Hartlepool chief admits 'we could have done better' in rush to get Covid-19 food package service up and running

It came after Hartlepool Borough Council Finance and Policy Committee reviewed decision records made during the early period of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Reports stated the council spent around £61,000 with Hartlepool-based company Chilli Cake to provide food packages to be distributed by the Hartlepool Support Hub to vulnerable families, couples and individuals in the town.

Council leader Coun Shane Moore noted it was a ‘difficult, fast-moving environment’ when decisions were made and with hindsight they ‘probably’ could have done some things better.

Coun Christopher Akers-Belcher questioned why the provision could not have been provided by schools in the area or by the voluntary sector.

He said: “This council has always prided itself on working with the voluntary and community sector and keeping things locally, and where has that moral compass fallen where we now work with a private organisation.

“When we had our own schools that were providing school meals and we have a vibrant voluntary and community sector, why didn’t our schools have the opportunity to be involved and provide?

“I would rather see £61,000 go to our schools and the voluntary and community sector than to a private organisation.”

He also reiterated there was a ‘demoractic deficit’ by not consulting councillors on the committee by phone or emailing them to help guide the response.

Deputy council leader Coun Mike Young questioned how many businesses and voluntary services were invited to bid to carry out the work and why the selected model was chosen.

He also called for a report to come back to the committee featuring a list of organisations approached and details including why they were not selected.

Initially £38,400 was spent by the council in April to provide food packages for the vulnerable for four weeks, before a further £23,040 was spent in June to extend the packages for four weeks.

Coun Leisa Smith noted the council had previously had discussions about using schools to provide food as part of the ‘Holiday Hunger’ scheme.

She said “The schools were open, they were feeding the children in the class, why wasn’t that explored and why didn’t we go and keep that in house?

“It’s not money wasted because the people who received them were grateful for what they received, but we could have done a better job, and it could have cost a lot less.”

‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing’

Council leader Coun Shane Moore admitted the council could have perhaps done better, but the decisions had to be made quickly and in difficult circumstances.

He said: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I completely appreciate the frustration and the questions and concerns that members have.

“Thinking back to the time when a lot of these decisions were being made, everything was up in the air, suppliers were struggling in certain places, we were having to make decisions very fast.

“We have learnt lessons and we have gone down a different model now, but similarly decisions aren’t needing to be made at such a speed as they were in the beginning.

“It was a difficult fast moving environment, could we have done better, probably.”

Jill Harrison, council director of adult and community based services, noted decisions were taken at the time when supermarkets faced long queues and certain items were not available.

She added other local authorities such as Middlesbrough carried out a similar model and the council had looked around to find the best provider.

Coun Paddy Brown said: “I think throughout this very strange period Hartlepool Borough Council, and in particular officers, have done a really large amount of hard and good work.

“I notice they’ve come under criticism a little bit for getting some of the food distribution wrong and it is very difficult when you’re doing so many things.

“I also respect the answer of honesty, of okay you got that a bit wrong…but as long as we learn from that for if we have another spike.”

Government has provided two tranches of funding to date for local authorities to help deal with the impact of Covid-19, with Hartlepool receiving a total of just under £6million.

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