There's something just a tad whiffy coming out of West Dunbartonshire Council. On Thursday 11th of March the details of the recent best value report were put into the public domain. The Accounts Commission, more or less branded the council, the most inept in Scotland.
Last month, the council asked the Scottish Government for permission to borrow £9.8 million pounds to help balance their books. Citing the expenses accrued during the Single Status Process as the main reason for their debt, despite originally having a pot of £21 million from which to fund the scheme.
All of this would be fine, as most councils have contingency funds to which they can dip into on occasion to help pay interest rates etcetera, whilst still maintaining the good governance of the local authority....However, West Dunbartonshire Council's contingency fund is in a seriously bad way. Ordinarily it would hold funds in the region of £5 million. The contingency fund is currently sitting at a barrel scraping, £250,000 - the price of a nice wee hoose in Balloch.
Since 2007 the council has been run by an SNP/Independent coalition. This has not gone down well with the Labour party, long used to having control of the Council, the MSP and the MP. The chinks in their armour began to appear when traditional Labour corruption raised its ugly head, just before the 2007 election, when problems of internecine warfare broke out amongst labour councillors, with scandals in tabloids and accusations of council contracts surreptitiously awarded to businesses owned by Labour councillors, etcetera. So far - so Labour corruption. Fast forward to last year and we discover the chief executive of the council is doing the Hokey Cokey (no Purcell reference intended) with his job, he's quitting, he's sacked, he's retired, he's no, he's shaking it all about...and so on. Not it would seem a happy bunny.
Naturally, the upper management, the majority who were placed in the Council during the heady Labour years, simply get on with running their council. The council is operated by council officers with no time or inclination to listen to their political masters, just like every other council in the country. Honest hard working men and women to the core...or are they? Accusations of cronyism, waste, patronage, nepotism, deception etcetera swirl around the councils ankles, again, just like every other council in the country.
However, what adds grist to the mill in this case is the very odd action of the council sending out this rather strange correspondence to businesses whom they have worked with in the past.
A brief perusal shows you the letter suggests that WDC's books are well and truly kippered, that they don't know who they owe money to and vice versa don't know who owes them money. Are they simply asking businesses, in a recession, "Do we owe you any money? If so please let us know asap, and we'll square you up in a trice." or words to that effect. So far, so generous. It's always nice to know that councils care so much about their contractors and suppliers that they'll chase them up in times of financial strife. Ok, I've laboured that particular point long enough.
What's really interesting is that the council contact has an email address at the council, but uses his mobile phone number (what WDC employees don't have landlines?) and 'if we do owe you any money please fax details to this Edinburgh number'...Edinburgh! Has there been a seismic shift and Dumbarton Rock is now encroaching on the Bass Rock's territory? Further investigation of the fax number leads to an IT company, a cross google on their fax number and address lead to this document which in turn leads to this fraud detection company. Investigative Data Mining Ltd is the UK's leading consultancy specialising in the use of advanced data mining techniques to detect, prevent and investigate fraud.
Are we to presume that West Dunbartonshire Council having been on the shard end of one of the worst 'Best Value' audits in living memory have opted to seek external help in preventing fraud or is it more likely that they are attempting to clear out the stench of alleged fraud within their own coffers?
Much like there is a case for the Scottish Government assuming control of Glasgow City Council, the same should be said of West Dunbartonshire Council.
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