Councillors have met to discuss a critical Wales Audit Office report which said there were “significant governance failings” at Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The Annual Improvement Report on Caerphilly County Borough Council comes in the aftermath of the pay scandal which saw 21 senior managers awarded huge pay rises.
At a special meeting of full council on Wednesday night, councillors were told that pay rises to senior bosses between August 1, 2012, and March 31 this year were “unlawful expenditure”, with the total cost around £270,000.
The local authority’s chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan and his deputy Nigel Barnett are currently on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of fraud and misconduct in a public office.
The controversial pay rises were voted for last year by a secret committee meeting of five councillors. That vote was based on a report penned by Mr O’Sullivan himself, whose wage rose from £132,000 to £158,000.
In January this year, the pay deal was partially reversed in a compromise deal which saw Mr O’Sullivan’s pay go up by £5,000 and not £26,000.
In a subsequent report by the WAO earlier this year, the original pay rises were deemed unlawful.
A special council inspection by the WAO will take place later this year.
Caerphilly Council Leader Harry Andrews said: “We welcome the Audit Office’s valuable feedback. We have of course taken on board the Audit Office’s comments and our Council is working at pace to deliver necessary improvements.”
The Labour group has said many of the failings highlighted by the report related to the period when Plaid Cymru were in power.
Deputy Leader Cllr Keith Reynolds said: “Our Labour-led council has been left to clear up the mess that we’ve inherited from the last lacklustre and lackadaisical Plaid Cymru administration.
“It’s clear that, when they were in control, the nationalists had no direction, no vision and gave no leadership. And yet their councillors have the nerve to criticise us when we’re working hard to put things right, in the interests of Caerphilly County Borough residents.”
Deputy Leader Cllr Keith Reynolds said: “Our Labour-led council has been left to clear up the mess that we’ve inherited from the last lacklustre and lackadaisical Plaid Cymru administration.
“It’s clear that, when they were in control, the nationalists had no direction, no vision and gave no leadership. And yet their councillors have the nerve to criticise us when we’re working hard to put things right, in the interests of Caerphilly County Borough residents.”
Yes we have have the nerve and the democratic right and responsibility to hold the "current" administration to account, the same way plaid councilors will be continuing to hold the "current" labour administration to account on the senior pay fiasco and the unlawful payments that were made, as was reported in last night full council meeting, nearly half a million pounds (£218,563 and £270:000) have been spent unlawfully (as reported by Wales audit office) on senior officers pay rise and car allowances and annual leave "buy back".
I wonder how much that is in council tax % for Caerphilly residents, i did ask but was told the figures would have to worked out and we haven't even reached the final cost of this fiasco yet….
Cllr Lyndon Binding
Where on earth do they propose to start.
There is no doubt they will have to convince a disbelieving public that they HAVE changed, and this will have to include real systems and processes, which the public can understand and scrutinise, and there has to be commitment on and by ALL staff to engage with the public in meaningful ways, if not, perhaps the Auditor General can intervene again in the future.
This is not going to be as easy to sort out as the Councillors seem to think.
And this `blame culture` being expressed by Councillors from both sides of the political fence is indicative of what is Rotten in this Borough, it does NO SERVICE to the residents of Caerphilly Borough Council and sours what should be a situation of confidence residents should be able to express in our elected Councillors. It will be no use Councillors blaming staff of the Council either, identifiable Individual Councillors are guilty of dilitory and dismissive attitudes towards Residents groups in particular, they will be named and shamed come the next election.
Can Cllr Lyndon Binding categorically state that the £218, 518 unlawfull spend on car allowances and annual leave happened during Labour's time in power?
Roger,
The information is in the accounts "financial accounts for the year ended 31st March 2013" (that are the papers for Yesterdays full council that should be available on the CCBC website), 4.1 of the accounts (first page) say, PWC advised the audit committee on the 17th September 2013 that there were two outstanding significant issues that remained as part of there audit for the accounts for 2013-2014 (when the current administration is running Caerphilly).
Clarification in the meeting was given last night to say that they (The auditors) had deemed the payments "unlawful" in regards to the two outstanding issues.
Regards
Lyndon Binding
Thank you Cllr Binding.
If you can assure myself and other readers that no unlawfull spend on car allowances and annual leave will be reported during Plaid Cymru's time in office then I would be most grateful.
For clarification, "PWC advised the audit committee on the 17th September 2013 that there were two outstanding significant issues that remained as part of there audit for the accounts for 2013-2014".
Should have read 2012-2013 my apologies.
Lyndon
So. to clarify Councillor Binding?????
I have asked the question and found out that the "when" (specially on the car allowances and annual leave element) is part of a on-going auditors report, as soon as that report is out we will all know the answer and i will write it up….
But the senior officers pay part was definitely within the current administration i can confirm.
