A small victory for Andrew Dismore in his fight to get the district auditor to investigate Barnet Council and how it has handled the Metpro Scandal. Following Mr Dismore's interventions, the district auditor is monitoring the response of Barnet Council. They state that they need to "be assurred that the council has carried out the actions it has committed to". They aslo state "As noted in our previous letter, if there are issues with progress, the robustness of the work or the extent of further problems identified from the councils review then we will carry our further investigations of our own and consdider the use of our statutory reporting powers, as required. We do not hesitate to assure you that we will exercise those powers if we deem it in the public interest to do. The findings of the the internal audit review and the robustness of management action to address any significant weaknesses will be pivotal to our decision".
I suppose it goes without saying that the bloggers of Barnet will ensure that they are held to this commitment. Here is the letter in full - click on image for a more readable version. Congratulations to Andrew Dismore for his efforts. An interesting contrast with the response of his rival for the GLA - Brian Coleman, who has said nothing about Metpro. The role of the GLA is to represent us and take an interest in important local issues. What do we conclude from the Colemans silence?
Sorry, this is pants. According to LBB's 2009/10 Accounts, Grant Thornton received £500K from the Council (£415K for external audit services). I assume they are getting something similar this year. Yet they did not spot the Metpro fiasco or do anything about the lack of procurement control. Now their "engagement leader" Paul Hughes (whose rate, at £380 per hour, makes Andrew Travers look cheap) says that it will be an extra cost to investigate further. As far as I can see, £500K just buys you a more expensive rubber stamp.
ReplyDeleteI suppose a kinder interpretation of Grant Thornton's letter would be "We are expensive and shit at our job, so save your money"