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.

CPC acting illegally again!

Today (3rd July 2017) must be the first day of the commencement of the period for the exercise of public rights as this is the latest date. Cambourne Parish Council, The Councillors and the Parish Clerk are all acting illegally.

The law states the following:

Commencement of the period for the exercise of public rights

(b)the first 10 working days of July of the financial year immediately following the end of the financial year to which the statement relates, where that authority is a Category 2 authority.

What does this mean? The law requires a 30 day period for the public to inspect the accounts. There must be a common 10 working day period. . The common period of inspection for the 2016/17 annual return is 3rd to 14th July 2017. The earliest commencement date of the 30 working day inspection period is 5 June 2017 and the latest commencement date is Monday 3 July 2017.

By hopefully approving the accounts on 4th July 2017 the Parish Council is acting illegally because:

a) CPC has not approved the accounts before the common inspection period commenced.
b) CPC has not allowed for the inspection period to include the common 10 working days.

Ron says: It seems Cambourne Parish Council can just ignore laws meant to protect residents rights. One law for CPC another for the residents.

More Councillors?????

Yep! South Cambs District Council has decided the number of Councillors for CPC will rise from 13 to 19. The chaos increases in 2018.