Wirral Council crackdown on gifts to officers (From Wirral Globe)
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Wirral Council crackdown on gifts to officers
4:32pm Wednesday 13th February 2013 in News By Leigh Marles
Wirral Council crackdown on gifts to officers
PROCEDURES to ensure council officers respond properly when they receive free gifts or face conflicts of interest have been tightened up following a wrap on the knuckles by the district auditor.
Last September the auditor highlighted freebies accepted by officers - including theatre trips, horse races tickets, an airline flight, rounds of golf and a foreign holiday - were among those not properly recorded.
The report did not name individual officers nor did it reveal where the generous donations came from.
However, it highlighted there had been a “high incidence of non-compliance with procedures and incomplete records,” and the department of adult social services was singled out as having no register for gifts and hospitality.
The department was given a one-star rating, meaning the current system is in “urgent need of improvement.”
Now a new set of guidelines has been drawn up and is ready for approval by the employment and appointments committee tomorrow night.
A report by the council’s human resources manager, Tony Williams, says the “Conflict of Interest and Gifts and Hospitalities Policies and Procedures” have been reviewed in the light of the auditor's criticisms.
They now provide greater clarity of the council’s position, the responsibilities of officers and the procedures they must follow to ensure compliance.
His report reminds councillors: “The council is funded almost entirely from public funds, either through grants from central government or through council tax, funded from the local tax-payer.
“It is therefore essential that the authority can demonstrate the highest standards of probity in general, and specifically in relation to its dealings with third parties.
“The council therefore needs appropriate policies and procedures in place to provide a clear framework for how offers of gifts and hospitality and potential conflicts of interest should be handled."
And he warns things must improve or risk a fate dreaded by the town hall since consultant Anna Klonowski's damning review of corporate governance: "the potential for damage to the council’s reputation”.
The new procedures give detailed guidance on what represents a conflict of interest and the type of gifts that must be declared.
They insist all department heads keep an up-to-date record and that it is logged with HR.
Officers will be “given clarity” on the potential consequences of non-compliance with the rules.
And an annual report detailing all gifts and declarations will be collated and sent to councillors.
Comments(21)
bigfoot
says...
6:41pm Wed 13 Feb 13
I await to see who will be in the hospitality tent at the next Hoylake Open
munching on prawn butties!
Positive thinker
says...
7:31pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Positive thinker
says...
7:32pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Growl Tiger
says...
8:15pm Wed 13 Feb 13
WirralAl
says...
10:33pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Positive thinker wrote:You must be the idiot then. The globe has once again highlighted just how stupid WBC staff have had bung after bung.
It appears that Globe print these headlines to get all the idiots going
MDRyUK
says...
7:44am Thu 14 Feb 13
It has implications right across the board encompassing quality and honesty in the decision making processes at Wirral Council today.
This also involves "trust", so the question we - residents of Wirral - must ask: do we trust the decision makers on the top table? Do we trust 'em?
Sadly as soon as the District Auditor who is involved pointing to these inadequacies at Wirral Counci, quite honestly and frankly it makes one wonder what else is going wrong?
Food for thought, isn't it? Especially as we still don't know what strategy is now in place delivering savings this year 2013-14 (from 1st April) of a staggering total around £77 million, including one off 'toxic debt" mountain. How come that's just been brought to light ....................
....... see what I mean about this question of TRUST then.
Residents and staff of Wirral borough are not in a good place at the moment, are we?
ordinary personn
says...
8:27am Thu 14 Feb 13
How worrying is it if senior officers need the rules on accepting gifts "clarifying"? Are we paying a fortune for people who can't read? Seeing as they are so dim, I suggest the rule should be simplified to - "Do not accept any gifts or hospitality" end of!
MX
says...
10:41am Thu 14 Feb 13
PaulCa
says...
1:34pm Thu 14 Feb 13
.... she said she "didn't have time" to investigate abuse at Balls Road supported living - which breached her remit.... (Comment required please Tory leader. Why was she paid 250k after failing so badly? - and please stop ignoring my tweets)....
