Meeting documents

The Chair extended a warm welcome to Mr.Rod Alcott (Relationship Manager and Performance Specialist, Wales Audit Office) and to Mr.Alan Morris (Relationship Manager, Wales Audit Office)           

1

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

2

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INSPECTION REPORT.

Mr.Rod Alcott provided Members with a brief presentation of the background to the decision by the Wales Audit Office to instigate a corporate governance inspection report. He stated that this Council had a long history of inappropriate behaviour and conflict. The persistence of the problems and the Council’s failure to resolve them were brought to a head in the Annual Letter issued by the Relationship Manager in January 2009 which recommended that the Auditor General carried out an inspection of Corporate Governance at the Council, due to concerns that difficulties in working relationships between some Executive members and some senior Officers were having a detrimental impact on the Council and its ability to fulfill the general best value duty.

The Auditor General  accepted the recommendation and the inspection was carried out during April 2009 with the remit of setting out to answer the question whether the Council was properly run.

The inspection concluded that the Council had a long history of not being properly run from its inception in 1996 to the present day. This had had a corrosive effect on the exercise of its functions and left it poorly placed to meet future challenges. This was because weak self-regulation of inappropriate behaviour and conflict had had a corrosive effect and had wasted Council resources and the Council was poorly placed to meet future challenges, including its duty to secure continuous improvement, because of the lack of direction, corporate leadership and accountability, even though there were good features in the performance of many services.

The recommendations within the report related to resolving long-standing problems that the Council had failed to address. It was the Auditor’s view that the Council would require external support and challenge to ensure that these recommendations were implemented.

The Leader of the Council thanked Mr.Alcott for his report. He paid tribute to the Council’s front line staff who had obviously been hurt by what had been contained within the report. He fully recognised that they were doing an excellent job and he wanted that to be a matter of public record. The draft report that had landed on his desk some weeks ago had made for painful reading. The final version before the Council today had not eased the disappointment. He felt that the Council had let down the ratepayers of Anglesey. This report laid bare the failings of the Authority on which he was an elected member and of which he was now Leader.

He was sure that many of those present in the Chamber today and beyond had shared his discomfort, embarrassment and anger at the fact that it seemed that the Authority as a whole had lost sight of what public service actually meant. How could we, as an Island with a long tradition of distinguished public servants find ourselves in this position.

He agreed wholheartedly with the Auditor General’s recommendations. How could he not agree. He had stood before the electorate for the first time last May on a platform arguing for change and reform. He did this because the constant bad publicity that our Council was getting in the press and media was harmful to all residents. It did not help when one was in conversation with someone who asked where you were from, and when one replied Anglesey, they responded by saying “that’s where the bent Council is.” Hardly the type of sentiments that would encourage inward investment to the Island. That was what perception did for the ordinary man in the street.

Even he had been surprised by the amount of change that was required. He agreed with the Auditor General that we needed to show leadership in our communities, that we needed a coherent strategic vision for the Island, that we had issues of accountability. But he also agreed that these were collective failings, not limited to the administration that had been in place since the last election. They were the failings of successive administrations and Councils. Members and Officers going back to 1996. Action should have been taken but wasn’t. The report was the culmination of all those years of inaction. You reap what you sow.

All in this Chamber were associated in varying degrees to the problems that had beset the authority and consequently the good governance of the Island. The Auditor General had identified in varying degrees ways in which this Council could improve. He had given this Council the opportunity of drawing a line in the sand, to move away from the past and focus firmly on the future. To offer leadership where it had hitherto been lacking, to be accountable for our actions.

The Leader needed to stress on behalf of the administration and despite what others had alleged in the media, or possibly in this Chamber, that this Council would accept full responsibility where the responsibility clearly lay with us. He hoped others in this Chamber would do likewise. His overarching objective for the remainder of his mandate would be to restore public confidence and trust in the authority. Furthermore, he would offer to the public and the Authority a guarantee that he would not tolerate any of the kind of behaviour identified within the report, either within his Group or administration. He was committed to taking all necessary action to ensure that it never happened again.

