx

1. Explanation of procurement procedure selected with a justification
2. Copy of OJEU Tender Notice with its reference number, or the relevant advertisement and OJEU Prior Information Notice (PIN) if applicable
3. Blank PQQ including the Selection Criteria
4. List of EOIs received and PQQs issued, or reasons why declined
5. List of all completed PQQs received (time and date, signed), with copies of all the PQQs as received
6. Copy of the PQQ completed score sheets, dated and signed by two people, including records of any moderation process
7. Blank ITT form including the Award Criteria
8. Copies of feedback letters with PQQ scores, and ITTs where successful
9. List of all ITTs issued and received (time and date, signed), with copies of all the ITTs as received
10. Copies of correspondence, including interview questions where used
11. Copy of the ITT completed score sheets, dated and signed by two people, including any moderation process
12. Copy of report on evaluation of ITTs
13. Copies of letters to unsuccessful tenderers giving a standstill period (“Alcatel”)
14. Copy of award letter, and the signed contract if used
15. Copy of OJEU award notice with its reference number
16. Copy of notes from any inception meeting
17. Summary Timeline and archive details to assist future monitoring and audits.

For procurement values below-OJEU thresholds, such as: Free-Standing Call, or a Mini-Competition within a Framework; consider:

1. Explanation of procurement procedure selected with justification
2. Copy of contract advertisement (eg ContractsFinder if <£20k, otherwise eg myTenders to cover all Member States, and a 10+ days deadline), or copies of a mini-competition call to approved suppliers within an appropriate Framework
3. List of EOIs and quotes received (<£20k) or tenders issued (>£20k),
4. List of all completed quotes or tenders received (time and date, signed)
5. Copies of correspondence, including interview questions where used
6. Copy of quote or tender score sheets, dated and signed by two people
7. Copy of report on evaluation of responses
8. Copies of letters to unsuccessful applicants giving an appropriate standstill period (if appropriate)
9. Copy of award letter, and the signed contract, purchase order form, etc
10. Copy of notes from inception meeting, if any
11. Summary Timeline and archive details to assist future monitoring and audits.

Key: OJEU – Official Journal of the European Union; PQQ – Pre-Qualification Questionnaire; EOI – Expressions of Interest; ITT – Invitation to Tender.

Disclaimers:

I am at times on contract to DCLG on ERDF Compliance, and nothing in this blog or post represents official policy, just my personal views.
This blog and post are in the interests of general and professional discussion and nothing constitutes particular advice for any project or person.

Social mobility has stopped in its tracks, and most fair-minded people connect increases in inequality with decreases in social mobility. A report due to be given to Parliament this Thursday is said to warn that today’s children will be a generation that fares worse than their parents. There is a perfect storm of graduate debt, unemployment, and unaffordable housing. Once again, you will need rich parents to give you a good start in life.

One of the best starts in life is a good education.

It may seem a cliche that my generation was often the first to go to university. But for me it was true, and it was keenly felt by my parents and grandparents.

My mother’s father was one of eleven children. In the early 1910s he was offered a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School but his family were too poor to accept it. He left school at 13. In the 1930s he was unemployed and he had the offer of work as a trainee signalman at Preston, and apparently he loved the railways, but the offer was withdrawn by the employers because of the General Strike. When my mother was two years old he and the family moved from Lancashire to Essex to find various jobs, eventually as a baker.

My mother’s mother returned to her work in 1932 on four looms in a cotton mill ten days after giving birth to my mother. Her life was the church and as a volunteer in the Red Cross, long before the NHS.

My mother, a reporter for a local paper in Essex, was offered a trainee job on Fleet Street in the mid 1950s but the family could not afford to support both her and her older sister’s teacher training course.

My father’s father was a steel engineer who tested the quality of welds. He died young of throat cancer after someone stole the lead casing of the radioactive source used to X-ray welds. He had to drive it unprotected back to a factory and died shortly afterwards. Another relative in my father’s family died at sea on a trawler when the net’s ropes swung across, cutting into him like scissors against the side of the ship.

My father’s mother survived well, becoming active in the then Liberal Party in Newcastle and writing conference motions well into the 1980s, of which the one on cruise missiles ‘not on our soil’ was her proudest.

Neither of my parents and none of my grandparents went to university, and some barely had a school education. Libraries probably taught them more than schools.

To say they were pleased to see me get a place at university really doesn’t begin to explain how they felt. I had a grant. I could claim social security benefits during the Christmas and Easter breaks. I could find good jobs in the Summer break. But only up to 1980 when unemployment rose again and I had to pursue my interests as a volunteer on benefits for some years until a job came along.

So, when I read well-fed right-wing commentators and politicians decrying the 1960s and the 1970s I know what they are really scared of – my family being given a proper education, and frankly of people like us having a chance at getting their better-paid and comfortable jobs.

Link:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/12/middle-class-young-people-future-worse-parents

This blog post asks whether there is a win-win in ERDF projects using “fresh eyes” to save money by avoiding penalties. Previously these QA checks were done mostly in-house, but in the current jobs climate they may need to be re-invented.

Declaration: I am currently contracted to DCLG, and all comments here are strictly my personal thoughts only.

It is in the public domain that all types of EU budgets, including ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), have a target rate for financial irregularities set for them that is ideally below 2% and certainly expected to be below 5%. Also publicised is that there are three types of mistake, each with increasing consequences, and these are: errors, corrections, and irregularities.

