Caerphilly County Borough Council is at the centre of its second police investigation within 12 months into unlawful payments to staff.
Decisions to award senior bosses huge salary increases and payments to cover the loss of car usage allowances and annual leave have been criticised by the Wales Audit Office. Here, in an opinion piece for Caerphilly Observer, Labour MP Wayne David draws his opinions while Councillor Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group on the council, responds.
Wayne David
Residents of the Caerphilly Borough must be concerned to see their council in the news headlines. December’s report from the Wales Audit Office (WAO) is a damming indictment. It describes how the senior officers of the authority were able to make decisions about their own allowances.
The report states that senior officers of Caerphilly County Borough Council did not follow appropriate procedures and agreed arrangements for their own allowances without reference to the elected councillors. This was “unlawful”. The report’s findings and conclusions are extremely serious, and they have been accepted in their entirety by the local authority.
The procedures, or ‘governance arrangements’, which led to this appalling situation are already being addressed and councillors in the Labour group, which now lead the authority, have already reasserted democratic control over the officers and the council.
The question now is ‘who were the councillors responsible for allowing such a situation to arise?’
The answer is: It was the councillors in Plaid Cymru. The decisions in the WAO Report relate to events in 2012 when Plaid Cymru Councillor Allan Pritchard was the leader of the council and his deputy was Cllr Colin Mann of Plaid Cymru.
Allan Pritchard is no longer a councillor but Cllr Colin Mann still is and he has some very serious questions to answer.
I understand that Cllr Mann says that he knew nothing about these decisions. If that was in fact the case then it begs the question ‘why didn’t he know?’ Was he asleep on his watch? If he was, then he is guilty of abrogating his responsibility.
It is absolutely fundamental to our local democracy that it is the elected councillors who make decisions and it is the officers who carry them out. Then it is those councillors who are accountable to the people for their actions.
If councillors give up their right to make decisions to the officers, then this is a negation of democracy.
What do you have to say for yourself Cllr Mann?
Cllr Colin Mann
I read Mr David’s comments with a mixture of bemusement and amusement.
In trying to point the finger at myself and Cllr Allan Pritchard over the issue of car and leave allowances, Mr David is guilty of a blatant attempt to divert the attention of taxpayers from the reality of the scandalous pay deal agreed by Labour-run Caerphilly County Borough Council.
Anyone who has taken the time to read the Wales Audit Office report on car and leave allowances will know exactly what happened. I quote from the Auditor: “It is clear that the decision was not taken by a formally constituted members’ body”.
I’ve already stated publicly that I am furious that myself and colleagues were deceived by people who we had worked with on a basis of trust.
Mr David talks about procedures. The issue with the unlawful payments of car and leave allowances was, as the auditor states, because the suspended Chief Executive FAILED to follow proper procedures.
The fact that officers held secret meetings and chose not to inform councillors and not publicise the matter in any way is an absolute disgrace.
As serious as the car and leave allowances issue is, it pales into insignificance compared to Labour’s senior officers’ pay scandal.
The Labour Cabinet was fully aware of the senior pay proposals prior to the Remuneration Committee agreeing to huge inflation-busting rises for 21 top officers while other employees saw their pay frozen.
This debacle has already cost our council enormous sums of money. It is a sad fact that many, many millions of pounds will have been spent on the pay scandal before the issue is closed – the last thing the council needs when it is facing huge cuts to services. Residents will be picking up the tab for many years to come.
Through Labour’s failings, taxpayers are now paying the salaries of the suspended chief executive and deputy chief executive as well as the interim chief executive, all on salaries well in excess of £100,000 a year – over £2,000 per week.
If a non-Labour authority had been involved in such an appalling scandal, the Welsh Government would already have sent the Commissioners in as they did on the Isle of Anglesey.
