What the Parish Clerk informed me about the accounts.

John Vickery says:

The Council had requested an extension of time to the 10th July 2017 from Littlejohn LLP (the External Auditor)  for the submission of the annual return. This was received on the 28th June 2017. Therefore the Councillors acted lawfully in deferring the consideration of the Annual Return to the 4th July 2017.

Yet the Auditors have no power to make extensions. They are under the same law as the Council. The Council had already decided on 20th June 2017 to delay the approval until 4th July 2017. Any extension was not lawfully valid. As can be seen from the Annual Return:

As can be seen from the Annual Return the Parish Council has been qualified for not publishing the Annual Return before 3rd July 2017.

Qualified Accounts for Cambourne Parish Council

The PKF Littlejohn LLP (the external auditors for Cambourne Parish Council) have reported on the 2016/17 accounts. These accounts are qualified (which is bad) rather than unqualified (which is good).

This is the second time, in its short history, Cambourne Parish Council has had qualified accounts. Previously, the 2013/14 accounts were qualified.

The reason the 2016/17 accounts were qualified was:

The Councillors agreed with the statement below:

The Parish Council has been pulled up on this because they said Yes when CPC didn't prepare the accounts in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations. They should have said No!

How did this happen?

The start was the Council Meeting of 20th July 2017. The Parish Clerk (also Proper Officer and Responsible Finance Officer) requested the Council defer the Annual Return until 4th July 2017. The councillors agreed.

This decision is illegal. The law requires that the Annual Return to be approved and published before, for this year, 3rd July 2017. It is also against The Councils' own standing orders which state the Annual Return must be present to Council by 30th June 2017. This decision also went against the Councils' own Financial Regulations.

The Parish Clerk published on 7th July 2017 the Notice of Public Rights etc dated 30th June 2017. This had the common period of public inspection as starting 3rd July 2017. Not only was this 5 days after it should have been published it was not accompanied by the Annual Return which wasn't agreed until 4th July 2017.

On 10th July 2017 the Parish Clerk tried again. This time publishing the Annual Return. This should have been published before 3rd July 2017.

Having made a hash of this  so far the Parish Clerk tried once again and on 24th July 2017 published the Notice of Public Rights etc. This time he got is right but very late.

Need this have come to pass?

The answer is no. The Council had time to call a Council Meeting to approve the Annual Return before the 3rd July 2017. It was tight but with proper management could be achieved.

The reason they didn't is the Councillors didn't follow the law and their own standing orders and financial regulations. The Councillors agreed to defer the approval to 4th July 2017. The law is the law and can only be changed by or through Parliament. A Council has to act within the law and the powers and duties given to it. The Councillors, who were at the meeting of 20th June 2017, by deferring the approval to 4th July 2017 broke the law as they didn't have the power to do this.

The idea that Councillors didn't know the law is no excuse. They passed their revised standing orders and financial regulations on 17th May 2017. Don't theses Parish Councillors read what they agreed.

This is not good governance.

Cambourne Parish Council keeps breaking the law!

The law says:

Publication of statement of accounts and annual governance statement for Category 2
authorities
13.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), a Category 2 authority must, after the conclusion of the period
for the exercise of public rights but not later than 30th September of the financial year
immediately following the end of the financial year to which the statement relates, publish (which
must include publication on that authority’s website)—
(a) the statement of accounts together with any certificate or opinion entered by the local
auditor in accordance with section 20(2) of the Act; and
(b) the annual governance statement approved in accordance with regulation 6(3).
(2) Where documents are published under paragraph (1), the authority must—
(a) keep copies of those documents for purchase by any person on payment of a reasonable
sum; and
(b) ensure that those documents remain available for public access for a period of not less
than five years beginning with the date on which those documents were first published in
accordance with that paragraph. 

Cambourne Parish Council waited until 20th October 2017, well after it should have done to put these documents on their website.

Cambourne Parish Council just keeps breaking the law.

The new Parish Council website?