He hoped the Leaders of the Opposition Groups would offer him the same commitment. In terms of responding to the details of the recommendations, he and the Deputy Leader and the Acting Managing Director would be meeting with the Minister for Local Government tomorrow. Communication had been received from the Minister outlining what his proposals were. He asked the Acting Managing Director to identify those after he had completed his speech.

After the meeting with the Minister and after consultation with the Authority, we would set out the action intended to take and the timeframe in which it was hoped to achieve it. The Executive alone could not resolve these issues. They were collective failings which required collective action. It required compromise and putting in place measures which would allow effective scrutiny of the Council’s decisions without leaks and smears. It meant empowering those outside the administration so that they felt part of this Council. It meant restraint. More importantly it meant pulling together. He once again offered the hand of friendship to those outside the administration and asked them to work together for the benefit of the people of Anglesey.

He firmly believed in the concept of public service in that it had guided him throughout his public life. It continued to guide him since his election last year as an elected member of this Authority. Public service was neither about power, nor pecuniary advantage and was not about dispensing with long held political principles so that you could continue to hold on to what you had already got. Rather, it was about leadership, doing what was right for your community, addressing the major challenges the Island faced. It was also being trusted to do these things and being accountable. But it was an idea that had been lost in the haze of petty, vindictive, personal vendettas for far too long. It was about time that this Council re-learnt this meaning together.  

The Acting Managing Director informed Council that the letter from the Minister stated that he had considered carefully the report of the Auditor and that he agreed with the recommendations to better this Council. He did recognise in the letter that this was unprecedented and un-chartered waters for the him and the Welsh Assembly as well. He gave this Council until the end of this month to respond to him in writing as to its views on the intervention.

In the first instance, the Minister intended to appoint a temporary Managing Director to run the Council and the guidance would give constraints on all of the Council to work fully with that person to achieve the aims of the Action Plan which would address the weaknesses identified in the Auditor’s report. He would also be establishing a specialist Board to monitor how this Council was responding to the requirements within the next 18 months. The Minister would however, be prepared to use further powers if the response of the Council during that time was not acceptable. The contents of the letter had a material change upon the recommendations put forward in the report prepared by the Acting Managing Director to Council today and would have to be amended in order to reflect this.

Councillor R.G.Parry, OBE, stated that it was a very sad day for Anglesey. Certainly, something needed to be done and the Minister had realised how serious the situation was on Anglesey. The interim Managing Director would hopefully be able to address the situation. There was no other option. If this Council did not improve the way it behaved and acted, then additional steps would be taken by the Minister. He endorsed the Leader’s earlier comments as to the work done by staff under very difficult circumstances. The Services provided for the people of Anglesey were amongst the best in Wales and had been recognised as such in the Auditor’s report. He would also like to put on record his appreciation to staff.  

Councillor H.Eifion Jones stated that the Council must now look to change the culture into partnership working both with fellow Councillors and Officers. If the current Executive were to remain in post, he considered that their recent performance needed to be briefly examined. The current Executive came into power without a manifesto and hence no agreed policies. Twelve months later there was still no agreed sense of direction. The breakdown in the collective relationship between the Corporate Management Team (CMT) and the Executive prevented the CMT from exercising its legitimate role of challenging and supporting members in developing policy and direction. This had resulted in issues like the future of schools and leisure centres were put on hold and the obvious financial shortfall ignored.

The Executive’s priority he stated was Graigwen, which was an issue of no concern to Anglesey residents but an obsession to a few Councillors.This led to an erosion of trust between both parties and ended up with a letter sent by the former Leader on behalf of the Executive to the Auditors, highly critical of the CMT which was only shared with them following an FOI request. The reply from the CMT clearly showed in their view that several of the serious allegations made were false. However, the Executive had failed to withdraw them or even provide a formal response. He felt that until a full apology was given that it would be difficult to progress matters. Given the substantial likely cost of Assembly intervention, perhaps an apology to the Council Tax payers was also required.