An error can be remedied without penalty, but needs to be done by the project and early on in the process of claiming funds.

A correction is where time has run out to remedy a mistake as an error, or it is systemic, so there is a financial cost to the project.

An irregularity is the most severe form of mistake, usually found at audit rather than by the project, and this incurs the largest penalties, up to 100%.

People familiar with ERDF, and especially those people who keep up with the details, will know that the processes for claiming funds have recently become more involved. There is now a new 10% check of all the supporting documents. These new checks are mostly in the hope of changing the culture (where necessary) within projects so that mistakes are picked up at an early stage (as errors) before they can become irregularities.

However, some project cultures do not perceive this new 10% check as an opportunity to QA (quality assure) the other 90% of their claims, but rather as an additional item of bureaucracy. To some extent, again in my personal opinion, this is reinforced by public sector organisations generally having a depleted back-office capacity.

But in fairness it also has to be said that some organisational cultures have considered themselves, speaking bluntly, as somehow above and immune from the grubby details, even when they had more staff than now.

Now, while we are being fair, ERDF is not the easiest fund to access that the world has ever devised, and no-one in ERDF is in a position to claim perfection, whether we are in Brussels, London or Lower Pudlington on the Marsh. But if perfection isn’t possible, nevertheless substantial improvements certainly are possible and necessary.

I have recently started writing some fiction, just out of interest as both my parents were writers, and my first book is around 80,000 words. And no, this isn’t a joke about bidding… One lesson I have come across for new writers from experienced people such as senior publishers, and it is given time and again, is to always have a Copy Editor review your work. Even the best authors have them, and need them. Much lower down the food chain, I found a glass of orange juice of mine had turned into a cup of coffee on the next page. There are bound to be more mistakes like this which I just cannot see. Missing commas. Repeated phases repeatedly.

Copy editing is also an art form in diplomacy, how to nicely let someone know their mistakes, which is mostly saying that, actually, everyone makes them.

So, at the level of each project we have a choice. We can either (a) moan and complain about EU funding and its lower level of tolerance for mistakes than we find in UK funds, or (b) we can take up arms and rebuild into the processes of many projects a respectful, professional, knowledgable QA role.

Clearly I favour the latter, and the scope should start with current and recent claims, then moving on to prepare all the project files in readiness for any full audit. Perhaps if I was more selfish I might instead favour the former – sit back and complain – creating more work for auditors!

Manchester City Council is consulting on various ideas for the regeneration of the neighbourhood around Manchester Piccadilly rail station. Two large documents can be downloaded at www.manchester.gov.uk/hs2piccadillyconsultation and responses are asked for by 8 November 2013.

In the previous post I looked at the Mayfield area to the south side and its Strategic Regeneration Framework. In this post I cover the HS2 proposals to the north side of the station.

So now, to the HS2 proposals.

Overall the 76 page of options and proposals gives a very thorough and thoughtful coverage of the key issues. The HS2 addition of four new platforms to the existing rail station is handled well. A key challenge is that international high-speed trains have a standard length of 400m, a quarter of a mile long, whereas the longest platform at the station currently is ‘only’ around 240m long. This extra length is mainly resolved by bringing the four new platforms much closer to London Road, demolishing Gateway House in the process.

I hesitate to add a ‘however’ in the current febrile political climate regarding HS2. Like any long-term area regeneration programme it is essential to obtain a cross-party consensus, and HS2 is a regeneration programme with 20 years ahead of it. But we cannot allow the ‘antis’ to close down debate and discussion, though of course we must be careful not to feed their machine.

So, in strong support of HS2, I would emphasise two design points which I feel need further attention.

Firstly, HS2 track will carry national and international trains. Absolute care must be taken to comply 100% with UK Border policy requirements, which requires total border control at the station, not later on the train. Therefore, the proposals for an open flow between the existing platforms and the new HS2 platforms, however desirable, is substantially forbidden. One of the reasons that the Regional Eurostar service failed in the 1990s, even though millions of pounds had been invested, is that wrong assumptions were made at a very high level in the project team about on-train border control being possible, when it was never going to be allowed. I have some more details if needed.

The pattern of service, particularly in the early years, may well be one where departures to London are mostly during the day, and international departures via the Channel Tunnel are mostly at the ‘shoulder’ times of early morning and late evening. It may be that one or two of the four HS2 platforms become placed behind a secure glass wall (as at St Pancras) but this should be integral to the design. Segregated passenger handling will also be required, with police and HMRC as well as UK Border Agency facilities.

Secondly, the proposed design for the new HS2 platforms has them placed on a raised level with an undercroft to allow for permeability and active frontages. One design option is to enlarge and relocate the existing Metrolink stop into this new undercroft. This undercroft should be built carefully in order for clear paths for another four HS2 platforms to be easily added at a future date below the first four on the raised level, with interim uses meantime. To avoid extra cost and disruption the Metrolink stop should be enhanced underneath the main station, basically staying roughly where it is now. Active frontages can be maintained, but clearly there are implications for permeability, and design solutions for this would be welcome now.

It is important to future-proof transport infrastructure as much as possible. When the M25 was built it was politically necessary to build it as three lanes wide in each direction. But the engineers built the bridges across the new M25 wider than strictly necessary, enough to span four lanes and a hard shoulder in each direction, saving on costs and disruption when the inevitable widening happened a few years later. The same for HS2 here would be sensible.