WARRINGTON Borough Council’s Chief Executive Prof. Steven Broomhead has defended a decision not to release a letter written last year by the council’s auditors, expressing concerns over the governance of the council’s investment programme.
Prof.Broomhead says it would not be “appropriate or helpful” to release information while the council continues to work with auditors Grant Thornton to get the council accounts signed off.
But the two Conservative Group members of Warrington Borough Council’s Audit and Corporate Governance Committee have strongly criticised the delay in providing the current Committee and Warrington residents with sight of what they say is an important letter from Grant Thornton, following on from the “spin” being put on the results of Together Energy.
At the Audit Committee on 22 July 2021, the Grant Thornton representative told the Audit Committee that he had written to the Council’s Chief Executive, Steven Broomhead, in May 2020 with a number of issues of concern including the governance of the Council’s investment programme and the decision to invest in Together Energy.
Tory Councillors Ken Critchley and Mark Jervis asked that the letter be made available to Committee members without delay.
But currently, the letter has not been released to Audit and Governance Committee members and is being delayed until the full audit has been complete.
However, the previous Audit and Corporate Governance Committee Chair had been provided with a copy of the letter although the letter was not released to the previous Audit and Corporate Governance Committee members.
Since the May 2021 Borough Council election, the then Audit Committee Chair is no longer a Member of the Council.
In response to the denial of access to the letter, Cllr. Jervis said, “I am astonished that Members and Warrington residents are being prevented from seeing a May 2020 Auditor’s letter referenced last month in a public meeting and already made available to the previous Committee Chair. There are already concerns about a lack of openness and transparency on the part of the Labour leadership and the refusal to make this letter available only serves to fuel the already genuine concerns of many Warrington residents about the governance of the Council’s opaque investment programme. The contents of the letter should have been known to the electorate well in advance of the May 2021 election but perhaps it contains some inconvenient truths for the Labour leadership”.
Cllr. Critchley added, “At a time when one of the Council’s riskiest investments, Together Energy, has just announced a further annual loss, it is more important than ever that members of the Audit Committee have the full information available to undertake their key scrutiny role on behalf of Warrington’s residents.”
Cllr. Jervis concluded: “The Conservative Group will continue to provide detailed scrutiny in upcoming meetings. It is simply not acceptable that a letter from May 2020 referred to by the External Auditor in a public meeting of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee has not been made available to the members of the audit and corporate governance committee. The denial of access to this letter only reinforces the view that a lack of openness and transparency surrounds the council’s Investment programme.”
But Professor Broomhead responded: “We continue to work with Grant Thornton over matters relating to the ongoing audit process and signing off our 2017/18 accounts.
“We agree with the need for, and value of, local scrutiny but whilst we are in the process of ongoing discussions with our auditor, it is not appropriate or helpful to release information which is only part of a lengthy ongoing discussion, and which may not necessarily be reflective of our overall audit position, nor the overall opinion of our auditors.
“We’re therefore not in a position to make any further comment and we await the most recent update from our auditor.”
Council remains confident in investment in Together Energy despite growing condemnation
4 Comments
This is a failure of process.
The Audit and Governance Committee’s job is to scrutinise such matters.
Hiding a key letter for more than a year is outrageous.
Seconded. The leadership’s protection from embarrassment isn’t a reason to hide anything.
I suppose, given their past record, it’s a wonder they haven’t shredded it?
How does Steven Broomhead’s involvement in this square with his role as Returning Officer – a supposedly apolitical appointment – at the recent elections?