The new website was supposed to be live on 31st July 2017. Over the weekend 5/6 August the Cambourne Crier was delivered. On the Parish Council page was the following:

New website 

Cambourne Parish Council has revamped its website to have a new look with lots of new features. There are now ‘report it’ buttons for things such as graffiti and vandalism, overflowing litter & dog bins and faulty streetlights. There is also a wealth of information and news. The website will continue to be developed and updated. www.cambourneparishcouncil.gov.uk

Having announced this in the Cambourne Crier the Parish Council can be seen in its true colours because looking at the website this morning there are:

NO:revamped website 
NO: lots of new features
NO: ‘report it’ buttons
NO: wealth of information and news

Ron says: I find this typical of the Parish Council. They get there Annual Return in late and can't get the new website up.

It's 5 o'clock and it's the new CPC website - NOT

It is 5pm and I'm looking for the new CPC website that is supposed to start today. As Cambourne Parish Council Offices close for the day, the website is still the same as the old one. Nothing in the news to say what is happening. Why should CPC inform the residents who pay for this chaos?

SCDC puts up barriers to complaining about Councillors

I have made complaints against 3 District Councillors over their Register of Interests. The webpage on the SCDC website says the following:

Complaints about councillor conduct
Code of Conduct Complaints Process

If you wish to complain about the conduct of a member of South Cambridgeshire District Council or a member of a town or parish council in South Cambridgeshire you may submit a complaint in writing (with supporting evidence) to:- 

The Monitoring Officer
South Cambridgeshire District Council
South Cambridgeshire Hall
Cambourne Business Park
Cambourne
Cambridge
CB23 6EA 

or via email to monitoring.officer@scambs.gov.uk. In your complaint you should set out in full ( attaching evidence as appropriate) why you think a member has not followed the Code of Conduct.

Ron says: That is what I did. I put the complaint in writing and attached the evidence and emailed all this to the Monitoring Officer. This is what I received back:

Tom Lewis

Dear Mr. Swanson

I refer to your e mail below which was received by South Cambridgeshire District Council on the evening of Monday 24th July and other similar e mails in relation to Cllr’s Topping and Nightingale.

Our Code of Conduct Complaints Procedure states ”If a Complaint is received other than on the Standard Complaint Form, we will not consider it but we will send the Complainant a copy of the form for completion.”

Therefore I attach the form for completion which can be returned to me directly.

I also attach a link detailing the procedure for how complaints are handled;

http://scambs.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s101233/P%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20Complaints%20Proceudre.pdf

I await hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Tom Lewis


Monitoring Officer South Cambridgeshire District Council

Ron says: having followed the procedure as set out on the SCDC website a barrier is now thrown up to delay or put off the complaint.

The new CPC website?

The new Cambourne Parish Council website is supposed to start today, Monday 31st July 2017. So far the old website is up. The picture below was taken at 9.47 am.

New website on 31st July 2017

At the last Council meeting on 4th July 2017 the chairman announced:

The Chairman reported that the Parish Council’s new website is expected to go live on 31st July 2017. 

I wait with baited breath to see if this happens and that all the legal bits have been added. Legal bits such as:

Councillor Register of Interests.
The Constitution.
The Complaints Procedure.
Publication Scheme.
Freedom of Information scheme.
Standing Orders
Financial Regulations

to name but a few.

Parish To Town - More self aggrandisement

In Simon Crocker's valedictory speech he said the following:

The first question is what is the difference between a Parish Council and a Town Council. The only differences are the Parish Clerk becomes a Town Clerk and the Town Council can elect a Town Mayor instead of a Chairman.

Therefore not only the expense of changing the title from Parish to Town but also the expense of a Chain of Office, other regalia and the outfit.

CPC is getting above itself. It is a Parish Council not a District Council. The bigger it gets the more it wants. All from a council that is nearly 50% unelected.

Ron says: No! No! No!

Parish clerk to CEO

In his valedictory sermon as Chairman of CPC, Simon Crocker said the following:

What is a CEO. Checking Google I found a CEO = Chief Executive Officer. What Simon is calling for is a pumped up title for what is a Parish Clerk or even a Town Clerk. I can understand why SCDC has a Chief Executive in charge of running a council which collects the rubbish, Council Housing and Planning amongst other service. What I cannot understand is why call John Vickery a Chief Executive for someone who is in charge of cutting the grass.

