3 July (Part 1) - Audit Report
As reports are running two and a bit meetings behind the times - and don’t
even ask about the important emails unanswered - it is perhaps a blessing that
last night’s Audit Committee meeting revealed nothing of great interest. Well
maybe it did, but the chairman very politely kicked the public - just two of us - out at 20:35.
One of Audit’s responsibilities is Risk Management, the routine stuff is
claims from people tripping over paving stones, but a new one has made its
presence felt in the past year. In the decade to 2014, there were six claims of
child abuse by those who had been in Bexley’s care. Recently there have been
seven in six months. According to the Agenda, it is the Jimmy Savill (sic) effect.
A number of councillors took the opportunity to be critical of the current
structure of Scrutiny Committees which are too large, ill timed and appear to
not always embrace subjects which seem appropriate to them. I thought that was
the general idea behind the changes
introduced by Teresa O’Neill’s in 2014.
There was no reference to the resident who had
objected to the 2013/14 accounts
(except in the minutes of the previous meeting) and discovered widespread
“malpractice” in the parking department. That could cost a pretty penny.