4 October - General Purposes and Audit Committee meeting
Maybe next time they could call it the General Purposes and Audio Committee
meeting and let us hear it properly but meanwhile it is only possible to give a flavour
of what I think may have been said from my own less than clear audio recording;
the brand new radio mics all being an abysmal failure.
Not everyone was inaudible of course, Councillors Munur and Craske were furthest from me and
Councillor Borella nearest and all three were heard reasonably well. Actually that is
not quite true, two Reform Councillors were a bit closer than Stefano but neither
of them said anything. There were six significant items on the Agenda and
Chairman Cafer Munur raced through them in an hour, so well done him.
Council
support staff was almost entirely female although it should be noted that the
two nearest the camera were from the Council’s auditors. (Ernst & Young.)
The Boundaries Commission is looking at Bexley because the number of residents
per Councillor is getting out of balance. Councillor Craske (Conservative,
Blackfen and Lamorbey) said he was not happy at the prospect of the number of
Councillors being increased which is what happened when other boroughs were
reviewed. Council Leader David Leaf said he didn’t think there was much appetite
in Bexley for increasing numbers. “We will have to make the case for 45.”
Councillor Borella (Labour, Slade Green and Northend) said he was “on the same page as Councillor Craske”. Councillor
Terry Barcock (Conservative, Sidcup) said he would like to have the numbers of
residents in each ward this year and last to get an idea of the direction of
travel. The Chairman promised to provide it.
The Local Government Boundaries Commission for England is due to report on 14th March 2028.
The report on staff appraisals is probably not of general interest and is
reported fully in Agenda item 6. There have been no Union objections.
The auditor briefly introduced her report. Ernst and Young has audited nine
London Boroughs and Bexley remains in third place as it has in the
previous two years. The ranking includes Risk, Technology, Governance,
Leadership, Financial Capacity and the mysteriously named Assurance.
The discussion on Internal Audit and Fraud revealed that in the last two months
alone there were 18 Blue Badge frauds and a dubious Single Person Council Tax Discount.
Councillor Andrew Curtois (Conservative, Sidcup) asked a question about Risk
Management but the Council Officer did not speak loudly enough to hear his
reply. (Not helped by the ladies in the next room enjoying some sort of joke
while not shutting their door. This obliterated replies to Councillors Borella
and Eliot Smith’s questions too.)
On the sixth item, Debt Recovery, Councillor Borella asked if the recurring
bad debts figure, currently £12·376 million would ever be recovered. The
biggest single debtor is the National Health Service but they always pay
eventually. Bromley Council owes Bexley £263,000 for SEND transport and are arguing about it.