Ron says: There is nothing wrong with being the Clerk. It is a good job and good description of the job. Changing the job title to CEO is just pumping up the job title. Next, we may hear calls for a CEO pay packet. The Deputy Parish Clerk would become Deputy CEO. The Office Administrator would become the Office Manager and the Head Groundsman would become the Leisure Manager. This is a parish council not a District Council.

Powerless CPC

In the minutes of the Planning Meeting 4th July 2017 under chairman's announcements the following is said:

"The Parish Clerk reported that it was not within the powers of the Parish Council to install the bollards."

The first port of call in checking this is the General Power of  Competence. This allows a Parish council that has adopted this power (CPC has) to do anything it wishes that a person can except that is prohibited by law.

Looking at this, as a person cannot just put up signs on a Highway this power cannot be used. The GPC is useless in this instance.

Looking at the Powers of a Parish Council the following is stated:

From the looks of the above, the Parish Council does have a power to erect signs and other objects. A lesson here is always read the legislation. The RTR Act 1984 s.72 says:

(1)A parish or community council may, with the permission of the highway authority and subject to any conditions imposed by that authority, provide on or near any road, other than a footpath or bridleway, or may contribute, either wholly or in part, towards the cost of providing on or near any such road, traffic signs indicating—
(a)a stopping place for public service vehicles;
(b)a warning of the existence of any danger; or
(c)the name of the parish or community or of any place in it.

Whilst CPC has the power to provide signs this is only with the permission of the Highways Authority. CPC doesn't have the power to provide highway signs and other objects on its own.

What is the point of this power? A power is given by parliament to the Parish Council to do something. Without that power the Parish Council cannot do unless it uses Section 137 money.

Ron says: a quick look at Google and this is what I have found. Hardly rocket science.

WTFWARFCU

With Tender Feelings What A F-ing Mess

Cambourne Parish Council is in a right mess. John Vickery, the Parish Clerk, (Chief Executive Officer), (ir)Responsible Financial Officer and Proper Officer is making of the Annual Return into a long drawn out affair. Having produced one Notice:

John Vickery has been forced to produce another notice.

Residents right to inspect starts on 25th July 2017. Not 3rd July 2017.

This is after informing the Council that:

Not 5th July 2017 either.

Ron says: I hope this is the last change. The law is very simple over all this and yet John Vickery is getting this wrong time and again.

The CPC Councillors should have been told....

I hope that John Vickery has been informing the Councillors of what is going on. As CPC Financial Regulations say:

2.10. The RFO shall, without undue delay, bring to the attention of all councillors any correspondence or report from internal or external auditors. 

I wrote to the External Auditors on Monday 10th July 2017 about the council breaking the law.

I received the following reply:

Thank you for your email. From the information that you have provided, the Council has not complied with the statutory requirement to approve and publish Sections 1 and 2 of the Annual Return before 3 July. It has further failed to make proper provision during the year 2017/18 for the exercise of public rights. These points will both be reported in our external auditor report on the Annual Return.

We will be contacting the Council to inform them of these issues. Your name will not be used in the correspondence.

CPC got the Annual Return up on the afternoon of 10th July 2017. Therefore the External Auditors contacted the Council. As it says the RFO shall, without undue delay, bring to the attention of all councillors any correspondence....

I hope John Vickery has informed all Councillors what has gone on.

And South Cambs DC cannot get their accounts published in time...

Not even South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) can obey the law. At the Audit and Governance Committee the Councillors were informed of the following:

5.
External Audit: 2016/17 Progress Update Report (oral update)
Minutes:
Suresh Patel gave an oral update on External Audit’s Progress Report. He explained that the Council had not met the 30 June May 2017 deadline for producing a full set of 2016/17 accounts while other councils he audited had done so. It was noted that the deadline has been brought forward for 2017/18 to 31 May and concerns were expressed over the Council’s capacity to meet this future deadline. It was understood that this year’s delay was due to recent staff turnover.

Tony Poynton reminded the Committee that two risks had been identified in the audit plan in March. He was happy to report that no further risks had been identified.

It was noted that External Audit were scheduled to commence their audit of the 2016/17 statement of accounts on 24 July 2017.

The Committee NOTED the update.

Ron says: Whether they be a parish council or District Council they should all obey the law. The difference being between what Cambourne Parish Council (CPC) did and what SCDC has done is CPC Councillors decided to break the law. Whereas SCDC Councillors just noted the update. It was the SCDC Officers who take the flak for not getting the Statement of Accounts before the deadline.

