City of York Council's £65k swine flu bill (From York Press)
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City of York Council's £65k swine flu bill
8:36am Monday 15th February 2010 in
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- By Mark Stead » mark.stead@thepress.co.uk
COMBATING the threat of swine flu has left council bosses in York facing an unexpected £65,000 bill.
City of York Council says the cost of buying tissues, sanitising wipes and gel to ensure the pandemic did not spread among its workforce means one of its cleaning budgets is set for a five-figure overspend.
The figures have been revealed in a report which will go before the authority’s executive member for neighbourhood services, Coun Ann Reid, tomorrow.
It also shows the directorate is expected to spill over its overall budget by £359,000 at the end of the current financial year, despite £200,000 of savings having been made.
A reduction in income from the department’s bereavement services section and maintenance costs have also created a likely £51,000 overspend, while a High Court ruling that the council’s noise abatement order issued on the owners of Elvington Airfield was invalid has meant a final legal bill of £28,000.
A council spokeswoman said: “The £65,000 costs for swine flu prevention were incurred by buying sanitising wipes and gel and tissues for staff at all council locations across the city.
“Free resources from the Health Protection Agency for publicity and information were used to minimise costs.”
The report said the cleaning bill cauused by the swine flu outbreak had been partially eased by spending controls of £7,000 on other materials.
NHS North Yorkshire and York said both City of York and North Yorkshire County Councils were involved in seasonal and swine flu planning meetings since last autumn to gain advice on how to protect their staff.
Dr Peter Brambleby, the organisation’s director of public health, said: “One of the most effective measures is for organisations to promote good hygiene practices, such as regular hand washing and catching and binning used tissues.”
The city council spokeswoman also confirmed the final Elvington Airfield legal bill was lowered after the authority challenged the original £68,000 costs.
Comments(13)
Older Sometimes Wiser
says...
11:39am Mon 15 Feb 10
Wipes , tissues and gel are all essentially low cost products particularly when purchased in bulk.
Was any money spent on publicity, as without it few people use the products anyway.
One only has to watch visitors to the Hospital to see how few use the gel.
pedalling paul
says...
11:48am Mon 15 Feb 10
bloodaxe
says...
11:55am Mon 15 Feb 10
oldgoat
says...
12:28pm Mon 15 Feb 10
sun seeker's wrote:You'll probably find that this was a Freedom of Information query or someone reading the committee agenda.
Won't every council in the country have a "bill" for the control of swine flu? Why do CoYC have to make a song and dance about it?
Lamplighter
says...
1:41pm Mon 15 Feb 10
Bishlad
says...
1:49pm Mon 15 Feb 10
bloodaxe wrote:Spot on bloodaxe, common sense not something many contributers to this site have in abundence, rather the reverse.
I seem to remember something akin to panic at the thought of a swine flu epidemic. If the Government/NHS/local authorities had done nothing I should think that the very people who are on their high-horses over this isssue would have been exactly the same on the lack of care exercised by the authorities.
Phantom1974
says...
3:01pm Mon 15 Feb 10
Kiff
says...
3:53pm Mon 15 Feb 10
Just agree with the Council and the Lib Dems and nobody will censor you.
bloodaxe
says...
6:16pm Mon 15 Feb 10
Phantom1974 wrote:Oh come on. Nobody knew that it was going to be as mild as it subsequently evolved. It's too easy to attempt to score points with the benefit of hindsight I seem to remember that it was medical opinion world-wide which initiated the counter measures, not York city Council.
I thought Swine Flu was like the Farepack Tragedy where it affected almost no-one yet people were forced to listen to rubbish about it in the media every single day until finally people started believing it. Which includes the bright sparks at the Council by the looks of it!
Rhino's Wellies
says...
10:15pm Mon 15 Feb 10
Kiff wrote:If my original post had been slanderous then I would have understood. I'm just sick and tired of this council wasting my money and said so. Possibly one of the council leaders that I mentioned didn't like it, but they'll hear the same when it's time to vote them out
Rhino's Wellies, it's because if they only publish comments from people with "right" politics then they don't look so biased.
Just agree with the Council and the Lib Dems and nobody will censor you.
fatima blush
says...
7:37am Tue 16 Feb 10
Rhino's Wellies wrote:Rhino,
Kiff wrote: Rhino's Wellies, it's because if they only publish comments from people with "right" politics then they don't look so biased. Just agree with the Council and the Lib Dems and nobody will censor you.If my original post had been slanderous then I would have understood. I'm just sick and tired of this council wasting my money and said so. Possibly one of the council leaders that I mentioned didn't like it, but they'll hear the same when it's time to vote them out
Must admit am quite looking forward to Reid and co coming to knock on the door. The air might just get a bit blue when that happens.
Kiff
says...
9:24am Tue 16 Feb 10
Rhino's Wellies wrote:I read it - You said nothing derogatory. However, the Press want to back the Ruling Lib Dem Council and remove comments that are not favourable to give the impression that we, the public, also back them. We do not.
Kiff wrote:If my original post had been slanderous then I would have understood. I'm just sick and tired of this council wasting my money and said so. Possibly one of the council leaders that I mentioned didn't like it, but they'll hear the same when it's time to vote them out
Rhino's Wellies, it's because if they only publish comments from people with "right" politics then they don't look so biased.
Just agree with the Council and the Lib Dems and nobody will censor you.
.
Today they published a story about A Lib Dem Councillor who was alleged to have broken authority’s code of conduct - But we are not allowed to comment. And it's not like it the first time that's happened.
.
It'll be interesting to see which political party they favour after the local election next year - the Lib Dems will not be power on the counci .
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sun seeker's says...
11:39am Mon 15 Feb 10