And now St Neots Town Council is found out...

I was down at the Town Centre and I thought I would look at what is on at the Town Council. I find there is a meeting of the Town Council on 30th September 2010 from the Agenda posted on the noticeboard. From the Agenda I also found out was there were meetings of both the Operations and Amenities Committee and the Finance and General Purposes Committee on 2nd September 2010. There was also a Personnel Committee meeting held on 9th September 2010. So why was none of these on their website?

With the Council Offices closed, I walked over to the Library. I asked to if they had Town Council minutes and agendas as I couldn't find a section. I found the a section of Priorities Magazines going back years. I also found the Forward Plan - Version 1. I was told by two different librarians that they "hadn't seen the Town Council for years". This made me think of what I was told by Grant Thornton about the Forward Plan version 3.

Well the Town Council lied about the library. I couldn't find version 3 in the various sections. The Minerals Plan - Yes. Town Council Forward Plan version 1 - Yes. The Town Council Forward Plan Version 2 or 3 -NO.

The Library staff informed me that all the minutes/agendas are online at the Town Council website. They have been misinformed.

As ever, this Town Council can put the agendas and minutes up for the joke of a planning committee but can't do the same for the other committees that actually take decisions that mean something.

How can the Town Council be open, transparent and accountable if it just keeps what it is doing effectively secret. This is just bad Government! Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative are in a Coalition on the national stage. I would have thought both parties policies on openness, transparency and accountability would have filtered down to the lower levels. Obviously hasn't.

Forward Plan Version 1 but no version 3

Priorities magazines going back years

Can we believe what the Auditor informs us?

The external Auditor looking at each Councils accounts should give us, the residents, an assurance as to the state of  how our Council is running in financial terms. New Labour expanded this role to take in many bureaucratic and wasteful tasks when what the residents want to know is whether the council is good or not. When I saw the Auditor's Opinion, for the Corporate Governance Panel, I had to take another look and analyse the warning Auditor is giving. In the 2008/09 report there was little, if anything, about the £6.1 million of unspecified cuts to be made back then.

Now the Coalition has announced cuts, which HDC has assessed as an extra £1.5 million of unspecified cuts making a new total of £7.6 million Grant Thornton jumps into action with:

Looking at this statement in its parts:

But uncommon to most of these Councils HDC has an underlying problem of a massive deficit budget. This already required cuts.

The plan the Auditor alludes too is set out in the MTP. This identifies £6.1 million of UNSPECIFIED cuts. HDC still hasn't specified where these cuts were going to fall.

An extra £1.5 million of cuts and this all becomes "imperative". £7.6 million of unspecified cuts is imperative. £6.1 million of unspecified cuts isn't mentioned in the previous year's report. I find this strange and inconsistent. How can HDC have its finances under control when £6.1 million of cuts are unspecified. Surely adding an extra £1.5 million of unspecified cuts only means the Council has to cut more. Having identified the unspecified amount this is all it has to do. As this is all it had to do in previous years! Where is the imperative?

Who has been looking at this blog?

Every so often I take a look at who has been looking at my blog. This blog, along with many websites you visit, uses Google Analytics to see who visits this site. This sounds very Big Brother and I therefore know where you live. Well NO. Google Analytics doesn't go that far down the line. But what it can do is provide general information about visitors. For instance, most of my visitors are using NTL. Or I had regular visitors from the Houses of Parliament before the election and no visits after. This has changed recently.

What perked my interest to write this article is I see the Audit Commission and Grant Thornton have recently been looking at my blog.

Audit Commission:

Grant Thornton:

What is interesting is the soon to be abolished Audit Commission has now taken an interest in this blog. What is baffling is that Grant Thornton informed me:
"We can only respond to questions raised directly to us in writing, and indeed I can't access your blog via our firm's network due to restrictions on internet use."

Obviously someone at Grant Thornton can!

Letter to Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton are the Auditors of The Town Council. They are auditing the 2009/2010 accounts. All electors have the right to ask questions of the accounts. Having read 2009/10 accounts I had a few questions. I emailed both Paul Winrow and Liz Sanford of Grant Thornton the following:

Dear Paul,

The following are the questions I have on the Annual Accounts and Report ending 31st March 2010.

On page 7.- 3. The Council's Governance Framework

The following is stated:

"The Town Council has a Constitution, which comprises (inter alia) of: It then lists all the parts of the Constitution."

"The Constitution is regularly reviewed and updated on an annual basis. The latest review was in May 2010

and the current version is V3"

Question: Why aren't these available on the Town Council website?

"The Council published its forward plan in March 2010."

I cannot find this Forward Plan. It has not been published in the Priorities magazine. Nor has it been published on the Town Council website. There has been no public consultation on this alleged document.

Question: Has this Forward Plan actually been published and made available to the public?

Question: Were the public properly consulted over the Forward Plan?

"The Council has identified and communicated the Council’s vision of its purpose and intended outcomes for citizens and service users through the Forward Plan."

Question: As there has been no public consultation and the Forward Plan isn't readily available how can this statement be true?

Question: As the Town Council states there is a Forward Plan, has the Town Council communicated the outcomes of the previous forward plan(s)?

"The Council seeks to establish clear channels of communication with all sections of the community and other stakeholders, ensuring accountability and encouraging open consultation by:

(a) Publishing a newsletter (Priorities) four times a year."

According to the Annual Town Meeting minutes in answer to question I was informed by the Town Mayor that: "Priorities Magazine is NOT a Town Council publication". 

Question: Is Priorities a Town Council publication?

"(b) The Council seeks views from the community by questionnaire and its website."

Question: I have never seen any questionnaire in Priorities or via its website. How can the Town Council justify this statement?

Next bit.

Page 3 - Budget Comparison between for the year ended 2010.

Under this heading it says: "The following shows a comparison with the budget and out-turn figures for 2009/10."

I cannot tally the budget figures given to the original budget passed in January 2009. These are a whole new set of figures. 

Question: How are members of the public able to hold this Town Council to account when different figures are published to those originally agreed?

Page 19 - Related Party Transactions

In an answer to a question to the Annual Town Meeting I was informed: "The Town Council charges the Swimming Pool Trust for grass cutting and officers' time spent at meetings and preparation of accounts."

In the annual report the Town Council only admits to "administration". No mention of grass cutting.

According to the Charity Commission website the accounts the Town Council prepares for the Swimming Pool Trust are 191 days overdue.

Question: The Town Council informs the public that it is a related party, custodian of the site and is paid to prepare the accounts. As these accounts haven't been filed on time is the Council doing its job?

Regards
snrednek

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Last year I asked a whole load of questions. Grant Thornton only answered some of these after I prompted them the night before the presentation to the Town Council. Lets hope I don't have to prompt them again!