Lib Dems Challenge Audit Inspection Letter

At a recent meeting of the Strategy & Resources Committee the borough council's annual Audit Commission letter for 2007/8 was found to contain factual inaccuracies but at least it was acknowledged that on recycling the council has "moved out of the worst 25% of councils"!

On recycling, the Audit Commission said "the proportion of waste recycled and composted has historically been well below the national average", a fact known only too well to local residents who have been well ahead of the council in their commitment to recycling. Later in 2009, when the new plastic bottle/cardboard collection has been rolled out across the whole borough, it is hoped that the council will achieve a recycling and composting rate of 50% of domestic waste.

The Audit Commission also stated "the number of days lost through sickness [of council staff] continued to increase in 2007/8 and was in the worst 25% of the councils" and "unaudited data for the first nine months of 2008/9 shows a significant improvement". Cllr Anna Jones challenged the unaudited data saying that sickness levels continued to be of concern and she would like clarification on exactly what "significant" meant. Comparisons were not available for discussion.

Of greatest concern though was a reference to projects delivered in 2007/8 when in fact only a pilot scheme had taken place and the remaining projects had not even begun by February 2009.

Furthermore, the council was criticised for having made no improvement at all in its level 2 rating on equality and diversity issues, with level 5 being the top rating and was recommended as "high priority" to improve its approach to equality and diversity through corporate and service planning.

Cllr Julie Morris asked Audit Commission representatives what their sources of information were for reporting on projects and progress on council key objectives. The response was that their information was often assembled after discussion with council officers and not validated or checked for accuracy. This begs the question as to whether it is possible for a political party in control of a local authority to encourage council officers to "over egg the pudding" when talking to Audit Commission officials, to ensure a good rating for overall performance.