Why is Wirral Council’s draft 2015/16 statement of accounts to be amended following concerns by myself and their external auditor?

Tom Sault (Acting Section 151 Officer) Wirral Council at the Audit and Risk Management Committee on the 13th June 2016

I’d perhaps better start by declaring the interest that I’m the person the letter below is to, in response to a letter I wrote to Robin Baker.

In an update to Why am I objecting to Wirral Council’s draft statement of accounts for the 2015/16 financial year? published on the 11th July 2016, I have today received a further reply (that you can read below) from Wirral Council’s auditors Grant Thornton dated 19th July 2016 which I quote from below. I’ve linked to the legislation referred to and the page of the statement of accounts that’s the issue. It seems they agree with me (although curiously don’t address the issue of bonuses too in their letter). I’ve left out some of the bits of their headed notepaper which I summarise in brackets ().

Please note the below letter I quote from was written by Robin Baker of Grant Thornton UK LLP (not myself).

Our Ref RJB/SB
Mr J Brace
Jenmaleo
134 Boundary Road
Bidston
WIRRAL
CH43 7PH

(Grant Thornton’s mailing address, telephone number, fax number and website address)

19 July 2016

Dear Mr Brace

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council
Thank you for your letter of 10 July 2016 to me, which also includes a copy of your letter of the same date to Mr Tom Sault.

I note from your letter that you wish to raise an objection to the accounts of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. You identify that the draft accounts included on the Council”s website does not comply with the requirements contained within the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. Specifically for Category 1 authorities there is a requirements under Regulation 2(1)(a) that for employees who salary is more than £150,000 per year, that the name of the employee is included within the Senior employee remuneration table. You highlight the Council’s Chief Executive is on a salary in excess of £150,000 yet he is not named in the table at note 32 of the draft accounts. You ask us to let you know whether we will consider this objection.

As part of our audit process I have reviewed the draft financial statements prepared by the Council. My review also highlighted the omission of the name of the Chief Executive from note 32 to the draft financial statements and I asked my team to raise the matter with the Council. The Council has acknowledged that the failure to name the Chief Executive in the draft financial statements is an oversight that will be corrected in the revised financial statements that will be published before 30 September 2016.

Thank you for raising this matter with me. Given the Council acknowledges the failure to name the Chief Executive is an oversight and will be corrected, we do not consider there is a need to treat this matter as a formal objection to the accounts. The failure to comply with the regulations will be corrected and there will be no continuing breach that would require us to consider whether the accounts are contrary to law.

If you do not agree with this view, please let me know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

(signature)

Robin Baker
Director
For Grant Thornton UK LLP

(bit at the bottom about how they’re Chartered Accounts, a LLP registered in England and Wales, registered office details, list of members available, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, member firm of Grant Thornton International (GTIL) etc)

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Why did Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority spend £24,000 + VAT on 4 half hour TV programmes and a short promotional film about re-use and recycling called We Are Stardust?

I’ll start this piece by declaring an interest in that I receive money from working in the broadcast media.

This is a continuation of a series on my experiences doing a citizen audit of local Merseyside public bodies relating to the 2015/16 financial year that started last Friday with Would you like to see 2 invoices (totalling £153,250.61) for pre construction work on the Saughall Massie fire station project?. As a local government elector I obtained this information by exercising a time limited right (there is a 30 working day window each year) using the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, s.26.

Below is a short note about some information revealed to myself on the 19th July 2016 by Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (the public name of Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority).

Just for information, Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority received £15.531 million from Wirral Council in the 2015/16 financial year and the two councillors from Wirral Council currently appointed to it are Cllr Steve Williams (Conservative) and Cllr Irene Williams (Labour).

The below documents are details of £24,000 + VAT spent with Brightmoon Media/Bay TV on four 30 minute TV programmes (plus a short promotional film) with a working title of We Are Stardust.

The producer was Roger Appleton and the Executive Producer for Bay TV Chris Kerr. The Executive Producer for Merseyside Recyclicing and Waste Authority was Stuart Donaldson.