Who is to blame for Cambourne Parish Council acting illegally?

There is no doubt that Cambourne Parish Council acted illegally. But which of the parties (Councillors or Parish Clerk) are to blame for this situation? I shall look at each party individually.

To recap, the Parish Council decided at a Special Meeting held on 20/06/2017 to the following:

4. ANNUAL RETURN

The Parish clerk requested that the Annual Return be deferred to the next council meeting as the internal auditors are scheduled to visit the Parish Office on Tuesday 27th June 2017.

It was:

RESOLVED that the report be received and this item be deferred until the next scheduled Council meeting on 4th July 2017. 

What is in bold above is illegal!

The Councillors.

Of the 11 Parish Councillors remaining, 2 were absent. These were Krintas and Patel. The rest attended the meeting.

At the Annual Council Meeting held on 17th May 2017 the Standing Orders and Financial Regulations were confirmed.

15.1 Standing Orders 
It was: RESOLVED that the Standing Orders be re-adopted as there were no changes required. 
15.2 Financial Regulations 
It was: RESOLVED that the Financial Regulations be re-adopted as there were no changes required.

The Standing Orders and Financial Regulations in the reports are here.

In the Standing Orders are the following rules:

17. Accounts and accounting statements 

e    The year end accounting statements shall be prepared in accordance with proper practices and applying the form of accounts determined by the council (receipts and payments, or income and expenditure) for a year to 31 March. A completed draft annual return shall be presented to each councillor before the end of the following month of May. The annual return of the council, which is subject to external audit, including the annual governance statement, shall be presented to council for consideration and formal approval before 30 June.

The Councils' own Standing Orders require the Annual Return and Annual Governance Statement to be presented to Council for consideration and FORMAL APPROVAL before 30th June 2017. All councillors should have read and understood these Standing Orders. I didn't know or understand is not an excuse.

25. Standing orders generally

a   All or part of a standing order, except one that incorporates mandatory statutory requirements, may be suspended by resolution in relation to the consideration of an item on the agenda for a meeting. 

Standing Order 25 allows Standing Order 17 to be suspended. But the Council DIDN'T. Suspending this standing wouldn't alter the fact the Council is still subject to the current Audit and Accounting regulations which meant the Annual Return has to be approved before 3rd July 2017.

In the Financial Regulations are the following rules:

2. ACCOUNTING AND AUDIT (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) 

2.3.  The RFO shall complete the annual statement of accounts, annual report, and any related documents of the council contained in the Annual Return (as specified in proper practices) as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year and having certified the accounts shall submit them and report thereon to the council within the timescales set by the Accounts and Audit Regulations. 

The regulations say the Annual Report must be approved by the Council before 3rd July 2017. The Councillors should be holding the RFO to account as to why this wasn't followed.

2.9. The RFO shall make arrangements for the exercise of electors’ rights in relation to the accounts including the opportunity to inspect the accounts, books, and vouchers and display or publish any notices and statements of account required by Audit Commission Act 1998, or any superseding legislation, and the Accounts and Audit Regulations. 

The regulations say the Annual Report must be approved before 3rd July 2017 so the exercise of electors' rights can take place. The Councillors should be holding the RFO to account as to why this notice was not published until 7th July 2017 and the Annual Return on 10th July 2017.

18. SUSPENSION AND REVISION OF FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

18.2. The council may, by resolution of the council duly notified prior to the relevant meeting of council, suspend any part of these Financial Regulations provided that reasons for the suspension are recorded and that an assessment of the risks arising has been drawn up and presented in advance to all members of council. 

The only way to suspend these Financial regulations is for a resolution to suspend these to be tabled in the agenda before the meeting. Again it wasn't.

In conclusion

The Councillors had all the information before them. Even if they are not au fait with the Accounts and Audit Regulations - they should be - their own Standing Orders says the Annual Return must be presented and approved by the Council before 30th June.

The Councillors who attended took an illegal decision which is against the law and their own standing orders to defer a decision on the Annual return until 4th July 2017. 

I will be making a Code of Conduct Complaint about the actions of these Councillors.

