16 April (Part 3) - Too generous by far
I am told I was far too generous in putting forward the theory that Bexley
cabinet members didn’t claim for subsistence when they went off on a
pre-Christmas jolly to the Flackley Ash Hotel in Rye. I didn’t think I was all
that generous as it would mean that councillors consider it normally OK to have
everything paid for them by you and me and then claim ninety pounds a night on
top. But it was the only theory I could come up with which fitted the available
facts that an invoice came in for £2,585, the council paid it (see above) and
the Payments Manager said that it really cost £900 less than that.
Clearly something doesn’t add up but mine was a relatively simple explanation.
It seems it may have been wrong. While researching another matter I came across this. It comes from the papers which
led to former council leader Ian Clement’s fall from grace and ultimate conviction.
It
clearly states that councillors can’t claim subsistence when everything
has already been paid by the council. So maybe the cabinet’s claim to
have saved tax payers’ money by paying for themselves (which I interpreted
as not claiming subsistence) is a bigger deception
than I suspected. Or it could be that the Payments Manager’s email is not all
that it seems, or that the payments listed on the council website are not true
either. Actually that is not entirely unthinkable. A friendly accountant has
sent me an explanation as to why they are unreliable at least. When I have got
my head around the jargon I may be able to share the information here.
I reproduce below the Payments Manager’s email to help convince readers
further that the Bonkers Team does not go around making things up.
The payment was for an annual two-day strategy session attended by the
Council’s Cabinet, Management Board and two senior managers. The meeting took
place from Friday lunchtime, involved working on Friday evening and on Saturday
morning until lunchtime.
The cost covered all conference facilities, food and accommodation.
Cabinet members decided in advance of the meeting that they would meet the full
cost of their food and accommodation, which reduced the actual cost to the
Council to £1,685.92 for the 19 people who attended.
No overtime or additional hours payments were made to any of the managers who
took part.
Regards
Miss Bel Temel
Payments Manager
It wasn’t really a two day session. It ran from mid-day Friday until
mid-day Saturday.
It probably needs an FOI request or two to sort this one out properly.