The £16.1 Million bung to Capita - Clarification regarding Councillor Hugh Rayner

Yesterday the Barnet Eye asked the question whether the chair of the Barnet Business management overview and Scrutiny committee, Councillor Hugh Rayner should resign following the committees inaction over the £16.1 million pound gift to Capita, passed via a DPR.

Following various exchanges of emails as to which committee should be responsible for this, please see the description of the purpose of the committee from the Council website

The purpose of the Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee is to monitor and coordinate overview and scrutiny work across the authority. 

The Committee has the power to appoint Scrutiny Panels and Task & Finish Groups to look at certain issues in depth, and receive reports on the progress of these groups.  The Committee can also receives petitions, and is tasked with reviewing policy framework and the development of policy which does not fall within the remit of other Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Committees also consider call-ins and Councillor Calls for Action.

Full details of the committee and its membership can be found here
http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=119

Councillor Rayner is also a member of the

Budget and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The council website states that the function of this commitee is

The Budget and Performance Committee scrutinises the overall performance, effectiveness and value for money of council services. This includes the council’s annual budget process, the financial management of resources, and the planning, implementation and outcomes of all corporate improvement strategies.  The Committee also has responsibility for scrutinising One Barnet projects throughout the programme’s lifecycle.

http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=123

Which means that Councillor Rayner is the chair of one committe which should ensure scrutiny of decisions is properly performed. He is also a member of the committee which is directly responsible for dealing with the Budget decisions regarding One Barnet. Thus far I am sorry to report that Councillor Rayner, despite these two important roles, has been singularly unable or unwilling to respond regarding what exactly either of the two committees he is involved in has done.

Now for all I know, Councillor Rayner is preparing a full response which will fully answer my concerns regarding the transfer of assets to a private company. If he does, we will publish that response. One thing which is becoming 100% clear to me, from various emails I have received is that this issue is clearly something which no Barnet Conservative Councillor is prepared to discuss. It is clear that they know something they are rather keen for the rest of us to be "protected" from.