Denise Lloyd
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From Sunshine Radio
Herefordshire Council does not rule out criminal investigation
Thursday, March 21st, 2019 8:29pm
By Carmelo Garcia - Local Democracy Reporter
Herefordshire Council officers are not ruling out that a possible criminal investigation is the reason past accounts at the local authority cannot yet be signed off.
A leading councillor resigned from a committee last week over growing frustration surrounding the enigmatic issue preventing external auditors Grant Thornton from issuing a certificate of closure for 2016/17 accounts.
Auditors say the matters related to a single issue which they cannot disclose due to confidentiality requirements.
This matter is preventing them from issuing the certificate, but they said it had no direct implications for the current audit of the council.
Monitoring officer Claire Ward said in a report to the audit and governance committee on March 19 that the council cannot say what the matter relates to.
She said the exempt information ‘falls within many of paragraphs 1 to 7 in schedule 12A’ of the Local Government Act 1972.
The authority would not rule out if the issue relates to a potential criminal investigation and would also not comment when pressed on which specific paragraphs of the schedule applied.
Councillors have so far been unsuccessful in prizing answers out of officers at four different meetings.
It’s Our County co-leader Liz Harvey said councillors were none the wiser despite setting a deadline for answers this month – she resigned with immediate effect during the meeting on Tuesday.
“It says quite clearly that the council set a deadline for whoever it is who is providing with external advice,” she said.
“Is it the police?
“This is almost the final straw. Once again this is kicked down the road, beyond the next election.
“Are we waiting for somebody not to be elected? Are we waiting for somebody to die?
“Are we waiting for somebody’s contract of employment to run out so that we can say they are no longer an employee of this council?”
Deputy monitoring officer Annie Brooks said the action was with a third party and they could not put the information in the public domain.
Conservative chairman Paul Newman asked again why the certificate had not been issued and asked how long would it go on for.
Chief finance officer Andrew Lovegrove could not say.
“The process that is in place needs to conclude and once the conclusion is reached then we will follow another course of action which will come to an end and Grant Thornton can issue their certificate of completion,” he said.
“I appreciate that is quite cryptic, but the issue is quite a complex one and we are reliant on external experts to do things.”
A council spokesperson said external audit is an important part of ensuring the authority has effective governance arrangements in place.
“External auditors Grant Thornton have given their opinion of ‘satisfactory assurance’ and signed off the accounts for 2016/17, however they are unable to issue a certificate of completion due to a remaining area of work,” he said.
“No part of the report to the audit and governance committee was exempt, however the nature and details of this remaining area of work must remain confidential.
“Once the matter is concluded Grant Thornton will be able to complete their processes and issue the certificate.
“Due to ongoing processes there is information which needs to remain confidential at this time as its disclosure may affect the ability to bring the matter to a conclusion.
“While it is rare that information is withheld when doing so we always consider whether the reasons for withholding the information outweigh the public interest in making the information public.
“It is in the public interest that this matter is able to be brought to a conclusion.”
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Far too much for one person to win - only hope that he can see through the vultures and listen to the few sensible financial advisers..Hope some local charities and good causes will benefit from this win.
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Yet another building occupied by our Council in danger of becoming beyond economic repair
https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/17501979.part-of-shirehalls-ceiling-collapses/
Please can we have a Council who actually cares about the county
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A little bit unkind but very funny and fairly true
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PLANNING | ✅ Planning permission granted for Burger King to open a restaurant in the former Lakeland Unit on Commercial Street in Hereford!
The outlet will open this spring.
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Can somebody please answer a question of mine. Burger King say there will be 50 Full time employees yet Pepes Piri Piri say they will be employing 5 full time and 3 part time staff.
It makes no difference to me apart from employment for the youngsters but why the enormous difference? Are Burger King's proposed premises 6 times larger than Pepes proposed premises.
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Again. Put a property in the care of the HC and it never looks as good again.
Just how much is this scaffolding costing the tax payer?
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New student halls approved by #Herefordshire's planning committee today, for the Art College & new university. The design was significantly different to the original submitted version, due to the visual impact on the railway station, a listed building
. http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50064642/183841%20Station%20Approach%20Hereford.pdf …
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Perhaps Rone Price and all the other who so support the bypass idea that they want to go down in the books as the ones who brought the bypass to Hereford. Would they get the same notoriety with switching the lights off?
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Elections coming up they might well change their tune and adopt Colin's suggestion as their own.
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Well that might well be true but at the very least they should be affordable to the people who live in this county they should be of the size/type and they should be built in the right places!
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that looks better!
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I have not got the qualifications that these guys and gals have nor do I get paid the sums of money they do - but you know what this is precisely what I have been saying for years - developers rule!
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Whilst I am assured HC is not involved in this particular fiasco still makes for interesting reading and just over the border
Surprisingly the link works for me
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A new PA has now been submitted for this pub to be turned into a Co op
Unsurprisingly there have already been many objections
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And yet a friend of mine who was driving the wrong type of vehicle was told he could not drop a large fridge freezer off so he said can I walk it in and they said yes = somebody should write a book Tales from the Tip
I wish the scrap man (with a permit of course) would surface again
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The tip has become such a job's worth I hear tip tales most weeks seriously needs a sort out
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Talking about contracts and all that I think HC had a hand in this contract - oops
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-46964672
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and if in Rotherwas be much closer to the larger companies where the students are supposed to be doing the majority of their learning
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NMITE in talks about Robert Owen School - no surprises there
There are so many different NMITE forums on this site would it be better to marry them up a bit? and close off the others
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Similar to the Seaboard contract all very strange and questionable
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Should take the quickest possible route through planning and build post haste
Financing it should not really be a problem if the Government can throw billions at a possible no deal Brexit
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Whilst looking on the HC News website for confirmation of something I heard about NMITE (which I failed to find) I happened across the 2 links relating to the Social Care recent cases.
Thought I would post them before they are mysteriously removed
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWFC/HCJ/2018/76.html&query=(WR0007/18)
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWFC/HCJ/2018/72.html&query=(WR18Z00057)
I have not yet read them but feel they will make for very uncomfortable and worrying reading
Local Elections 2019
in Open Forum
Posted
About time a forum was opened for this.
It is fairly public now Jon Johnson for Wormside is not standing again.
I do not think David Harlow is standing either.