19 February (Part 1) - Every little helps
There
were council meetings scheduled last night and I thought I would take a look at
the Agenda before making the trip to the Civic Centre. I was confused. The website said
there was to be an Adults’ Services Committee meeting but when I clicked on the link it
provided no Agenda and since there was an
Adults’ Services meeting as recently
as last Thursday it looked like being a mistake. It is illegal to hold a public
council meeting without making the Agenda available a week in advance.
Fortunately it was the Audit Committee meeting I had my eye on, there has
not
been one for five months and chairman Steven Hall can be relied on not
to treat the public with contempt. Since permission to record was granted there has
been little of that but maybe things will change if Cheryl Bacon is ever let loose again.
On arrival it became clear that advertising an Adults’ Services meeting was
indeed a mistake. Chairman of Audit, Steven Hall, asked me if I had nothing
better to do other than listen to him which was a good question. This banter is, I should explain,
something I had encouraged and in no way rude or offensive. Before the meeting
began I was joined by regular attendee John Watson and half way through the
meeting councillor Philip Read shuffled into one of the public seats.
Councillor Hall
is too sensible to bother with issuing a futile warning to me not to take photos
of John Watson if he objected and launched straight into a warm welcome to
everyone present. This included a contingent from Grant Thornton, the council’s
auditors. The auditors appeared to be on very good terms with the councillors
and officials. All first names, jokes and good natured exchanges.
I didn’t expect to learn much from the meeting but there was one surprise.
Because Bexley council had accounted for the sale of the Civic Centre
incorrectly the auditors had to report that it was sold to Tesco for £25
million. Grant Thornton said Bexley had understated it by £1,876,000 due to some
obscure error that only an accountant would understand. A good job they did
because otherwise the sale price may never have come to light.
Given that Bexley had put down £23 million for the sale, if their claim that the
Woolwich building has cost nothing is true, they must have banked on selling the
other four sites for £19 million. Recently we learned of a site that
didn’t sell at all and was leased. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole of the
Conservative’s ‘free new HQ’ claim came tumbling down eventually.
It is probably worth noting after being rather
critical of his performance two
weeks ago, that it was councillor Colin Tandy who asked all the best questions. One
was about the parking accounts which council officer David Hogan (I hope I have
that right, the speaker had obscured his name plate) described as a “significant
control failure”. “Pay & Display income reconciliations had been reconciled by
Bexley Finance for the first six months of the financial year but had not since
been conducted on a monthly basis as required and that due to a lack of data a
reconciliation of the Penalty Charge Notice Income had not been conducted
for the 2013/14 year at the time of audit.” Maybe it’s more difficult to keep a
check on staff who have been hidden away in Bromley to save a few bob.
Other
interesting snippets were that council tax collection by Direct Debit stands at
only 66% and refuses to go any higher. This is lower than other London boroughs.
Collection rates are lower than other London boroughs and although the rate is
improving it is not improving as fast as the other boroughs. Council officer
John Peters said that all the figures being discussed were “in year” statistics
and follow ups pushed collections up to 98%.
One of the intriguing things about the auditor’s contribution to the meeting was
their booklet on best practice in Local Government. Bexley didn’t get a mention
but Barnet did. I am sure the bloggers of Barnet will be gratified to know that
their much loved Conservative council is seen as one of the best by Grant Thornton.
During Agenda Item 8 John Watson and I were asked to leave because the committee
was about to discuss some subject about which the public must be kept in the dark.
We were not even allowed to know the subject matter to be discussed.
As usual I audio recorded the meeting but time constraints do not allow it to be
checked through so this report has been produced the old way, from
scribbled notes. I took only one photograph which may be seen above. I thought
it might come in useful one day as part of my Closed Public Meeting evidence pack.