A report by financial experts CIPFA into Bedford Borough Council’s operations is yet to be shared with all councillors or published publicly, prompting calls from within the council’s own executive for clarity and transparency.
At this week’s Executive meeting (Wednesday) councillor Marc Frost (Conservative, Wixams and Wilstead) asked whether the CIPFA report would be circulated more widely, after it was previously only shared with group leaders, their deputies, independent councillors and the Greens.
He urged the Conservative mayor to confirm whether the full council would now be allowed to see it.
Mayor Tom Wootton, appearing caught off guard, initially suggested the report should be shared with the “usual suspects” but then referenced his manifesto’s pledge on transparency, saying: “I think transparency is what we should do and we should push it out as fast as we can.”
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However, chief executive Laura Church reminded members that the CIPFA report is listed in the council’s notice of forthcoming decisions, and is due to be considered formally by the executive.
Cllr Frost sought clarity: “All members of this council should see it because some have and some haven’t.”
Mayor Wootton said: “In my opinion, it should be published as soon as possible. But if the chief executive is telling me I shouldn’t publish it.”
After further discussion, the mayor concluded, “We can’t have some councillors seeing it and some not… We’ve got to be fair.”
Ms Church said: “So, I think you’re recommending that you want to make sure that members have seen the draft, all members, and then follow through with the publication, publicly, of the final documents that are in line with the forward plan.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked the council if it or CIPFA had editorial control over the content of the CIPFA report and if elected members had requested any changes or deletions since the first draft was received.
A council spokesperson said: “CIPFA have editorial control over the content of the report. The council has provided factual input where requested, but the conclusions and recommendations are entirely CIPFA’s.”
Asked if all versions of the report, and any accompanying correspondence, would be published in the interests of transparency, they responded: “We would only publish the final version of the report.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