Is Mr David serving his constituents by trying to misrepresent the facts? His constituents deserve better.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
Colin Mann says that the Labour Cabinet knew about proposals to increase the level of remuneration to senior officers. So did Cllr James Fussell, the Plaid representative on the panel when he failed to register a vote against the pay rises. Plaid were content with the pay rises. If they were so opposed then why didn't the Plaid representative vote against the increases??????
As a voter I would like a Plaid spokesperson to answer this very important point!!!!
Plaid need to admit that things went wrong on their watch. I don't believe that voters are flocking to them as they see them for what they really are. My advice to Plaid is to admit responsibility for failings that happened under your watch.
Tony, the question has been asked before and an answer from Plaid Cymru is still being awaited…
Why aren't Plaid answering this then? Why did this councillor not vote against the pay rises? Very suspicious behaviour.
Why didn't the THREE labour Councillors vote against it?
This episode was on Labour's watch – they run the council with 50 members out of 73. They make all the decisions and Labour Cabinet members supported this shocking pay rise even before it went to the Remuneration Committee and all the attempts to shift blame to others will be seen through by the electorate who know who takes the decision in CCBC. And now the challenge for the Labour council is to get these unlawful payments back from the officers – are they up to it or will they expect the taxpayers to pick up the tab?
I believe they should have but the question has never been answered about Plaid's failure to vote against. Its just a bit hypocritical. As a Plaid supporter Jeff would you like to answer on Plaid's behalf? What do you think about Cllr Fussell not voting against it?
I'm sorry, but I fail to see the need for all this Plaid-bashing. Labour have been failing and flailing since ambling into power a few years ago, and all people seem to be doing here is asking how Plaid voted?! The three Labour councillors, or if you like, the majority that held the power in that situation, voted for it. It really doesn't seem to matter how the Plaid councillor voted in this respect, or indeed the independent councillor who also took part either voted. Especially not when considered within the whole sorry mess.
David Rees is right, both parties are to blame. The obscene pay rises and other irregularities that the council has been involved in was a secret that has well and truly got out of the bag.
Time now for both parties to work together to tighten council procedures and increase accountability to the public so that this sorry tale does not happen again in Caerffili Council.
We need to return to the facts, Labour cabinet members had the Hay report in July 2012, they hid the report even from fellow Labour members speaks volumes and shows the depth of contempt from the Labour cabinet.
The cabinet are guilty of conspiracy to defraud, and complicit in the fraud. Keith Reynolds, Gerald Jones, David Poole and Christin Forehead were the cabinet members in the room, there were no independent councilors present, Fussell showed cowardice when leaned on by O'Sullivan.
The five councilors in the room should resign, the senior members should be sacked.
Which leads us to the point at issue, "why have Labour with their massive majority, not sacked Perkins and Hardacre"?
The thieves are still in place and organizing the non cooperation with the police investigation. Labour have not represented the public of Caerphilly, Why has Wayne David or Cuthbert raised this in the correct place, the answer is because its Labour.
Caerphilly is the most corrupt council in Wales, but Labour far from addressing the facts, prefer to blow smoke at Plaid, and continue to treat the public with the same old levels of contempt. Plaid are guilty, but guilty of cowardice and incompetence.
Deal with facts, Caerphilly is corrupt, deal with the corrupting influences.
Mr P Jones
Arthur, in reply to your question, I probably think that the THREE labour Councillors would have had more sway on the decision than one representative from another political party. I answer this as an apolitical member of society who has experienced 7 decades of Welsh political failure.
Do you, Arthur, think that South Wales has benefitted in any way by not accepting a change in the political spectrum? The same old political whinging and the blaming of everyone else for the malaise and poverty here, should it continue, will ensure no improvement for our people.
Wayne David knows that mud sticks and they are finding on the doors that that people realise that all this happened on Labour`s watch. They won by a strong majority and took over the council from a successful Plaid council that did not raise council tax for two years and then Labour took their eye off the ball…. if they had it on the ball in the first place. Blaming one Plaid councillor is as pathetic as it can get when you have an overwhelming majority. I suppose they will blame the cuts they are bringing in on Plaid next.
