Hertfordshire Highways Whistleblower Vindicated as Council Brings In New Controls
Hertfordshire County Council's Audit Committee were advised in a report on 26 June 2013 of the outcome of a whistleblowing investigation into erroneous charging and record keeping by the County's main highways contractor.
In January 2012 a whistleblower passed documents to Liberal Democrat Councillors who forwarded these to the appropriate Council managers.
An investigation supported by the Council's Internal Audit Unit, confirmed that there had been instances of erroneous charging and incorrect record keeping. The contractor at the time , Amey Lafarge, co-operated fully with the investigation. Disciplinary action was taken, £279,202 was reimbursed to the Council and the police were advised.
Liberal Democrat County Councillor, Chris White, St Albans Central, requested information on the police action at the Council Meeting of 26th February 2013 and the matter was referred back to Hertfordshire Constabulary for detailed review by a senior detective. However in a press statement issued in May 2013, the police announced that "further police investigation or action is unnecessary" .
At the Audit Committee meeting, County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst asked for assurances that the tighter management of contract work - which he strongly welcomed - would not bring with it its own inefficiencies. He said "We need supervision that is transparent and rigorous in terms of verifying actual work done. But this must not be so rigid that road defects are passed by because they are not on some list or other. We need a system that is sufficiently flexible that all defects can be put right on the spot, at the time and with all the work accurately recorded."
Council officers claimed that a combination of GPS and timed electronic photographs could deliver the accounting accuracy that had been lacking before.
Cllr Hollinghurst concluded "The fact that the contractor has reimbursed so much money and the Council is to introduce new controls is vindication of both the whistleblower's action and Chris White's insistence that the matter be taken seriously."
The picture does not show equipment actually used by Ringway, HCC's new contractor, but it is a metaphor for the slowness of HCC's response to highway repairs.