The Parish Clerk, Responsible Finance Officer (RFO) and Proper Officer - All the same person - John Vickery.

Found in Community First:

"The clerk is adviser to the council. Part of their role is to provide information and guidance as to the law to aid council members in the decision making process. The clerk carries out the actions arising from council meetings and implements decisions."

The Parish Clerk is there to provide guidance to the law. Basically, if the Council is about to break the law the Parish Clerk should inform the Council immediately and minute this action. The Councillors could still go ahead against the advice of the Parish Clerk. But on their own heads be it. Yet John Vickery didn't in this case.

In fact, John Vickery asked Cambourne Parish Council, and in effect the Councillors, to break the law by asking the Annual Return to be deferred to 4th July Council Meeting. As the Parish Clerk, RFO and Proper Officer he must know the law, standing orders and financial regulations. These are part of his various job titles.

As his role of Parish Clerk, RFO and Proper Officer his job was to inform the Councillors that his own proposal to defer the Annual return to 4th July 2017 was unlawful and against standing orders and financial regulations. John Vickery didn't.

What is also amiss is the RFO must publish certain data. Even though he allegedly signed the Notice of Public Rights..... on 30th June 2017 this wasn't published until 7th July 2017. The Annual Return wasn't published until 10th July 2017. This was against the law that requires these documents to be published before 3rd July 2017. This is wrong and

What John Vickery should have done! 

He should of informed the Councillors at the meeting of 20th June 2017 that to comply with the law a Special Council Meeting would have to held either on 28th or 29th June 2017 to comply with Standing Orders or 30th June, 1st July or 2nd July 2017 to comply with the law. 

In not doing so he allowed the Council to break the law. If I broke the law at work this would be counted as Gross Misconduct for which I could be dismissed. What action are the Councillors going to take over this flagrant breaking of the law? Can John Vickery be trusted again over advice on the law and rules? 

When members and officers of Cambourne Parish Council complain about others breaking the rules and the law they should admit they do as well.

Who is to blame for Cambourne Parish Council acting illegally?

1. The Councillors took the decision to defer the review of the Annual Report until 4th July 2017. Whilst Councillors could take some comfort that John Vickery as Parish Clerk, RFO and Proper Officer should have advised them that the decision to defer was illegal and against standing orders, it is their job to know what is going on and their standing orders which state the Annual return must be approved before 30th June. The Councillors were wrong to break the law and wrong to break their own standing orders. In the end they take the decision for the council not the Parish Clerk.

2. John Vickery was wrong to ask for the decision to defer the Approval of the Annual Return until 4th July 2017. He knew or should have known this request would mean the Council was breaking the law; its own standing orders and financial regulations.

In conclusion

Both the Councillors and the Parish Clerk, RFO and Proper Officer are all to blame for this. The Councillors took the decision and should have known this decision was illegal. A decision against their own Code of Conduct. In the end it is their decision.

As an employee of the Council John Vickery cannot be complained against by the public. What he has done wrong in allowing the Council to make an illegal decision and by not publishing the approved Annual Return and other documents before the due date of 3rd July 2017 is an internal matter. It is up to the Councillors whether they take disciplinary action against John Vickery. If they don't the power is with the Parish Clerk and the Councillors are useless!

What the Councils' own Financial Regulations say?

What do the Financial Regulations say about the Annual Return?

2.3. The RFO shall complete the annual statement of accounts, annual report, and any related documents of the council contained in the Annual Return (as specified in proper practices) as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year and having certified the accounts shall submit them and report thereon to the council within the timescales set by the Accounts and Audit Regulations. 

Ron says: The timescale set by the Accounts and Audit Regulation says this has to be before 3rd July 2017. Therefore, the RFO (John Vickery) has broken these Financial Regulations.

and

2.9. The RFO shall make arrangements for the exercise of electors’ rights in relation to the accounts including the opportunity to inspect the accounts, books, and vouchers and display or publish any notices and statements of account required by Audit Commission Act 1998, or any superseding legislation, and the Accounts and Audit Regulations.

Ron says: The timescale set by the Accounts and Audit Regulation says this has to be before 3rd July 2017. Therefore, the RFO (John Vickery) has broken these Financial Regulations.