The whole debate is daft and meaningless!
This debate is not party specific. All councillor who voted for the increase or who abstained are to blame. Both parties were represented at the vote and as a result councillors from both parties are to blame. Regardless of which party had control of the council.
The councillors (regardless of party) who abstained or voted for the pay increases should be forced to resign and charged if illegal activities were discovered.
It all is really rather simple.
The most interesting aspects of the pay hike debacle,and how it came about, and the Car Allowances benefits conspiracy is only, currently, known by Detectives from Avon Police,those senior officers who took part in putting the `scam` sorry, scheme,together, and, those Councillors who were in the driving seat when the decisions were made.
There are currently some very nervous senior Councillors from both parties, and, some even more nervous senior Council Officers walking the corridors of the Caerphilly Borough Council Offices praying with every step they take that O`Sullivan and Burnett are NOT CHARGED WITH ANY OFFENCES.
If indeed they are charged, I am sure in their defence submissions they will name names, O`Sullivan and Burnett know where the bodies are buried, they know what processes were followed and who knew what and when.
Due to the potential catastrophic political castration this situation would cause for some individual senior Welsh Politicians, (perhaps some have already told lies and perverted the course of justice) I for one don`t think the `dark powers of the state` even in Wales, will allow such a situation to emerge. I think O`Sullivan and Burnett HAVE to be set free from Police Bail, without a stain on their character.
We would then hear all the calls for all political parties to work together in Caerphilly to ensure that such a thing does not happen again, sorted!!!!!!
Trefor Bond's analysis, which really covers all the secret deals, mutual back scratching and cozy agreements that have been partially revealed is essentially correct. The commentators that argue that one party is responsible and the party they favour is innocent are completely wrong. There are council officers and elected members who are implicated and others who are not. The illegal activity being investigated is not an 'allegation', as sometimes quoted, but a reasoned judgement made by the Auditor General. I sincerely hope that the police turn over every stone and make public what wriggles there.
I sincerely hope that the result is not a cover up and local politics is shaken up, my word, we really need it. I also hope that the fantastic salaries awarded to mediocre council administrators become a thing of the past and that these jobs are remunerated at market rates. Trefor's final paragraph is correct, there will be a call for both parties to work together to ensure that this does not happen again but this must resolved after those involved have answered to a court of law for their actions.
Councillor Mann's comments on this case are nothing short of a attempt to absolve Plaid of any guilt on the recent debacle over senior officers pay awards. It also displays a stunning political naivety. I make no attempt to defend the shocking lack of oversight by the Labour council in this pay debacle. I am a labour town councillor and it was clearly a cock up of huge proportions. But for Coun Mann to express outrage and fury that he and his fellow Plaid Councillors were taken for a ride by people they worked with on a basis of trust is laughable. When dealing with public funds there should be no "nod and wink" approach or "working with trust". At all times correct and proper oversight must be in place. Clearly under the last Plaid administration such lax practices were allowed to flourish, and senior officials clearly felt they were to continue under a new administration. Sadly the Labour administration initially did little to change the rules. Let us not also forget that Plaid had a representative on the committee that allowed the pay rises. It has been established that this councillor apparently did not suggest that he supported these rises, but as I understand it he raised no objections to them either. Surely there is sufficient communication amongst Plaid Cymru councillors for them to agree a strategy on these rises and instruct their councillors accordingly? Then again perhaps not. As a senior Plaid Councillor prior to May 2012 Councillor Mann must have at least shown some interest in finding out what senior officers were up to? You cannot simply abandon oversight on the basis of trust!
Are we not lucky that we have MR Pratt to summarise every single comment prior to his in one long, unwieldy paragraph?
We had already agreed that Mr Mann was talking nonsense and fighting a losing battle trying to defend Plaid. We also agreed that Labour was just as bad. We also agree that people from both parties have been 'mud flinging' in a desperate attempt to save their own skin. We also know that sensible, critical question that the public have asked have yet to be addressed by both parties.
