Mystery over Peterborough CFO resignation
John Harrison, chief finance officer at Peterborough City Council, has resigned abruptly with no explanation. Harrison has decided to step down from his £150,000 a year role after 12 years in post. John Holdich, leader of the council, said: “John’s last day will be July 31, 2017. On behalf of the council, I would like to thank John for his services and wish him good luck for the future.” A spokesperson for the council told a local newspaper that it could not say any more due to a legal agreement associated with the resignation.
LGPS funds launch new investment framework tender
Local Government Pension Scheme funds have launched a tender for places on a framework to provide investment consultancy services. Norfolk County Council on behalf of a group of funds, is looking for up to 10 providers of investment consultancy services, manager search/selection/monitoring and review services, as well as investment-related project services. The framework will be in place for four years, with LGPS funds or pools able to let contracts for five years, with a maximum two year extension.
Lambeth dismisses People’s Audit
London Borough of Lambeth has dismissed claims of poor financial mismanagement made by a group of citizen auditors. The People’s Audit used powers introduced under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to scrutinise spending, and raised a number of concerns, including the appearance of price fixing by contractors. However, a council spokesman told Room151: “The council’s statement of accounts for 2015/16 were fully signed off by an independent external auditor. The external auditor has taken into account all of the issues raised in the People’s Audit and did not uphold any of the objections to the accounts. We welcome transparency and the right of members of the public to audit local authority accounts and council officers were supportive to this group in accessing information last year. However, the findings laid out in the report do not reflect the reality of the council’s finances, which are transparent and fully audited.”
Councils boost spending with SMEs
Almost half of spending by the largest UK local authorities is now made with small and medium enterprises, according to a new study. Research by Oxygen Finance found that 42% of spending by councils with an annual spend of more than £100m now goes to SMEs. But the report revealed a culture of late payment by local authorities. Ben Jackson, CEO at Oxygen, said: “Clearly the will in local government is there and the sustainable procurement focus is a terrific first step, but it does increase local, small and micro suppliers’ dependence on the council’s payment performance.”
Call for more cash to support councils in wake of Grenfell tragedy
Councils need more money from central government to deal with building checks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, according to the strategic director of neighbourhoods and growth at London Borough of Lambeth. Speaking to an All Party Parliamentary Group last week, Sue Foster said: “The bottom line for all of this is that it will cost a lot of money and take a lot of resources. I am already having to redirect a lot of my staff to deal with Grenfell and they are not able to deal with other things. There has to be a clear understanding from central government that we need resources to be able to do this.”