Ron further says: Cambourne Parish Councillors and the RFO must be held to account for this cock-up. This is a mess and must be sorted out. Once again it is one law for Cambourne Parish Council and another law for the rest of us!

SCDC Civic Affairs ups CPC councillors from 13 to 19.

I'm against the upping of the number of Parish Councillors for Cambourne Parish Council from 13 to 19. The Civic Affairs Committee voted to increase the number. I thought I would look into why the Committee voted that way. Firstly, Simon Crocker turned up as a substitute. Having recently resigned as a Cambourne Parish Councillor he was perfectly right to have his say on the matter. Of course he was for the increase. Looking at the other 10 members who turned up 8 are Parish Councillors or work for a Parish Council.

There are 12 members of the Civic Affairs Committee. They can be divided into five groups:

Non- Parish Councillors

David McCraith
Nigel Cathcart
Nick Wright*

Working for a Parish Council

Bridget Smith - works for Gamlingay PC.

Parish Councillors who have declared.

Jose Hales - Melbourn PC
Janet Lockwood - Hauxton PC
Ray Manning - Willingham PC
Deborah Roberts - Fowlmere PC

Parish Councillors who haven't declared their membership on their SCDC register of interests.

Charles Nightingale - Great Shelford PC and Stapleford PC
Brian Burling - Over PC - Did not attend
Peter Topping - Whittlesford PC
Bunty Waters - Bar Hill PC

Former Parish Councillor and Chairman of Cambourne Parish Council. Currently Clerk to Caldecote Parish Council.
Simon Crocker*

*Nick Wright sent his apologies and Simon Crocker sat in as a voting substitute.

Of the 11 Councillors who attended, 2 Councillors do not have associations with Parish Councils.

Of the 9 Councillors who voted for the increase:

4 Councillors are Parish Councillors.
3 Councillors are also Parish Councillors and have not declared this on their register of interests - naughty.
2 Councillors are employees of Parish Councils.

I tried but when most of the committee are made up of Parish Councillors and Parish Council employees it was always likely the Civic Affairs Committee would agree to the increase in number.

Ron says: With the increase I foresee Cambourne Parish Council will continue as a council of chaos.

CPC says yes to question 4

The Annual Return in the Part 1 Governance Statement says:

Now CPC has said yes to this question. How could they say yes? Because the question is about last years (2015/16) accounts. Next year (2017/18) this has to be a NO.

Pointing this out to the External Auditors.

I wrote the following to the External Auditors:

Hi,

I am pointing out the following with reference to the Annual Return. I understand of the law is as follows:

The authority needs to ensure that the accounting statements are signed by the RFO and approved by the authority, by the latest date in order for the RFO to comply with the duty to commence the period for the exercise of public rights so that it includes the first ten working days of July.

At a Special Council Meeting 20th June 2017 the following was decided:

4. ANNUAL RETURN 

The Parish clerk requested that the Annual Return be deferred to the next council meeting as the internal auditors are scheduled to visit the Parish Office on Tuesday 27th June 2017. It was: RESOLVED that the report be received and this item be deferred until the next scheduled Council meeting on 4th July 2017.

I further understand the common dates for the first ten days of July started on 3rd July 2017.

On the 7th July 2017 the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Unaudited Annual Return was published on their website and on their notice board outside their Offices. No annual return was published with the notice. This document was dated 30th June 2017. 

As there is no minutes for the council meeting of 4th July 2017, as of writing, I have no idea whether the accounts and governance statement have been approved by the Council and certainly weren't on 30th June 2017.

I therefore feel Cambourne Parish Council has acted or is acting illegally because:

1. The approved Annual Return has yet to be published.

2. The Annual Return was not approved before the commencement of the first 10 working days of July. Start date is 3rd July 2017.

3. The Notice of Public Rights was not published until day 5 (7th July 2017) of the first 10 working days of July even though it was dated 30th June 2017.

I received the following reply:

Thank you for your email. From the information that you have provided, the Council has not complied with the statutory requirement to approve and publish Sections 1 and 2 of the Annual Return before 3 July. It has further failed to make proper provision during the year 2017/18 for the exercise of public rights. These points will both be reported in our external auditor report on the Annual Return.

We will be contacting the Council to inform them of these issues. Your name will not be used in the correspondence.

John Vickery cannot get his facts correct!

