Blogger £300k fund to "shut him up" does not exist!

Blogger £300k fund to "shut him up" 

does not exist!

In the blog "In the Public Domain" dated 6th December written by "Jules Saunders" aka the Sandwell Skidder of Kings Norton Birmingham, Sandwell Council was supposedly "exposed" in to having a "fund" in order to "silence" him.

We can exclusively reveal that there is NO fund to "silence" the so called "Sandwell Skidder"! 

Yes, after checking out the infamous "What Do They Know" website to check out "Jules" favourite method of investigation costing the taxpayer a whopping £450 per time (and there are now over 200 of these requests so yes, do the math as to how much he has cost Sandwell Tax Payers not mentioning the £18k for the recent failed tribunal case "Jules" took out against the council that Sandwell tax payers had to yet again fork out) we found the following information which doesn't tally with "Jules" version on his blog.

Lets have a look shall we!

Communication from David Stevens, Chief Executive of Sandwell Council

In the FOI (Freedom of Information Request) sent to SMBC (or Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council) "Jules states:

Yet "Jules" does not include this information in any of his blogs regarding this. So, we've made a FOI (Freedom of Information) request to SMBC to get a copy of this communication to establish what exactly was confirmed or not. We will update you when we have a response.

We will put below the actual FOI request made by "Jules" on 17 July 2020 along with the SMBC response for ease of reading (for clarity, we will leave the spelling mistakes in there by "Jules" to prove authenticity):

1 When was the fund set up?

SMBC: There was no specific account set up. The Council's s151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Resources made financial provision in the budget of £300k to potentially pursue litigation and resource was provided in the financial reserve.

See the line "There was no specific account set up" and "potentially pursue litigation" - this does not state that this "fund" was to be used to allegedly shut down the erroneous writings of "Jules" but states that a budget was there to potentially pursue litigation for anything!  At the time, the S151 Officer was the Chief Executive and the Cabinet Member for Resources is Councillor Wasim Ali. If this is not the case, then we will be happy to have notification sent to us in order for the correct information to be shown. 😀

2 How was the fund set up?

SMBC: Please see above

3 Please dislcose ALL documentation relating to the setting-up and operation of the fund (if any attempt is made to claim legal privilege please be absolutely specific as to which documents are claimed to be privileged and why. (I would respectfully remind you noting recent Tribunal cases that just because some members of staff dealing with matters may be solicitors this does not necessarily mean that particluar documents are then "privileged".) This includes all emails, attendance notes, reports and documents of whatsoever nature prepared in respect of this project.

SMBC: In relation to 'documentation relating to the setting up and operation of the fund' the Council does hold this information, specifically the exemption reports, which were authorised by the Council's s151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Resources at that time. The Council relies upon Litigation Privilege under s42 Freedom of Information Act 2000 in order to withhold the reports, as they are confidential communications made for the purpose

of providing or obtaining legal advice about proposed or contemplated litigation. In relation to the second part of your request for 'all emails, attendance notes, reports and documents of whatsoever nature prepared in respect of this project' the Council confirms that it does hold this information but relies upon Litigation Privilege under s42 Freedom of Information Act 2000 in order to withhold the information, on the basis that they as they are confidential communications made for the purpose of providing or obtaining legal advice about proposed or contemplated litigation. 

Again, there is only a fund for SMBC to hold monies in reserves for any litigation they may be involved in. Nothing here mentioned about "Jules"!

4 Please disclose the identity of all elected members and employees involved in the decision to set up the fund? As I cannot find it please disclose where this fund was publicly reported in the Council's budgets, accounts or meeting minutes.

SMBC: Please see above response to 1 

And again - same answer "no specific fund"!

5 Please state the sum allotted to the fund and which department budget was to meet the cost?

SMBC: Please see 1 above

And again - same answer "no specific fund"!

6 Was the name "Time to Stop" applied to this project?

SMBC: No

7 Please disclose all external fee notes ie to investigators, other solicitors, counsel and others in respect of this project or, if cheaper, present a schedule in respect of same (to include the full identity of recipients.)

SMBC: This information is exempt and fee notes will not be provided. Please see below schedule of external payments in relation to this matter: External QC £10, 882 + VAT. External Counsel £5, 852 + VAT. Bevan Brittan Solicitors £15, 857 + VAT. Howard Kennedy Solicitors £13,756 + VAT. External Counsel £3646.50 + VAT. Counsel's names are not provided as they constitute personal data and are exempt from disclosure under s40(2) FOIA. 

8 Is the fund still in existence? If not, when was it wound up? Was there any budgetry reconciliation in respect of the winding-up of the fund.

SMBC: The reserve is available in 2020/21 but its future availability will need to be reviewed once the council's overall financial position is known at the end of the financial year. We hope our response fully satisfies your expectations. 

There you have it. No fund to "shut him up" as "Jules" puts it actually exists! Not a jot. 

Now, "Jules" has put in an "internal review" in other words, he's asked for more information than in the original request and that is still to be answered. We will keep you informed! 

In another astonishing blog by "Jules" dated 31st March 2021 (bearing in mind the original request is still to be completed) he goes on to state that this "fund" was created in November 2018 but does not show any documentation to prove this. 

We obviously wouldn't want the Times or Shaun Bailey MP who have both publicly raised this "issue" to be embarrassed by them not doing their homework however, as always there are two sides to a story and sometimes "Jules" does tend to go foggy around the edges.

We'll update you with further information when we have it. 

Reminder - It is time that "Jules" is called out for the abusive troll that he is and at no point can his "blog" be classed as "Journalism". This is just a manifestation of his wild and frankly disturbing ramblings because his wife was made redundant from Sandwell Council over her inability to run The Public and make it financially sound. 

The Sandwell Newshound.
Sniffing out Shit since 2014

E-mail us at Sandwellnewshound2014@gmail.com

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