Regards
Lyndon
Wales Audit Office reports states there were “significant governance failings”. I don't think this would come as a surprise to anybody. However, I do believe many of these failings would've have occurred during the previous administration of the council. As the current Labour council has only had control since May 2012, I don't think that even they could have made such failings in little over a year. Cllr Binding why wasn't the pay review completed whilst Plaid Cymru had control of the council?
It would be interesting to know what all the significant governance failings were and when they were made; then we the electorate can have a better understanding of if they were Labour or Plaid Cymru governance failings.
These payments were deemed, by more than one authority with responsibility to independently decide on such issues, to be ` ILLEGAL` UNLAWFUL` I.E. OUTSIDE THE LAW. Therefore the DECISIONS to make those unlawful, illegal payments are attributable to an individual or individuals within the process for decision making within the Council, Correct??
That being the case I am wondering if the current Police investigation will be looking at this part of the process, and, considering what action to take to protect the public purse from those who make such decisions?.
I am also wondering if the Auditor General for Wales, or the Local Government Minister at the Welsh Assembly, or, someone else is considering SURCHARGING all those elected members who took the decisions in the first place????. The Council DID NOT stop the deal going through, so, there has been a significant cost on the ratepayers of the borough for these Councillors action and it is not right if that money is lost from the public purse. It should be and is recoverable.
Lou ,
I do not know why they were not completed, mabye that will come out in the audit report ?…(i was not a cabinet member at the time)..
regards
Lyndon
Cllr Binding blames Labour for both the senior pay and car allowances / annual buy back in his first post:
"Yes we have have the nerve and the democratic right and responsibility to hold the “current” administration to account, the same way plaid councilors will be continuing to hold the “current” labour administration to account on the senior pay fiasco and the unlawful payments that were made, as was reported in last night full council meeting, nearly half a million pounds (£218,563 and £270:000) have been spent unlawfully (as reported by Wales audit office) on senior officers pay rise and car allowances and annual leave “buy back”.
He now seems to be rowing away from his clear accusation on car allowances and annual leave by saying that he's "asked the question when this happened". Would Cllr Binding now like to retract his earlier ascertion that Labour were definately responsible??
Roger,
I'm not rowing away from anything, I'm not going to get into individual personalty aspects in this, but i stand by what i said in regards to holding the current administration to account, after all the job of any good opposition is to do this is it not?, to agree with proposals where they they are correct and make sense and to appose those they feel are not, (whether that was labour or plaid or independents running the council) it is for the electorate to make there decision on who they want as councilors as someone else has stated come next election time.
As for the "when", i reported back on the information i had in the report from last night council, now someone asked the question of the when and i then went and asked that question, i have given the reply that i was given, i'm sorry if that is not enough for you at this time, if it does come back and says that a member of the previous administration had agreed x , y , or z, then i will happily come back here and report that, i do not shirk away from my responsibility as a Councillor and if i have done something wrong or made a mistake then i am big enough to own up to it,can that be said of all Councillors what ever there affiliation when making decisions?
Regards
Lyndon
Far be it for me to interrupt an interesting battle between political parties but common sense indicates that the “significant governance failings” uncovered by the report will cast responsibility on both Labour and Plaid Cymru. This is simply because Labour have not been in power long enough, only 16 months, to have done all this themselves.
What needs to be carried now is a top to bottom reform of council practises to restore public confidence. A good start would be to reduce the wages of senior council officers to a level they might aspire to in the real world of industry and commerce.
Dear Cllr Binding,
Thank you for the long response.
You said in your first post the following:
We will be continuing to hold the “CURRENT” labour administration to account on the senior pay fiasco and the unlawful payments that were made, as was reported in last night full council meeting, nearly half a million pounds (£218,563 and £270:000) have been spent unlawfully (as reported by Wales audit office) on senior officers pay rise and CAR ALLOWANCES AND ANNUAL LEAVE BUY BACK.
You clearly blame the "current" Labour administration for the car allowances and annual leave buy back totalling £218k+ in the above statement. Can I ask you to confirm again that Labour were responsible for this??
Labour is desperately trying to deflect attention from the pay scandal which has made Labour-run Caerphilly council a laughing stock across the UK. Page 9 of the audit improvement report states quite clearly "Since concluding in September 2012, that the council was likely to comply with the requirement to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement during 2012-13 providing it increased the pace of improvement, we have found SIGNIFICANT FAILINGS in its governance arrangements." You can read the full context by pasting the above link.
http://www.wao.gov.uk/assets/englishdocuments/399…
Anyone interested in the shameful farce should submit a FoI to Caerphilly and find as I have that the labour cabinet received the Hay report in July 2012, they kept it secret from all including their labour colleagues.
So yes labour has in only sixteen months wrecked Caerphilly council. For Reynolds to claim Plaid were involved is what the man is about, a braggart and a bully. The car allowances, where senior managers showed their contempt for labour cabinet members by not even telling them they had taken the money.
When labour are in charge but never in power, this is what you have every right to expect.