Wow! What do you know? I've said in six lines what Mr Pratt said in twenty two.
Lets move on from this, shall we?
And lets start talking about the intended (Or possible) dissolution of CCBC
The Williams report says we need to merge with two other councils.
This will mean even less transparency, responsibility, democracy etc.
Do we really need a Director of Education? Given that the National Curriculum is handed down to the council from Westminster?
If the merger takes place will the (New) chief executive demand three times the pay as he/she will be running three councils?
Particularly as the elected members are meant to make the big decisions.
Lets really start talking about this by opening up the debate with the residents of the other councils. And then send our feelings to Carwyn James before the decision to merge is made.
We must all have a say in this before its too late
Hardacre and Perkins should definitely go, how have they kept their jobs?
I disagree with Mike that we should move on just yet; the guilty have yet to be brought to court. I do agree with his other point, regarding the wisdom of the Williams' report recommendation for Caerffili. As I have already written this would be a retrograde step.
With reference to Jan's comment I too am confused as to how the Head of Legal Services is still in post. I make no judgement on his probity but given the judgement of the Auditor General and the on-going police investigation surely he should have been suspended pending the result of the aforementioned investigation? Let us all hope that this farce does not end, as Trefor Bond fears, with a cover up.
Thank you for your kind comments Cheryl. I like to try and make sure that I explain myself fully! 🙂
How can labour supporters keep on and on about Plaid, the Hay report came to Caerphilly in July 2012, TWO months after Plaid left office. Labour and only Labour awarded the stupid pay rises.
It should be clear, the managers of Caerphilly have the same disdain for Labour as Plaid. They have contrived a situation where they have just helped themselves to money that was intended for services.
Now they have been found out, not by councilors or auditors, but by members of the public, THEY SHOULD BE SACKED AND SENT TO PRISON.
MR P Jones
The dissolution of CBBC and the firing of all CBBC councillors to be replaced by an entity consisting of no political parties headed by Richard Williams would be a good option.
Politics on a local level does not work. Infighting and mudslinging ensure that the decisions made are anti-community and counter productive.
The dissolution of CBBC and the firing of all CBBC councillors to be replaced by an entity consisting of no political parties headed by Richard Williams would be a good option.
Politics on a local level does not work. Infighting and mudslinging ensure that the decisions made are anti-community and counter productive.
CCBC for that*
To see this argument go on and on is ridiculous. Shouldn't an MP have more important things to do, like refusing an 11% Pay Rise, which takes their annual salaries to £74000, What is being forgotten is that regardless of what party is to blame the issue needs to be resolved. Ordinary Caerphilly Council workers, have been deceived by their bosses, who currently enjoy huge salaries while the rest of us, workers and residents of the borough are still struggle with experiencing the erosion of their pay, conditions and cuts to services. I hope that the Police will do their job robustly and if the law has been broken let the Courts decide their fate.
Rebecca, you may like this quote, by Professor Kenneth Minogue, on political parties.
"An idealogical movement is a collection of people, many of whom could hardly bake a cake, fix a car, sustain a friendship or a marriage, or even solve a quadratic equation, yet they believe they know how to rule the world.
To answer 'Plaid Peter's' point. Its extremely rich that Plaid continue to lambast Labour on senior pay when their representative was content with the massive pay rises going ahead. If they were so opposed why didn't they vote against it? Also why didn't Plaid say anything about the pay rises until it appeared in the papers? The answer: Because they were complicit in awarding massive pay rises to senior officers.
Please councillors grow up and cut out the childish behaviour and deal with disciplining the senior officers and members who allowed these unlawful acts to take place. It's clear these grotesque creatures acted for self gain and nothing else.
What is difficult to comprehend is that a number of senior officers implicated in the unlawful acts are still in place and still acting in a questionable manner. Furthermore These officers are langwishing in the fact that they are still benefiting from the pay rise and car allowance pay outs when ordinary CCBC staff are having to face up to the prospect of possible redundancies.
