Quangoland

Soundtrack to success

The new hold music when you call up the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) is one of the same pieces of classical music featured on The Apprentice.

If you weren’t aware, EMDA is being wound-down by the Government over the next couple of years, to be replaced with vague-sounding Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Many of the staff at EMDA will be made redundant during this time.

Perhaps a touch unwise, then, to use the music from a TV programme with the catchphrase “You’re Fired!”

Did cabinet make the right decision on Phoenix bailout?

Was the bailout of the Phoenix the right thing to do?

Because around £7 million has already been ploughed into the centre by the authority so far, to let it fail for the sake of a fraction of that figure wouldn’t appear to make sense. Senior figures at the Phoenix and council must now make sure that the overhaul of the centre puts it on a firm financial footing for the future. A second bailout would be hard to stomach, and I’ve had word from several cabinet members that they would oppose any attempt by Phoenix to come to the council cap in hand for a second time.

However you could speculate whether – in the long run – refusing the cash would have saved the council money in the long run.

Let me explain.

I was talking to a colleague in the newsroom, and I said that if I was put in charge of any project linked to the council I would know deep down that I could run it beyond its means, confident that if it ran into trouble there was a council safety net to rescue those involved.

Taking a stand and refusing cash to Phoenix Square would have been a major decision, but it would have served as a warning to board members elsewhere for decades to come that the taxpayer purse wouldn’t always be opened by the council to prop up a struggling enterprise.

Just a thought.

Where did it all go wrong?

As you’re no doubt well aware, Phoenix Square is in financial crisis. Without a £250,000 bail out from the city council today it is likely to go bust.

One thing that I find particularly interesting is the make-up of the board. It is easy to make the assumption that those in charge are likely to be the usual faces on the merry-go-round of local boards, committees and panels. But you’d be wrong.

At first glance, it’s pretty impressive. It includes Microsoft’s lead UK technology adviser, the founder of the UK Youth Parliament, two professors and a handful of film and culture enthusiasts.

But you can have all the experts you can find in charge of the Phoenix, but when they still haven’t figured out that it’s worth putting a cinema sign above the door for the cinema, for example, you can see why question marks bubble up over their judgement.

What does the East Midlands Regional Assembly do?

According to their website:

“It  provides the strategic focus for integrating the development and delivery of regional strategy and partnership working under the overarching framework of the Integrated Regional Strategy.”

An early entrant for my inaugural public sector gobbledygook award…