Councillor Jones had long felt that the Board system would better suit Anglesey, where most candidates stood as Independent members, therefore not elected to any Group, and where political parties rarely focused on policies. This option was not in the report, but one key recommendation was, namely that political arrangements be changed within 12 months so as to allow Committees that were entirely independent of the Executive. This in his opinion was the only way forward as the Council must work in partnership on an inclusive basis using everyone’s talents. The Auditor’s report must be accepted in its entirety and the Council must all be committed to its implementation on a permanent basis and the Assembly must ensure that it is fully complied with. For the sake of residents and staff the Council’s reputation must be restored. Poor conduct or performance should not be tolerated, particularly by those in paid positions. Above all the Council required better political leadership and direction and hopefully a new Managing Director to drive forward improved services to residents.

Councillor T.Ll.Hughes stated that he accepted the contents of the report apart from the fact that in the interests of transparency, the report should have named those people who had caused the situation facing the Council today.

Councillor C.Ll.Everett agreed with that view. He also referred to the fact that he had put a Notice of Motion to the Council on 30th June, where he identified, as the former Chair of the Audit Committee, that there were officers within the Authority who were receiving instructions verbally from Portfolio Holders and that there should be a written record of these instructions. The Council voted against the motion since it considered that there were sufficient protocols in place. However, Para 82 of the Auditor’s report confirmed his Notice of Motion in this respect. He hoped that when this point was again considered by the Council, that it would receive the support it deserved. He also agreed that there were issues going back many years but he also considered that there were issues in the report clearly attributable to the new administration. This intervention at the end of the day was on the 40 members of the Council and not on Service delivery.

Councillor P.S.Rogers welcomed the contents of the report. He queried as to why this Council had not tried to address some of the problems faced in the time since the Inspectors arrived at this Council some 16 weeks ago? He also made reference to the fact that Councillor Everett, as an Opposition party member had been replaced as Chair of the Audit Committee by an Unaffiliated Member. If this Council was to go forward, Scrutiny Committees needed to be in the hands of the Opposition so that they had a role in the running of this Council. He also considered that the issue of the purchase of Craigwen also needed to be terminated by Council today.

Councillor Rhian Medi was of the opinion that the problems faced by this Council today had been transferred from the former Borough Council back in 1996. There was a strong feeling by some of the members and by the general public that the only way forward for this Council would be to get rid of the disruptive Councillors and then those problems would disappear. She did not think that a politically balanced Executive was the answer since between 1999 and 2004 there was a coalition on the Executive which included a cross section of various politicians. It did not work, in that it soon became a point scoring exercise with hidden agendas. At the end of the day it came down to personalities, people not being able to work together and old histories. Members were unable to discuss reasonably or rationalise their debate. Because of the situation this Council now faced, young people were moving away from the Island and did not want to return.

Councillor Raymond Jones considered that the Council should now all work together, put party politics to one side and all work for the benefit of the Island. He acknowledged that there was a disruptive element within the Council and he concurred with the statement that those members should be named and shamed. Other members of the Council were being tarred with the same brush in this respect.

Councillor John Penri Williams asked the Council to look to the future and not dwell on the past. Appropriate conduct by members was essential if this Council was to progress. It would be a disgrace if this Council could not achieve within 12 months those targets set by the Corporate Governance report.

Councillor B.Durkin stated that it had not taken long today to see the culture of blame take place at this meeting. If raising issues of unlawful activities was to be treated as a vehicle for abuse, victimisation, which was allowed at the ‘ambience of immunity’, was it little wonder that this Council was in this position today. He would hope when drawing a line under the past, that one would still be allowed to clear up serious issues that still needed to be dealt with.

Councillor W.J.Chorlton wished to state from the onset that he accepted the contents of the report. He considered that there were a lot of people working behind the scenes causing more trouble than he could ever cause in this Chamber and using other people to do their dirty work for them. At least he came in through the front door, not the back door.