Bravo Harry well said!!
I believe CCBC Cabinet will soon consider proposed cuts which include cutting car allowances for ordinary members of staff who are required to use their own vehicles in carrying out day to day duties.
I doubt these staff will be offered any buy outs, it's likely the officers who proposed these cuts are the same officers who benefitted from the unlawful buyout.
I for one will not be voting in the next local council election given that it's evident that no political party within Caerphilly are capable of making any sound decisions that benefits residents or ccbc staff.
On a lighter note, I noticed something quite amusing the other day, a council vehicle waiting at traffic lights which normally displays the logo 'CCBC a greener place to live' had been crossed out and the words 'a greedier place to work if you are a senior officer' had been written in it's place.
Caerphilly managers have run rings around both political parties, both sets of councilors lack the ability or determination to confront these people.
Senior managers have organized to refuse to help the police, hence the silly length of time taken over the investigation, managers have used the same tactics for years on councilors.
However Avon and Somerset are made of sterner stuff than Gwent Police. They have I'm told by an insider, asked Her Majesties Revenue and Customs to investigate Caerphilly's accounts, the result was incomprehension. Expect arrests soon.
L Turner
The Council is badly run, the leader is no accountant and does not keep his finger on the pulse so to speak. The four Labour councillors who sat on the panel which awarded rises illegally should resign. However they still have their noses in the money trough. A commissioner should have been put in to run the Council some time ago, but as the Welsh Assembly is Labour and the Council Labour controlled then nothing will be done. Politics stink.
Very interesting reading these views, but whilst the politicians bicker, they also make decisions that affect the most vulnerable in our society, at this moment they are considering cutting a domestic cleaning service to the disabled and vulnerable, a service that cost far less than the salaries of the two suspended council officers.
Hundreds will lose their service and dozens of local carers will loose their jobs, that is the reality of Caerphilly CBC setting priorities
The majority of councillors left school at 14, have little grasp of basic English or maths, do poorly paying jobs for twenty five years, become elected at a local level and work their way up to the top jobs. They are completely incompetent.
Those councillors who are educated and have brains are stuck at local level for years and advance no where. From reading Richard William's comments it is clear that he has a grasp of what is happening and promotes populist messages in Caerphilly yet he is low level.
To take these top jobs there needs to be an exam of some kind to ensure they want to help and are not init to secure a nice pension or whatever.
leaving school at 14 and doing an ordinary low paid job does not mean that a person is stupid. What it could mean is that the opportunity to reach their full potential was not there.
I hope that the Police do their job and these men if they have committed these offences go to prison
What bothers me and I am having difficulty in finding out is: Once the full Council has agreed and passed any particular item, just how much further supervision, bearing in mind that Council officers are after all, only employees, does the Council exert over the CEO and their staffs?
No, but it is unlikely that the person who left at 14, unless he has done a tremendous amount of work to catch up, will hardly ever catch up. This could manifest itself in many ways lax speech or ignorance (as opposed to ignorant) are but two examples.It should be remembered, however, that everybody’s different.
I am a dyed -in-the-wool Labour supporter but with the General Election coming up only a year away if were the Labour party, I would be very wary as to what I got up to in the unlawful stakes. What has happened is unforgivable and, as I see it, there could well be repercussions from the public at election time and the Labour Party have only themselves to blame.
It’s all very well employing a CEO and his or her staff but letting them get on with it with the minimum of supervision should never has been, an option for the elected Councillors though they seem to think otherwise, but, I say this without really knowing the facts. What I do know is that It seems to me that this is the story of the “in a rut”syndrome and if this is so, the system needs restructuring and It needs it now.
I’ve not seen yet a list of all those officers who would have benefited had the illegal scheme gone undetected. I understand that some payments were made before the act was discovered. Seeing that the increase went to the top employees of the CEO’s staff, it seems unlikely that they knew nothing about what exactly was going on. If they did, and it can be proven so, then disciplinary action, including dismissal should ensue. There is no two ways about it.