22 October (Part 3) - “Have to wonder if people can count”
Where does one start with a report on the Audit Committee meeting? Two and a
half hours and then they decided to talk about the really bad things, so they
closed down the webcast so that residents are left in ignorance.
Councillor Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Sidcup) was worried about the way the reserves were
“moving significantly in the wrong direction” and the external auditor answered by
referring to “unplanned changes to service provision” being required and there
being “a material uncertainty over the Council’s ability to close the financial gap in 2021/22”.
The risk is … that you will have to make unplanned changes to your service provision. (From the March 2020 Audit meeting.)
Additionally the auditor said…
So that’s Bexley Council’s self-styled reputation for Value for Money blown away.
Labour
Leader Daniel Francis said the auditor’s report implied that Bexley might be in breach
of The Local Government Accounts and Audit Registrations Act. The auditor said
there was a technical breach but there are no associated penalties.
In February this year the Committee was informed that the housing budget was balanced.
By the end of the financial year there was an overspend of £1·6 million. “There
were significant control failings” was the offered excuse.
Councillor Munur (Conservative, East Wickham) thought accounting questions were now “pointless” and
Councillor Bacon said the housing report was “very damning”. Questions asked by
Scrutiny Committees at the end of the 2018/19 financial year were not answered
and “we find ourselves in the same position”.
Councillor Francis when told that it was “an isolated incident” said
It was reminiscent of
the SEN Transport fiasco when the responsible Cabinet Member for Education was deliberately shielded from the truth.
“Or doesn’t the Cabinet Member ask questions?” He went on to say that the
evidence pointed to the Cabinet Member for Communities knowing but didn’t come clean at any meeting
and thought it possible that Bexley had set an illegal budget as a result of the misinformation.
The Finance Director, no less, admitted he did not know about “the scale of the overspend”.
The blog title is an exact quote from a Councillor’s comment on the people in charge.