Mr P Jones
If Peter Jones is really suggesting that the Labour Cabinet of Caerphilly Council, Harry Andrews included, had ANY knowledge of the Illegal pay awards decision by the gang of five,prior to those awards being agreed, on `dodgy reports`, and then went on to ratify those awards by nodding them through at a full Council meeting, in the certain knowledge, of there being alternatives suggested by the Hay Report, THEN HE SHOULD BRING HIS EVIDENCE TO THE ATTENTION OF THE INVESTIGATING OFFICERS OF AVON POLICE.
He makes statements which point to the entire Cabinet, including at least four of the gang of five secret committee which made the decision to hike the pay, KNOWING that there were legal and acceptable alternatives to the only one presented to them, Contained in the Hay Report) or so we are informed. If that is the case they are certainly complicit in the wrongdoings of the suspended O`Sullivan, at worse they are guilty of Conspiracy in making the illegal decision at their secret meeting, If Mr Jones is correct, and he should draw his evidence to the attention of the investigating Police Officers, what is the position of these local Labour Politicians in the debacle?. Someone has to tell us, we have a right to know the facts.
Derrick raises a very important point.
This entire affair brings the Caerphilly County Borough council in serious disrepute, the illegal decisions were made by PAID elected Councillors who`s job it is is to protect the public purse, and, to ensure good governance, they appear to have failed in these cases, i.e. the buy back of car allowances from senior officers, and, the pay hike for senior officers, at least, this failure has been identified by official Auditors.
If someone were mindful to report the entire outfit to the Ombudsman and the Avon Police it would be difficult to imagine a situation under which HE, The Ombudsman, or the Police, could possible fail to find them seriously guilty of bringing the Caerphilly Council into disrepute by their specific and determined actions, in acting unlawfully and illegally, What a disgraceful situation for experienced Elected Councillors to find themselves in, they should be seriously ashamed.
I repeat my call to Cllr Binding who has gone very quiet indeed.
You quote the following:
"We (Plaid)will be continuing to hold the “CURRENT” labour administration to account on the senior pay fiasco and the unlawful payments that were made, as was reported in last night full council meeting, nearly half a million pounds (£218,563 and £270:000) have been spent unlawfully (as reported by Wales audit office) on senior officers pay rise and CAR ALLOWANCES AND ANNUAL LEAVE BUY BACK.
You clearly blame the “current” Labour administration for the car allowances and annual leave buy back totalling £218k+ in the above statement. Can I ask you to confirm again that Labour were responsible for this??
the report clearly highlights the right off over £200K to officers throw the car scheme,which has been deemed illegal in the report, the sale of IBT, poor value for money and the £200K loan to Bedwas rugby club, all the handy work of Cllr Mann, former Cllrs Davies and Pritchard , No apology , oh and we have the Icelandic debacle, were Plaid put £15 million into banks that had been downgraded weeks before they collapsed, that one was down to Cllr Whittle the man who when asked about the lost millions ,said I did not even know we had any money in these banks , now that's a leader with his finger on the pulse, there is still over £2.5 million that we will never get back leaving a huge gap in finances. Must not forget Plaids 15K a year pay rise to deputy chief executive, again no apology and the money was not rescinded , Cllr Mann is in denial and fools mo one. I noticed at council that Cllr Mann eluded to fact that he trusted officers when Plaid were in control, could it be that
he he thinks offices duped him into all the above Plaid clangers, or is that he is incapable of owing up to Plaids failings. Typical Plaid arrogance
the report clearly highlights the right off over £200K to officers through the car /holiday buy back scheme,which has been deemed illegal in the report, the sale of IBT, poor value for money and the £200K loan to Bedwas rugby club, all the handy work of Cllr Mann, former Cllrs Davies and Pritchard , No apology , oh and we have the Icelandic debacle, were Plaid put £15 million into banks that had been downgraded 3 weeks before they collapsed, that one was down to Cllr Whittle the man who when asked about the lost millions ,said I did not even know we had any money in these banks , now that's a leader with his finger on the pulse, there is still over £2.5 million that we will never get back leaving a huge gap in finances. Must not forget Plaids 15K a year pay rise to deputy chief executive, again no apology and the money was not rescinded , Cllr Mann is in denial and fools no one. I noticed at council that Cllr Mann eluded to fact that he trusted officers when Plaid were in control, could it be that he he thinks offices duped him into all the above Plaid clangers, or is that he is incapable of owing up to Plaids failings. Typical Plaid arrogance
I know that the Icelandic lost millions (£2.5)is approximately equal to 3% on the council tax, ouch
I expect that the auditor will conduct a full investigation into the car allowance "one-off" payments made to senior management staff. As he is auditing the Council's 2011/12 accounts then it seems clear to me that the payments were made in 2011/12, i.e. before 31st March 2012, i.e. under Plaid's administration. Whether ANY of the Plaid Councillors had any knowledge that these payments were going to be made is very doubtful as there doesn't seem to be any Committee report to authorise the payments!
These payments appear to be more secretive than any Committee meeting set up to agree senior management pay!