The programmes are about waste prevention, recycling and reuse. As far as I know I haven’t seen the programmes myself, but I just thought you dear reader would like to know the detail about how local council taxpayers’ money is spent. So I include what was provided to myself below by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (whose motto is Merseyside… a place where nothing is wasted).

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 1 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 2 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 3 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 4 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 5 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 6 of 7

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Contract S 5011 C Brightmoon Media Bay TV Page 7 of 7

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Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillor Stuart Kelly explains to the Coordinating Committee why he disagrees with the Cabinet decision about Forest Schools and Healthy Homes 18th September 2014 Committee Room 1, Wallasey Town Hall

As reported previously on this blog the Wirral Council Cabinet decision to consult on two options involving changes to the green bin collection and a new food waste collection was called in.

A public meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been arranged to consider the call in. It will meet in Committee Room 2 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED starting at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 26th July 2016.

The papers for the meeting, which include the original Cabinet decision and the reasons for the call in were published on Wirral Council’s website today.

The following 25 councillors have called it in (a minimum of six is required to trigger a call in):

Cllr Stuart Kelly (Lib Dem)
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Lib Dem)
Cllr Chris Carubia (Lib Dem)
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lib Dem)
Cllr Alan Brighouse (Lib Dem)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Tom Anderson (Conservative)
Cllr Bruce Berry (Conservative)
Cllr Chris Blakeley (Conservative)
Cllr Eddie Boult (Conservative)
Cllr David Burgess-Joyce (Conservative)
Cllr Wendy Clements (Conservative)
Cllr David Elderton (Conservative)
Cllr Gerry Ellis (Conservative)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative)
Cllr John Hale (Conservative)
Cllr Paul Hayes (Conservative)
Cllr Andrew Hodson (Conservative)
Cllr Kathy Hodson (Conservative)
Cllr Tracey Pilgrim (Conservative)
Cllr Cherry Povall (Conservative)
Cllr Les Rowlands (Conservative)
Cllr Adam Sykes (Conservative)
Cllr Geoffrey Watt (Conservative)
Cllr Steve Williams (Conservative)

Video footage of the Cabinet meeting on the 27th June 2016 that took the decision can be watched below.

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Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting 27th June 2016 (item 9 Domestic Refuse Collection Outline Business Case starts at 25 minutes 21 seconds)

Those behind the call in are asking for a longer consultation (a consultation over three months) and a consultation on more than just the options agreed by Cabinet.

The green bin options were to consult on either:

a) switching to every three weeks for the green bin collection but keep the same size green bin

b) to keep fortnightly green bin collections but issue residents with a smaller green bin.

The Cabinet decision also proposed a consultation on a new food waste collection.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee is made up of the following councillors (although if councillors can’t make it to a meeting they can send deputies from the same political group in their place):

Cllr Phillip Brightmore (Chair), Labour
Cllr Steve Foulkes (Vice-Chair), Labour
Cllr Tony Jones, Labour
Cllr Julie McManus, Labour
Cllr Christina Muspratt, Labour
Cllr Louise Reecejones, Labour
Cllr Thomas Usher, Labour
Cllr Joe Walsh, Labour
Cllr Irene Williams, Labour
Cllr Adam Sykes (Conservative spokesperson), Conservative
Cllr Tom Anderson, Conservative
Cllr Bruce Berry, Conservative
Cllr Tracey Pilgrim, Conservative
Cllr Les Rowlands, Conservative
Cllr Chris Carubia, (Liberal Democrat spokesperson), Liberal Democrat

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What are the details of the recommendation to Wirral councillors about a senior management restructure at Wirral Council (1 redundancy, 5 promotions, 4 posts created and 4 vacant posts deleted)?

Surjit Tour (Monitoring Officer (Wirral Council)) at the Coordinating Committee held on 15th June 2016 (who is one of the employees recommended for an increase in pay)

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Employment and Appointments Committee will decide on changes to Wirral Council’s senior management next week on Monday 25th July 2016. If approved by councillors the restructure will take effect from November 2016.

