THE town’s Conservatives believe the Labour-run council has ‘inadequate systems of internal control’ and is calling for the ‘inadequacies’ to be addressed urgently.

At the council’s recent audit and corporate governance committee meeting, Conservative councillors proposed an alternative conclusion to the annual governance statement.

The alternative conclusion was that the council had ‘inadequate systems of internal control’ and that ‘these inadequacies needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency’.

Conservative councillors Ken Critchley and Mark Jervis drew upon their ‘direct experience of the workings of the council’ and the findings the of the committee’s ‘own self-assessment’, which reported that only 50 per cent of the members who responded considered the committee to be effective.

The Tory councillors not only believed that the committee was ineffective, but also raised concerned regarding the effectiveness of the council’s own corporate governance group.

Conservative councillors concluded that based upon three key elements of the council’s governance framework being compromised that the systems of internal control of the council were inadequate.

The amended wording to the annual governance statement proposed by the Conservative councillors read: “Having due regard to the significant governance issues that have been outlined in this statement and the lack of effective member scrutiny, the lack of openness and ongoing concerns regarding the value for money being achieved by the council our review finds that the council has inadequate systems of internal control to support the achievements of its policies, aims and objectives and those control issues have to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

The motion was defeated, with Labour members voting against it.

Cllr Critchley said: “It is my opinion that the key controls of the council’s governance framework are not operating effectively.

“The audit and corporate governance committee is not effective, the self assessment report supports this view, it also, in my opinion, operates in a partisan fashion which seriously undermines its governance role."

“Additionally the committee has failed to follow guidance in that it has not recruited an independent member and continues to drag its feet in this vital appointment.

“I am deeply concerned that unless the flaws in governance and internal controls are recognised and dealt with that the council is highly exposed to more fiascos like the Together Energy debacle.”

A report to the committee said the annual governance statement supports the council’s statement of accounts and outlines how it manages its affairs to deliver ‘high quality services’ and ensure that public money is ‘spent effectively’.

The committee approved the council’s draft annual governance statement for 2021-22, to ensure that the council maintains an ‘effective framework’ of corporate governance and to assist the council in meeting its statutory requirement to review the effectiveness of its systems of internal control.

Deputy council leader Cllr Cathy Mitchell, Labour, has issued a statement.

She said: “The audit and corporate governance committee is a cross-party group and any requests to discuss matters related to the group, or matters related to the group itself and how it operates, can be made to the chair of the committee.

“A number of the matters raised have not yet been discussed at the committee. For example, the self-assessment agenda item was formally deferred in the previous meeting to be discussed at a future meeting - which current committee members will be aware of. The council regularly reviews examples of best practice in governance and in local government and also carries out external inspection reports as part of its commitment to continuous improvement.

“Finally, it must be stressed that if elected members have concerns about officers or their operational departments or functions, they must raise these concerns through the correct channels.”