Risk transfer
I am all for the use of the private sector in delivering Comhairle services, where there is a real transfer of risk to the private sector, as it give the public sector a degree of certainty about the future commitments.
It is also A Good Thing to ensure clarity and openness in the presentation of information to the public. I was therefore delighted to see the following statement on the Comhairle's website:
Great care has been taken in the creation of this website and attempts made to present and maintain accurate and up-to-date information, however inaccuracies may occasionally occur.To err is human, to forgive divine. And none of us are perfect.
I am also fully supportive of risk mitigation, but I do understand that such a transfer usually requires both parties to agree, so the next sentence seems to imply that some kind of deal has been done:
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within its website pages. If you discover any information on our pages that you believe to be inaccurate or inappropriate, please notify the Webmaster.
So either the service has been contracted out to the West Bromwich, or there has been some plagarism happening. I favour the later, given the 'mailto' links are to the Webmaster at Sandwell.
Perhaps this is why planning applications seem to take so long......
It is also A Good Thing to ensure clarity and openness in the presentation of information to the public. I was therefore delighted to see the following statement on the Comhairle's website:
Great care has been taken in the creation of this website and attempts made to present and maintain accurate and up-to-date information, however inaccuracies may occasionally occur.To err is human, to forgive divine. And none of us are perfect.
I am also fully supportive of risk mitigation, but I do understand that such a transfer usually requires both parties to agree, so the next sentence seems to imply that some kind of deal has been done:
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within its website pages. If you discover any information on our pages that you believe to be inaccurate or inappropriate, please notify the Webmaster.
So either the service has been contracted out to the West Bromwich, or there has been some plagarism happening. I favour the later, given the 'mailto' links are to the Webmaster at Sandwell.
Perhaps this is why planning applications seem to take so long......
2 comments:
There is another option, which is most likely. The Comhairle have bought an off-the-shelf package, in part or whole. The package developers, who had already sold a copy to Sandwell, have been a tad sloppy in ensuring that the Comhairle version has the correct text. This one may not be the Comhairles fault (though they should at least give the pages and text a once-over read before launch).
If you look at the bottom of the page you will see that the website is 'powered by' IDOX who are 'an information management software and services provider'. It is likely that the Comhairle have simply paid this company to run the website and it is THEY who have been sloppy in using the (goodly amount of) Western Isles taxpayers money they have been paid. I doubt that their services come cheap. All the Comhairle are guilty of is not bothering to check up on those that they pay money to - but then how many Councils, Health Services etc. ever do that?
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