This senior management restructure had been put on hold until Eric Robinson’s appointment by councillors as Chief Executive of Wirral Council in February 2015.

However these are the changes recommended to councillors and you can read the full details on Wirral Council’s website.

Redundancy (1)

There is a recommendation that one senior manager (the Head of Housing and Community Safety Ian Platt) be made redundant, offered early retirement and his post is deleted. However the recommendation from officers is that his name and the financial details of how much this will cost are kept out of the public domain before the public meeting and that councillors decide on whether to release the information about Ian Platt after the meeting has been held.

For comparison the early retirement of Kevin Adderley last year cost ~£49k in redundancy plus ~£207k in pension costs for early retirement but as Ian Platt is on a lower salary grade I estimate the costs to Wirral Council are roughly ~£30k in redundancy and ~£127k in pension costs total £157k.

Promotions (5)

The following senior managers are recommended to receive a promotion:

Tom Sault (who has been acting up to the s.151 officer role will be permanently appointed to it)

Surjit Tour (who has been Monitoring Officer since shortly after Bill Norman was suspended in 2012 will now receive extra pay for being Monitoring Officer too in addition to his other job)

Mark Smith (promoted from Head of Environment and Regulation to Strategic Commissioner for Environment)

Alan Evans (promoted from Investment and Business Manager to Strategic Commissioner for Growth)

Sue Talbot (promoted from Schools Commissioning Manager to Lead Commissioner for Schools)

Vacant posts deleted (4)

Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment (formerly Kevin Adderley)

Director of Resources (formerly Vivienne Quayle)

Head of Neighbourhoods and Engagement (formerly Emma Degg)

Head of Business Processes (formerly Malcolm Flanagan)

Posts deleted because postholder being promoted (3)

Investment and Business Manager (current postholder Alan Evans)
Schools Commissioner Manager (current postholder Sue Talbot)
Senior Manager (current postholder unknown)

Posts created (if approved by councillors) 4

Transformation Director (grade HS2 (£68,011 to £75,567))
Assistant Director: Commissioning Support (grade HS2 (£68,011 to £75,567))
Assistant Director: Community Services* (grade HS2 (£68,011 to £75,567))
Assistant Director: Adult and Disability Services* (grade HS2 (£68,011 to £75,567))

*Note new posts marked with * are recommended to be recruited internally from existing Wirral Council employees.

Penna will be advising Wirral Council’s Employment and Appointments Committee &Wirral Council officers on appointments to these four posts at a cost of £thousands per each post. If the creation of the new posts is agreed by councillors, councillors will also decide who the successful applicants are.

The councillors on Wirral Council’s Employment and Appointments Committee (although the councillors below can send a deputy in their place if they can’t make a particular meeting) are:

Cllr Adrian Jones (Chair) (Labour)
Cllr Phil Davies (Vice-Chair) (Labour)
Cllr George Davies (Labour)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour)
Cllr Moira McLaughlin (Labour)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Liberal Democrat)

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Would you like to see 2 invoices (totalling £153,250.61) for pre construction work on the Saughall Massie fire station project?

Below this are 2 two page invoices to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service for work by their contractor Wates Construction Ltd. This is for pre-construction work on the Saughall Massie fire station (as far as I know a planning application hasn’t been yet submitted).

One invoice is for £99,686.90 (£119,623.31 including VAT) paid on the 4th March 2016, the second is for £28,022.75 (£33,627.30 including VAT) paid on the 17th March 2016.

There are also some emails that accompany the invoices which show:

a) The contractor originally didn’t put Saughall Massie on the invoice but Prescot (Prescot is about 18 miles away from Saughall Massie and is another fire station project),

b) Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service refused to pay the invoice until it was amended and Saughall Massie put on it,

c) the contractor submitted an amended invoice but then spelt Saughall Massie as Saughall Massey.

Sadly the valuation breakdowns of what these invoices were for which was included in the Draft Payment Notice e-mail has not been shared with me. Apologies if the images below take a while to load, I scanned them in in colour by mistake instead of black and white. This has the effect of increasing the file size.