Watchdogs order region’s top politicians to stop fighting in ‘utterly damning’ report

Watchdogs have ordered the region’s feuding political leaders to stop fighting, “play nicely” and work together or risk losing vital government money, in an “utterly damning” report.

Auditors Grant Thornton found five “significant weaknesses” in the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA’s) arrangements to secure value for money (VfM) in its use of resources.

They concluded: “The presence of such a large number of significant governance weakness is a major concern.”

The finance experts also found that the way a top officer was given a £59,000 golden handshake placed the organisation “at the potential risk of committing to an unlawful payment”.

The 2020/21 VfM audit report makes three legally binding “statutory recommendations”, which are the most serious that can be applied to a public body and must be reported to government and addressed as an “urgent priority”.

Grant Thornton has issued such recommendations to only six of the 180 local authorities whose books it has examined this year – one in 30 – a WECA audit committee meeting was told on Thursday, November 17.

WECA bosses have accepted the findings but insist they run the “most successful combined authority in the country”, having brought in nearly £1billion to the region in the last year.

They also suggested the combined authority has achieved this because of, and not despite, the major public fallouts between metro mayor Dan Norris, who heads WECA, and the leaders of its three constituent councils – Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset – and that a “pretence” of unanimity would be “unhelpful”.

However, members of the cross-party audit committee slammed their response to the report as “complacent” and an attempt to “sweep it under the table”.

Two of the statutory recommendations, as well as one of two “key recommendations” the auditors also made – which are a step down but still urgent – relate to “strained relationships” among the four political leaders and even some top officers.

The report said: “The poor state of professional relationships between the combined authority mayor and the representatives of the other members of the combined authority, and between some chief officers, reflect a significant weakness in partnership governance.

“We are concerned that the ongoing poor state of relationships could start to limit the ability to work together to optimise strategic opportunities in future.

“External perceptions of dysfunction could also begin to affect the reputation of the combined authority with central government and other partners, ultimately affecting the ability to raise further funding and undermining public confidence.”

But auditors concluded that despite such perceptions, WECA “has not become dysfunctional” because significant new money had been secured and was allocated to projects effectively.

They recommended: “The mayor and members of the combined authority represented by the council leaders must commit to improving their working relationship and demonstrate that significant progress has been made within a reasonable timeframe.

“This should include a role for independent mediation and the constructive consideration of advice arising from this process.”

In response, WECA management said Labour’s Mr Norris and Bristol Labour mayor Marvin Rees, South Gloucestershire Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage and B&NES Council leader Lib Dem Cllr Kevin Guy had taken part in a mediation process chaired by Prof Steve West which was still ongoing and should result in a “protocol for future working”.

Grant Thornton’s report said: “The level of collaboration and consultation on proposals put forward to [WECA] committee has been poor.

“Proposals have been presented to members as complete for decision, with little or no attempt to seek views or reach consensus.

“This has reduced the options open to members to either approve or reject at the risk of appearing to be standing in the way of progress and therefore creates a culture of distrust.”

It recommended: “A formal protocol should be agreed between member organisations within the combined authority to commit to consultation on key proposals at an earlier stage.

“Combined authority members should engage effectively in this process, to help mitigate points of contention before they are published and debated in public.”

Weca management said: “The mayor now meets on a regular basis one-to-one with the leaders of the unitary authorities (UAs). The chief executive meets her UA counterparts similarly one-to-one.”

The third statutory recommendation related to the severance payoff.

Grant Thornton found turnover of senior staff was a “significant weakness requiring a key recommendation” to address a “pressing need” to finalise a senior management restructure, which the council leaders had previously blocked at WECA committee.

But auditors said: “We did not identify any general issues with management culture contributing to the loss of key staff.”

They recommended reviewing the future management structure to ensure it was fit for purpose, which combined authority bosses said they kept under constant review.

WECA committee, comprising Mr Norris and the three council leaders, was expected to vote on officer advice on how the combined authority should respond to each of the auditors’ recommendations on Thursday. But the meeting lasted just six minutes and was adjourned when no one would second the paper.

WECA audit committee, which met immediately before it, had agreed unanimously that it should be postponed so a better action plan could be drawn up, as they were unhappy with officers’ response.

South Gloucestershire Lib Dem Cllr John O’Neill told the audit committee: “It’s not really an action plan.

“It doesn’t tell us what’s going to happen, who’s going to do it, timelines, there is nothing there that resembles an action plan.

“The paper today does not give rise to the seriousness of Grant Thornton’s recommendations.“It is being swept under the table.”

Bristol Conservative Cllr Jonathan Hucker said: “The management responses are somewhat complacent.

“There is no indication of timelines or any plan being put in place to fix the very important issues that the auditors have identified.”

WECA chief executive Patricia Greer told the meeting that the auditors concluded there was no evidence that the strained relationships had had an adverse effect on how WECA worked.

“In the last financial year we have brought in nearly £1billion of additional funding to the region which would not have come in had we not had an effective combined authority,” she said.

“It’s the most successful combined authority in the country per capita in terms of the amount of money that is brought into the region.

“Our focus now is on delivery, making sure we can translate that money and make a difference to our bus services, our transport.

“So there is no evidence it has affected the workings of the combined authority.”

She said a recent staff survey showed WECA’s culture was “incredibly positive” and among the best of any organisation in the country.

WECA director of law and governance Stephen Gerrard said: “The mayor and members of the combined authority represented by the council leaders must commit to improving their working relationships. This is about saying ‘play nicely together’.

“Whether they choose to do that or not is a matter for them – they are politicians and they are of different political persuasions. That it’s not always going to happen.

“The reality is that the combined authority has delivered, and it’s arguable that it’s because of the conflict as much as despite the conflict.

“The nature of democracy means you have it, and trying to erase it under the pretence of agreement across the board is probably unhelpful.”

Dr Greer added: “We are accepting the recommendations and have some proposals in place for addressing those.

“But we are equally saying that they are politicians of different parties, and politicians by their nature are elected to bring political leadership and won’t always agree.”

Afterwards, Cllr Savage said: “The independent auditor’s report makes for utterly damning reading with no less than three statutory recommendations – this is unheard of.

“It’s thoroughly disappointing that we have not been given the opportunity to question the WECA mayor and the senior leadership of the combined authority over the alarming findings of the independent auditor’s report.

“The report highlights a number of serious governance failings at WECA and I, along with my local authority colleagues, recognise the need for the WECA mayor and senior officers to be held to account.”

A spokesperson for Mr Norris said: “The council leaders asked for an adjournment so they could more fully consider the report.“It seems sensible the discussion will therefore take place after this period of reflection at the reconvened meeting happening shortly.”