.... absolutely NO accountability has flowed from it, and most of the participants have had their behaviour and their identities protected and concealed.
Those who ARE identified within the report as 'possibly' dysfunctional or failing have either moved on to bigger and better things (the person who dreamed up the 4 week delay in care to save money is now National Lead for End of Life Care in the NHS), or have trousered hundreds of thousands of pounds of our money in pay offs.
I forecast the giving and receiving of gits will continue unhindered despite this latest volley of hollow assurances.
I don't think a jumped up, long term occupant of the local "big time", accustomed to all the trimmings, would turn his nose up at a corporate hospitality box with all the trimmings at the next Liverpool / Everton game do you?
The CEO Graham Burgess has set the bar quite high and "led by example" in the past. See the Daily Telegraph.
So expect more of the same old same old.
PaulCa
says...
1:39pm Thu 14 Feb 13
I hope none of the guilty parties took offence.
bigfoot
says...
4:34pm Thu 14 Feb 13
I think it read better in the original!
johnhardaker
says...
6:44pm Thu 14 Feb 13
Their favourite phrase being there is no case to answer, & the sooner wirral ratepayers wake up to the fact that there is a case to answer the better & that commissioners are appointed to manage this disgraced borough.
I think Paul was right & not a typo the cap certainly fits the officers & councilors of wirral .
My apologizes to anybody who is deaf dumb & blind I hope their carers will see what I was getting at in my opening paragraph.
Hugo1008
says...
8:11pm Thu 14 Feb 13
The overwhelming majority of senior officers, councilors, mayors, and clerks are greedy, corrupt, self serving, cheats, with no moral compass, or honest true intentions as far as being responsible genuine servants of the community.
Lets get rid of the whole bag of parasites just as soon as possible.
Positive thinker
says...
10:11pm Thu 14 Feb 13
uncatom
says...
9:20am Fri 15 Feb 13
Hugo1008
says...
9:43am Fri 15 Feb 13
Remember you prove my points every time you put finger to keyboard,
You cannoy bribe an Honest Person, so the fact that you can bribe a council employee or a councillor, should immediatly bar that person from any sort of office.
antisthenes
says...
10:24am Fri 15 Feb 13
They are one and the same entity; in effect indistinguishable from and to all intents and purposes de facto remunerated council officers.
Hence their inability to perceive any conflicts of interest and their blind endorsement of behaviours that elsewhere would not be countenanced.
They are all in it together and despite senior councillors having been forced by public pressure to sacrifice senior officers, albeit by dismissing them with a sack full of cash; essentially nothing has changed.
Positive thinker
says...
10:25pm Tue 19 Feb 13
PaulCa
says...
11:32pm Tue 19 Feb 13
Here's some pretty damning stuff, straight from the horse's mouth.
Best indication so far, without naming names, on who was up to what.
http://tinyurl.com/b
6gspdo
RL 1952
says...
11:01am Fri 22 Feb 13
How incompetent are councillors and MPs to allow these potentially corrupt practices to continue we have over the last few years had damning reports about DASS from the CQC, AKA and now the district auditor but the inept senior management team carries on untouched.
We now have three supposed super directors that has added over £300K to the annual budget, yet we still have a Director of Adult Social Services who has proved he cannot be trusted when he promises improvements ( Mother Redcaps) report so why oh why have our elected members made the CEOs appointment permanent when the rot is increasing and improvements are noteable by their absence.
Growl Tiger says...
6:11pm Wed 13 Feb 13
When my husband was chairman of the Parish council in Herefordshire he had to declare any gifts over £25 and any interests in local issues.
If this could be done successfully in rural Herefordshire without anyone feeling the release of that information needed to be hidden under some vague clause under the Freedom of Information Act why does this Council find it so difficult to face up to honesty and accountability?
Answers please on the back of an old Wallasey golf score card or any fag packet you can find in your pocket on which WBC may have written its minutes.