Liverpool City Council has published historical internal audit reports into a controversial football matchday parking company.
The council has published a number of reports - ranging from 2015 to 2019 - which looked at the operation of car parks by the Beautiful Ideas Company (BICo). BICO was a Community Interest Company with links to a number of city councillors. It was launched in 2014 to manage matchday car parks in north Liverpool used by Liverpool and Everton fans. The revenue was to be used to help the community.
Three Labour councillors were linked to BiCo in the past. One acted as a director from 2014 to 2018 and two were advisors.
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The publication of the reports follows a decision by the Information Commissioner who ruled that it is in the public interest to disclose the documents following a freedom of information request by freelance journalist Matt O'Donoghue.
A number of recommendations were made by the council's internal audit team through the different reports. The council says the findings are 'indicative' of general issues with how areas of the council were operated at the time - issues that were raised in last year's damning government inspection.
An initial 2015 audit report looked at the control measures in place around the collection, storage and accounting for income for a car park on Priory Road and the governance arrangements for any income received.
The report found there were acceptable controls and compliance for collecting and recording income and related to accounting methods. There were limited controls but good compliance of the governance procedures to authorise the use of said car park income and good controls and compliance in the use of governance procedures in relation to money received.
That first report made a series of recommendations for BICo, including improvements to the recording of the banking of cash, an annual review of governance procedures and ensuring that any council staff working in the car park declared an interest.
The 2017 report looked at whether BICo was being operated in accordance with a properly constituted council decision relating to accounts and records of its revenue and expenditure in relation to a match day car park on Walton Breck Road and how those funds were being reinvested for the benefit of the local community.
It made a series of recommendations including the need for regular financial and performance information, the introduction of formal records related to pay and expenses for staff and a need to introduce processes such as numbered tickets to demonstrate that all match day income had been collected.
Finally, a 2019 audit investigation was also completed. It found that the governance and monitoring relationship between the city council and BICo was 'limited.' It recommended new council procedures to improve on this area going forward.
The 2019 report found that some of the income - namely £53,347 - from the Walton Breck Road car park has not yet been invested in social enterprises by BICo as had been agreed with the council. The council was urged to consider whether it wanted to request the return of funds that have yet to be invested, and take appropriate legal advice should this be the case.
The council stated that the Regulator of Community Interest Companies has confirmed that upon winding up of a CIC, any assets must be transferred to a “similar” organisation.
Should the council enter into similar arrangements in the future, the report suggested that "consideration should be given to the aims of such investments/ awards and due to the nature of target recipients, consideration should be given to the criteria to be applied."
In a statement today, a spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “The Beautiful Ideas CIC is a separate entity to Liverpool City Council and we have never had any legal powers to intervene in its operation.
“Our Internal Audit Team worked alongside the organisation to look solely at the controls and compliance relating to the income and use of funds from car parks on land leased from Liverpool City Council.
"We found there were acceptable controls and compliance procedures in place, but a number of recommendations were made. In our final report produced in 2019 we found that the only outstanding issue was related to record keeping relating to the collection of match day income, but as the car parks are no longer operating it is no longer required.
“The findings and recommendations of these Internal Audit reports are indicative of general issues regarding how areas of the council were operating at the time, as highlighted by the Best Value Inspection in March 2021. Since this time the council has implemented an organisation-wide Strategic Improvement Plan and is taking significant steps to deliver the necessary improvements to strengthen governance and control arrangements.
“The matters raised in the reports are those that came to Internal Audit’s attention during the course of their work. While every care has been taken to make sure the information is as accurate as possible, Internal Audit can only base their findings on the information and documentation provided to them, and the sample evidence tested, at that time.
"In line with standard audit practice, Internal Audit undertakes sample testing and aims to provide reasonable assurance about risk management, governance and control processes. Its findings are not intended as a comprehensive statement of all the weaknesses that existed, or of all the improvements that may be needed. These reports were produced solely for the internal use and benefit of Liverpool City Council.”
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