An open letter to Cambridgeshire County Council’s Chief Executive Officer
Dear Dr Moir,
Democracy denied
Following our recent correspondence, I look forward to
receiving the documents and accounting records I requested but was denied
during the August public inspection period.
Of the many pieces of information that remain outstanding are the
transactions (invoices and any other transactions) that make up the £27,846,194
worth of City Deal grant expenditure in 2022/23 (according to the authority), together
with their corresponding unique payment ID references that appear in the
Transparency Code spend data. Armed with
that information it should be a straightforward exercise to clear up the
mystery of why the “full list” of ring-fenced City Deal cost centres
(also according to the authority) only record £16.97m of net payments during
the 2022/23 financial year. The time
differences between invoice and payment dates should more or less even out, which
leaves a so-far unexplained discrepancy of £10.88m for the year.
Since the end of the inspection period this reconciliation
has become more topical following an article last week by the BBC and the Cambridge
News about two GCP projects being paused thanks to spiralling costs and
insufficient funds. Two of the City Deal
cost centres: “GCP - Cambridge South East (A1307)”, and “GCP - Travel
Hubs” would appear to be connected to those two projects.
Under section 3 of the Local Audit & Accountability Act
2014, councils must keep adequate accounting records, sufficient “to show and
explain the relevant authority’s transactions.” I trust the authority will provide me with those
records and the other information I requested during the statutory inspection
period, so that I can pass them on to the auditor in good time for him to
consider all the points in my objection to the 2022/23 draft financial
statements.
Thank you for taking personal responsibility in dealing with
this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Rowson
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