He went on to state that the Council needed to put things behind it. but this was difficult when one had an attack like Councillor Durkin had made earlier regarding Graigwen. Because that was what he was referring to. Now, everyone knew that a mistake had been made with Graigwen, and he personally held his hands up. However, it was a technical error and nothing corrupt or illegal had taken place. It was illegal as far as the Constitution of the Council was concerned. If this matter kept coming back and back, this Council was never going to put things to bed.

Councillor B.Durkin in reply stated that if Councillor Chorlton thought he was referring to Graigwen, then he was sadly mistaken. Councillor Chorlton was in the Chamber only last week when he [Councillor Durkin] referred to having a file full of matters that needed to be dealt with, of very, very serious issues. Five years he had spent raising these issues. It had been dealt with by the Auditors and had said exactly what he had been saying, that it was unlawful. In his opinion, it was not particularly the meeting which made the unlawful decision, but what transpired after, when senior officers got together and decided it would be OK, didn’t matter that it was unlawful, just carry on with it. That’s what happened and that was not right and that had not been dealt with. But there were other serious issues, issues that we had seen and issues in which he had taken part in television programmes, raising issues on planning and departure applications being bulldozed through against the constitution and against the planning procedure rules. They had not been dealt with and he was so pleased that there was to be an intervention, because it would allow him then to ask the Intervention Board to look at those issues. Some of those issues had been proved by the very words of those involved, admitting their guilt, and still nothing was done. So, if Councillor Chorlton thought that he was referring to Graigwen, he repeated that he wasn’t, far from it. There were a lot of issues that needed to be dealt with and had to be dealt with.

Councillor G.W.Roberts, OBE, welcomed the report. It was not going to be an easy ride but commitment was required by all parties. According to the report, there had been a total breakdown in the relationship between the Executive and the CMT. He accepted that there had been a clash of personalities over the years and he included himself as being party of that. The time spent by officers investigating complaints from both sides had wasted valuable time and resources. There was an opportunity today to bury the Craigwen issue. He asked the Leader to agree that there was no need to pursue the issue. Outside auditors and the North Wales Police had concluded that nothing untoward had taken place in the purchase of the property.

The Leader in reply stated that he was in receipt of a letter from the Police following investigation of the matter and they had concluded that they would not be instigating a police investigation in to the purchase of Graigwen. He went on to state that the letter went on to state that it was known that this had been a contentious matter for a considerable period of time and had been a cause of much debate and criticism within the Authority. It was implicit that there were matters related to the purchase of Graigwen which were more appropriately dealt with by Internal Audit and Scrutiny processes and lay beyond the remit of the Police. The Police had not sought to include alleged minor breaches of Local Government Act legislation with the review of the evidence.

From the Executive’s point of view that was the end of the matter. Graigwen was closed.

Councillor G.W.Roberts,OBE, enquired as to why the former Managaing Director had left the employ of the Authority?

The Acting Managing Director advised the Council that the matter of the employment of the former Managing Director was not a matter for discussion in the Chamber today. The Council had discussed this issue fully at its meeting on 27th March and there had been agreement on both sides together with strict conditions attached to that agreement. The report did not make any reference at all to his leaving and he again considered it inappropriate to discuss this matter today.

Councillor W.J.Chorlton accepted the contents of the report. However, he contested the earlier statement made by the Leader in that he did not think that the Council was ‘bent’ in any form or fashion. He hoped that the Leader would be prepared to retract that comment.

The Leader in reply stated that he had merely repeated what had been said to him by members of the public and if that was the perception they had then he was very sorry. It was not his perception, but it was the perception that an awful lot of people had outside of the Council. He did not intend to withdraw what he had said since that was the perception.

Councillor W.J.Chorlton referred to the fact that allegations had been made against senior officers of the Council. Councillor R.G.Parry had stated on the radio the other day that he would apologise to those officers. He hoped therefore that the Executive would all apologise to those officers for what had been said.

Craigwen was a constitutional error but that nothing corrupt or illegal had taken place. In his opinion the Opposition had not been allowed to debate certain issues and that needed to take place before this Council could move on. He again offered the hand of friendship to the ruling party in the hope that things could progress.

