A question was asked from the floor at last Thursday’s council meeting:
“When will ip&e be holding its annual general meeting?”
The response from Steve Charmley, the conservative portfolio holder for ip&e, was that an AGM will be held, but he did not give a date.
This typifies the ip&e operation. Although the company is wholly owned by Shropshire Council, ip&e is an opaque organisation. Its website says almost nothing. By transferring operations to ip&e, it is moving operations away from democratic scrutiny. I am not happy with that.
Now Shropshire Council is consulting on moving its health prevention services to ip&e.
It is proposed that a new subsidiary of ip&e, Help2Change will bring together services such as NHS Health Checks, Help2Quit, and Help2Slim. It will be a non-profit distributing subsidiary of ip&e, which means that any profit made is reinvested directly into public health.
Shropshire Council is seeking your views on this move. The consultation closes on 15 August.