‘We are sorting our problems out’
COUNCIL chiefs say they are putting their house in order after a damning audit report slammed the local authority for failing to put work out to tender, overpaying for supplies and services and not getting best value.
Bolsover District Council accepted criticisms from a 2011/12 Audit Commission report but argued these were based on procedure and nothing underhand and said in the last 10 months it has improved accounts and is addressing contracts and tendering to get best value.
Council leader Eion Watts said: “We’re looking to put right what was wrong and matters were addressed before this report. It’s about a failure of process and nothing underhand.”
The report, discussed at a council meeting last Wednesday, highlighted weaknesses around how contracts and budgets were handled and a lack of responsibility in departments that undermined the council’s ability to show it was getting the best value for money when obtaining services.
Criticisms included a failure to place adverts for tenders, officers accepted incomplete bids, outcomes of tender evaluations were not reported to members, files were incomplete, variations were not agreed and overspends were not reported and work was done with invoices paid before contracts were in place.
But the council revealed it is working with the Audit Commission for 2012/13, has set up a staff training programme and financial team to resolve issues, sorted meetings to ensure contracts are efficient, aims to review creditor payments and an internal audit is planned.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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