Leaked report reveals ‘absence of democracy’ (From Western Telegraph)

Leaked report reveals ‘absence of democracy’ within Pembrokeshire County Council

3:10pm Saturday 21st January 2012 in News

A panel of trouble shooters parachuted in to Pembrokeshire County Council in the wake of major child protection failures has described an organisation where there is typically a “paucity of true democratic and open governance”.

The views of the Ministerial Advisory Board (MAB) have been outlined in a report leaked to the Western Telegraph which describes a council where “officers dominate and members follow”.

The MAB examined issues highlighted by a joint Estyn and CSSIW report in August last year including the culture of the authority, safe recruitment, the handling of cases as well as challenging/ supporting the development of an action plan.

MAB members interviewed a range of elected members and officers on a number of visits to County Hall and examined a substantial number of documents, including policy documents, minutes and agendas for relevant Cabinet and Overview and Scrutiny Committees, submissions by members as well as the council’s draft action plan.

The council culture was said to represent a picture of an organisation where typically there is a “paucity of true democratic and open governance”.

The board also highlights concerns about the “nature and degree of influence of the Corporate Officers Management Board (COMB)”.

It found that agendas and records were kept, in the form of file notes as reminders for officers, but not in the public domain.

The report states that this offered a view of a council where “officers dominate and members follow” where it is as though “negative or unpopular reflections of the authority are frowned upon, discouraged and rejected in favour of anodyne, or even positively skewed, accounts of performance in a tightly controlled regime”.

The MAB has recommended that Ministers continue to challenge and support the council in the implementation of its action plan by involving Welsh Government nominees and/or external expertise within the structures established in its plan.

“The option offers Ministers the opportunity to exercise a degree of control and interest which is robust, but short of fullscale intervention.

“But the latter can of course be an option should progress not be forthcoming.”

It was found that changes put forward by the MAB were accepted by council leader, Cllr John Davies, who established a committee to take a lead role in responding to the report.