18 April (Part 1) - Funny money
The list of things costing more than £500 which Bexley council has to publish
because Mr. Pickles says so is a rich source of amusement, amazement and mystery.
It shows we are still bunging the Thames Innovation Centre eighteen thousand most months to do things
that could be done within the Civic Centre but at least this way the TIC may show a
profit. The company that has the leisure centre contract (Boxwood Leisure Ltd.)
runs off with best part of a quarter of a million every month and for some
unknown reason a Maidstone firm of solicitors (Brachers) got “a grant” of £802,667.
Nice for them.
Devon County Council was paid £101k. and the Royal Borough of Kensington and
Chelsea received more than half a million.
Nearer to home Bromley council was paid £8,086 for gritting our roads. Looks
like Craske’s planning wasn’t up to the job again. Why Price Waterhouse Coopers
had to give ninety thousand pounds’ worth of advice to Bexley council is anyone’s guess. Maybe it
was them that recommended saving £68k. by not paying for terrorist insurance in future.
An accountant friend doesn’t think much of Bexley’s £500 listing, he says it
barely complies with government regulations. The Payments Manager has admitted
that Bexley’s data complies only with the mandatory elements of the legislation
and any extras that might provide a complete paper trail are omitted.
There is no Invoice number, just a near random number meaningless to anyone
outside the council and maybe to them too. Tracking refunds against invoices is
impossible. The Payments Manager, in a weak moment perhaps, promised to have the website
amended to better explain refunds but nearly two months have passed since then
and nothing has changed.
About Boxwood leisure the council had this to say…
“In Spring 2008, Bexley opened Sidcup Leisure Centre – the third and final facility of a £30 million
3-centre scheme delivered on time and to budget through a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) between the London Borough of Bexley and Boxwood Leisure
consortium. A key strength of the Partnership is its ‘win-win’ nature -
embracing often competing public/private sector drivers of increasing
participation and generating profit.”
“Win-win” and “generating profit”? Who for?