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Taming Guerrillas Could Save Cambridge City Council Money
There are currently patches of bare soil outside the shops in Akeman Street, Arbury. At the North Area Committee on the 12th of November 2009 Cambridge City Councillors agreed to spend an incredible £4,750 on replacing plants on a tiny plot of land in-front of the shops on Akeman Street. Councillors were told that plants […]
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Protest Against Increasing University Top-Up Fees
On Thursday the 26th of November students from all Cambridge’s universities are holding a protest against the levels of debt many students get in during their courses as a result of high, and increasing, tuition fees. The protest is to involve a walk through the city centre starting in East Road at midday and is […]
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Performance of NHS Cambridgeshire’s Exceptional Cases Panel
I have been looking into the performance of Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust’s “Exceptional Cases Panel”. The panel is tasked with deciding if public money ought be spent on a treatment which is not covered by existing NHS contracts and policies. The kind of requests which the panel deals with include high cost treatments for rare […]
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Research Funded by the UK Taxpayer Should be Published in Open Access Journals
Results published on the 9th of September 2009 from the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS), by the Medical Research Council in Cambridge are not openly available. The UK public fund a large amount of scientific research, both though the research councils and via scientific work conducted by public bodies. Many results of publicly funded research […]
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Suggestions to Save Public Money – Cut Obsolete Newspaper Adverts
Cambridge City Council’s £2,000 for a short stretch of double yellow lines on St. Margaret’s Square makes a small contribution to the over £20,000,000 annual national cost of publishing highways notices in newspapers. Using the Freedom of Information website WhatDoTheyKnow.com I asked my local Highways Authority (Cambridgeshire County Council) and the Highways Agency how much […]
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Cambridge City Council’s Spending on Trees and Open Spaces
A cow enjoys munching on a tree at Midsummer Common in Cambridge. During the open period under the Audit Commission Act 1998 I visited the accounts department of Cambridge City Council to inspect the council’s accounts (I had written them first to let them know I was coming). Having written about this on my website […]
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Looking At Some of The Detail in Cambridge City Council’s Accounts
Geoff Jones and I Visited Cambridge City Council’s Finance Offices to Look Through the Council’s Accounts. For twenty working days a year the Audit Commission Act 1998 allows people to go into local councils and inspect their accounts, including all documents such as invoices and contracts from which those accounts derive. Cambridge City Council’s open […]
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Cambridge City Council’s 2008/9 Accounts, Receipts, Invoices and Contracts Opened to the Public
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Commenting on Government Plans to Regulate Banks and Reign in Personal Debt
In white paper to be published next week the UK Government is reportedly going to announce new plans to regulate the banking sector. A key feature will be increasing the amount of capital banks are required to hold, in particular the minimum amount of liquid capital banks are required to hold will be increased. From […]
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Highlights from an Audit Meeting: Cambridge City Council Pays its Chief Executive £120,000 and is Still Collecting Poll Tax from Four People
Cambridge City Council’s Chief Executive was paid at least £120,000 in 2008/9. Cambridge City Council’s Civic Affairs Committee met on the 24th of June 2009. The committee is the council’s audit committee, they were reviewing the council’s accounts and audit reports. Often at a council meeting one word will be picked on and over-used by […]