Councillor J.V.Owen stated that there had been too many damning reports over the years as regards the failings of the Council. He considered that the main failure was that Opposition Groups had not been given an opportunity to scrutinise decisions made since the inception of the Executive.

Councillor K.P.Hughes accepted the recommendations contained within the report. He thought it was possible with the good will of the majority for this Council to achieve those targets. He requested the Council not to be too hasty in this respect since the outcome of those decisions would have a bearing on the future prosperity of the Island.

Councillor Bryan Owen also welcomed the report. He wished to point out to Council that the former Leader of the Council had before this inspection took place met with the Auditors at Llangefni and that the message he had given at the time was that the Council was not working properly and their support was required in order to address certain problems.

Councillor G.O.Parry, MBE, wished to make certain corrections to the report in that when the previous Executive were in power and when it was time to set the Council tax, they asked the Welsh Assembly for additional funding. They received a contribution, but instead of adding it to the Council tax, they set one of the lowest Council taxes in Wales and the remaining 21 Authorities in Wales were very bitter in this respect. There was also an underspend of approximately £1.2m on Social Services and no school meals contract in place.

He went on to propose that the report and recommendations contained therein be accepted. He was aware that the Acting Managing Director had provided further recommendations in his report to Council today but he proposed that no further action be taken until the Council knew what the position of the Minister was. Anything passed today might be premature and might frustrate the Council from moving forward within its Constitution.

The Acting Managing Director referred Members to Section 2 of his report. The discussion in the Chamber today had been to do with why this Council had reached this point. It was unlikely that there would be another Council meeting before mid September. This was too long a period in that decisions were required in the meantime in order to deal with some of the weaknesses identified in the Inspection report. Since the commencement of the Inspection 16 weeks ago, members and officers had been trying to address some of the weaknesses identified, the communication process, performance management, dealing with complaints, etc. Meetings had been held on a regular basis between officers and the Leaders of the Political Groups during that time. It was going to take time for the Minister to appoint an interim Managing Director and Intervention Board and of course the Council should not today in his opinion pass anything that would tie their hands. However,some of the recommendations contained in the Inspection report were operational from 16th July, 2009 and the clock had therefore started ticking.

The Acting Managing Director went on to refer members to the contents of his report which stated that on 15 July 2009, the Auditor General had published a report on corporate governance within the Isle of Anglesey County Council, following an inspection on this aspect of the Council’s work by the regulators in March and April 2009.  A consensus had been established across the political groups and the Corporate Management Team to welcome the report and to accept its recommendations.  Attached to this report, for information, was a copy of the press statement issued on behalf of the Council by the Acting Managing Director.

In addition to presenting seven main recommendations, the Auditor General also resolved to recommend to the Welsh Assembly Government Ministers that they should direct the Council to take the necessary steps to implement the whole of the recommendations within 18 months of the publication of the report, together with collaborating with the Board to be established to oversee the work of implementing these recommendations.

In a statement to the Assembly, on 15 July 2009, Dr Brian Gibbons, the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government in Wales announced his intention to intervene in the running of the Council.  [A copy of his statement was attached to this report].  At the time of writing the report it was not clear what extent the Assembly Government would intervene in the running of the Council.  A meeting had been arranged between Dr Brian Gibbons AM, the Deputy Leader and the Acting Managing Director on 21 July 2009, and it was likely that further initial guidance would be given at this meeting regarding the proposals, with the matter becoming clearer over the next few weeks, followed by a further announcement from the Minister in the Assembly at the beginning of September.

In view of the uncertainty outlined above, it was difficult to present a specific strategy at present to address the recommendations in the Auditors report, but when considering that the requirements in the recommendations needed to be implemented within a defined period, as noted in the report, it was suggested that there were matters which the Council needed to consider forthwith.