The Parish Clerk, John Vickery, cannot get his facts right and is informing Cambourne Parish Council something different on each occasion

This is what the Parish Clerk informed the Parish Council for the meeting of 4th July 2017.

The Parish Clerk informed the Council the accounts will be open for inspection for 5th July 2017. Except on the Notice issued on 30th June 2017 and published on 7th July 2017 the following was stated:

John Vickery has told Cambourne Parish Council one thing in his report, that the date starts on 5th July 2017 and fills in a notice which dated 30th June 2017 says Monday 3rd July 2017.

The Parish Clerk is in a bit of a mess over all this. 

Finally, Cambourne Parish Council publishes it Annual Return

Finally, Cambourne Parish Council has published it Annual Return on 10th July 2017. It was required to be published before 3rd July 2017.

Ron says: Better late than never? No really. Better on time rather than late.

What the law says about the Annual Return?

What does the Law say about the Annual Return from Cambourne Parish Council?

As the NALC puts it:

2.33. The authority needs to ensure that the accounting statements are signed by the RFO and approved by the authority, by the latest date in order for the RFO to comply with the duty to commence the period for the exercise of public rights so that it includes the first ten working days of July. 

This hasn't happened. Cambourne Parish Council IS acting illegally.

Becoming more self appointed than elected.

At the all up elections in 2016 of the 13 vacancies 9 were filled because 9 candidates stood. The other 4 seats were left vacant and filled by co-option. That means 9 councillors elected and 4 co-opted. With the resignation of Crocker and Sawford that is another 2 elected members down and 2 more up for co-option.

When these 2 co-options goes through that is 7 elected and 6 not elected.

Ain't democracy great!

Not a full audit and is a limited assurance review

Smaller authorities are subject to a limited assurance review, which is not a ‘full’ audit, and is proportionate to the size and undertakings of the authority. Auditors review the authority’s annual return (consisting of an annual governance statement and statement of accounts) in accordance with guidance issued by the NAO on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Their work does not constitute an audit carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing and does not provide the same level of assurance.

Therefore the Auditor just does a limited assurance review. More here...

Still acting illegally

I see John Vickery has now gotten around to publishing the notice giving residents their rights to inspect the accounts 5 days after the original date. Except where is the Annual Return? No doubt this will be published the day after the closure of the right to inspection.

Ron says: What a cock up. Expect worse after 6 extra councillors are added.

Why hasn't CPC published its Annual Return

Why hasn't Cambourne Parish Council published its Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Unaudited Annual Return? This must have been published before 3rd July 2017. As of 6th July 2017 this hasn't been published on the website or the Noticeboard outside the Parish Council. This is unlawful. What is wrong at Cambourne Parish Council?

The National Audit Office says:

All smaller authorities are required to publish their annual return locally, including on a website. Certain types of smaller authorities that do not have their own websites must still inform the public of the inspection period on a website, but this website does not have to be their own. It must, however, be publicly accessible without having to register or pay. Parish meetings can do the same, or advertise the inspection by putting up a notice in a conspicuous public place in the area of the authority for at least 14 days. All smaller authorities must also publish details of the dates they have set for the inspection period. This must cover the ‘common inspection period’ of the first 10 working days of July.

What the CPC Internal Auditor said....

In a good report there were a few problems the Internal Auditor came up with. These are:

Not only is the Council required to publish all payments over £500, but also the following:

The Constitution

Standing Orders

Financial Regulations

Code of Conduct

Complaints Procedure

Register of Interests of Councillors

All this is easy to resolve by publishing all these in a section of the website.Yet CPC doesn't do this.

Next:

Payments are being made before the payments have been approved by Councillors. This is wrong. This is because what the Parish Council is doing is against their own Financial Regulations. What is the point of having Financial Regulations approved by the Council and not followed by the Council?

Cambourne Parish Councillors broke their own Code of Conduct!

The CPC Code of Conduct says:

 3.8 do nothing that causes the Authority to act unlawfully. 

Which Councillors broke the law:

What did they do?

The Parish Councillors authorised the delay beyond 3rd July 2017. This is beyond the start of the common period of rights.

What could the Councillors have done?

There was nothing to stop the Councillors holding a Special Council Meeting before 3rd July 2017 to comply with the law.