A report by watchdogs investigating whether “frictions” among the region’s political leaders are jeopardising good use of public money has been “gathering dust” for four months, councillors claim. External auditors Grant Thornton gave a draft version of their findings to West of England Combined Authority (Weca) bosses back in June but have still not shared it with the organisation’s cross-party audit committee, which is supposed to oversee governance and finance.
They launched the probe last December after identifying a “risk of significant weakness” in Weca’s value-for-money (VfM) arrangements because of the public spat between metro mayor Dan Norris, who leads the regional body, and the elected heads of its three constituent councils. At the height of the row last year, Labour’s Mr Norris branded fellow Labour mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, South Gloucestershire Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage and Bath & North East Somerset Council leader Lib Dem Cllr Kevin Guy the “Hokey Cokey Three”, while they boycotted a Weca committee where decisions involving millions of pounds should have been made.
Now, the audit committee has been told that Grant Thornton’s work, to determine whether the governance arrangements impacting the politicians’ relationships was putting effective use of taxpayers’ cash at risk, was “substantially complete”. But despite the fact the finance firm’s initial findings were presented to a handful of top Weca officers on June 20, these were still “excluded” from a report to members at their latest meeting on Wednesday, October 12.
Read more: Probe into Weca top officer payoff amid power struggle between leaders
Combined authority chiefs insisted they had “not been sitting on the report” since the start of summer and were legally bound by confidentiality not to share it, while Grant Thornton said what had happened was “standard procedure”. Committee chairman Tory Cllr Geoff Gollop told the meeting: “I have no concern about the information presented, only about what is missing.
“I have expressed my concerns about governance, decision making, frictions within Weca and wider management issues. I believed that the VfM report was going to address these issues.
“However, meetings have been rearranged or cancelled and we are still no further forward. I was surprised to discover from the Grant Thornton report that officers have had the report for almost four months but neither I nor the audit committee have seen the draft as presented then, or copies amended to show officer responses.
“Audit committee needs an explanation of why it still has not seen this report. If the report has significant implications, we need to know why it has taken so long and how improvements have been made and lessons learned.”
Fellow Bristol Conservative Cllr Steve Smith told members: “I was quite shocked reading this report. It put me in mind of Fawlty Towers – ‘Whatever you do, don’t mention the war!’
“What’s in here is fine. But the point of an audit report isn’t to make us feel warm and fuzzy about the things that are working, it’s to alert us to the things that aren't and what needs to be done about it. I was shocked this draft has been out for four months.”
Weca interim director of law and democratic services Stephen Gerrard, one of the officers who was shown the report in June, said: “It’s important for members to realise that the audit report is the report of the auditor Grant Thornton. The confidentiality in that report is the confidentiality of the auditors.
“It’s not for officers to discuss that report, in fact we are legally restrained from doing so until we have been released from the confidentiality by the auditors. We have seen various drafts of the report but are yet to see the final report.
“To correct any misconceptions, we have not been sitting on the report, and it is for the auditor to decide when to share and release it.” Grant Thornton partner Jon Roberts said their “deep dive” had been “exhaustive” and had inevitably led to delays publishing it.
He said they had followed legal advice on what information should be given to whom, which had not included any politicians, to “make sure it’s not shared inappropriately” and that he was pleased there had been no leaks. Mr Roberts said he would have liked quicker progress but that the final report was nearing completion and would be presented to the committee’s next meeting on November 10.
Cllr Gollop said: “I understand legislation may protect confidentiality but I would hope legislation actually allowed audit committee to be demanding that reports are dealt with in a timely fashion rather than allowed to gather dust. The law regarding confidentiality is not a reason for not communicating with the audit committee what is happening on something that is recorded as being a significant concern.”
Green Cllr David Wilcox said: “I second your remarks. We should have [been] kept informed because of the important information we were asking for.”
Read next:
Metro mayor brands council leaders "Hokey Cokey three"
WECA crisis as all four council leaders pull out of crucial meeting
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