When considering the need to commence action immediately to address the main weaknesses identified in the findings of the report, it was recommended that the Council establish a special panel, with political balance, to oversee the work of formulating policies and the revising of procedures with the senior officers and to report on progress to the Executive and County Council as appropriate.  The brief and functions of this panel would be conditional to the arrangements that would come into force when the Intervention Board was established by the Welsh Assembly Government.

At its meeting held 27 March 2009, the County Council resolved as follows:

“That the process of recruiting a successor [to the Managing Director] should be referred to the Appointments Panel to consider further and to make recommendations to the Council”.

However, since the time of writing this report, the Minister had stated that he would be appointing an Interim Managing Director and the Acting Managing Director therefore considered that there was no need at present to move ahead and appoint a successor.

It was obvious that the Council would need additional resources, both in financial and staff specialism aspects, to respond fully and appropriately to the requirements of the report.  It was recommended that the Leader of the Council be authorised to discuss these requirements with the Leader and Chief Executive of the Welsh Local Government Association forthwith, emphasising to the WLGA the need for additional assistance for the Council in the short term.  The Council would also need to keep into consideration the possibility that it may need to meet the full or partial costs of the Intervention Board when established.

One of the main recommendations in the Auditors report was the need for the Council to strengthen the way in which it formulated and scrutinised its decisions, and that it should develop more robust and inclusive decision-making processes.  It was recommended that the Modernisation Panel commence on the work of revising the relevant parts of the Council’s Constitution that would enable it to develop improved procedures on scrutiny aspects, and report to the Council on its progress in this direction.  It was equally obvious that the work of the Modernisation Panel also would need to be conditional on the arrangements intended for the Intervention Board.

During the past weeks the Executive and the Corporate Management Team had already embarked on the task of responding to some of the specific weaknesses in the governance arrangements, such as strengthening the Corporate Complaints Procedures, improving the Corporate Management Performance arrangements, through a more corporate response to the outcomes of the quarterly monitoring meetings in the Departments, and developing a more comprehensive system of managing the Council’s main risk areas.

The relationship between the Executive and the Corporate Management Team, together with the political group leaders and the senior officers, had also been strengthened through regular meetings, both formally and informally, to brief members on aspects of the main matters of Council business.

The Auditor General had given the Council a month notice to resolve the internal difficulties regarding the purchase of the Craigwen, Amlwch property.  It was recommended that the Council authorise the political group leaders and the Acting Manager Director, in consultation with the relevant officers, to collaborate on resolving this problem, with a view that the Auditor General be informed within a month that a consensus had been established to close this matter once and for all, and to report on progress on these discussions on a regular basis to the Chair of the Council.

In his report the Auditor General stated clearly that the report was not critical of the quality of front-line services provided by the Council for the tax payers and communities of Anglesey, or the staff who provided these services.  It was recommended that the Council authorise the Acting Managing Director to write to all members of staff indicating the appreciation of Council elected members of the work undertaken by staff in the services and their support and allegiance to the Council during this difficult time.

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To accept the findings and recommendations contained within the Corporate Governance Inspection Report

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That meetings continue to be held on a regular basis between the Leaders of the Political Groups and the Corporate Management Team in order to oversee the work of formulating policies and the revising of procedures and to report on progress to the Executive and County Council as appropriate.

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That authority be given to the Leader of the Council to discuss with the Leader and Chief Executive of the Welsh Local Government Association, the need for additional resources, both in financial and staff specialism aspects, in order to respond fully and appropriately to the requirements of the Inspection report.

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That conditional upon arrangements to be established by the Welsh Assembly Government, a politically balanced Modernisation Panel be formed (consisting of Members and Officers) to commence work on revising the relevant parts of the Council’s Constitution so as to enable the Council to develop improved procedures on scrutiny aspects, and to report back to the County Council on progress made in this direction.  

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That the Auditor General be informed that a concensus has been agreed to by this Council to bring the Craigwen property purchase issue to a close.

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That authority be given to the Acting Managing Director to write to all members of staff expressing the appreciation of Council elected members of the work undertaken by staff in the Services and their support and allegiance to the Council during this difficult time.