Correspondence with Ammanford Town Council for fiscal year 18/19

The request was refused by Wales Audit Office.

Dear Wales Audit Office,

Once again I'm looking for audited accounts of Ammanford Town Council along with any correspondence between the Audit Office/Auditor General or subcontractors acting for them (eg letters to the effect of "send your accounts", "your accounts are late", "why are your accounts still late, send them", "send your accounts or we'll..." and any replies).

An independent Councillor mentioned at the Extraordinary General Meeting Council meeting held on 23 November 2020 that correspondence had been received from Wales Audit Office, asking for this to be Minuted and that he'd been prevented from tabling motions for the Meeting (the first in four months) by the Clerk/RFO (contrary to Standing Orders).

In light of the coronavirus pandemic I am aware that the Wales Audit Office offered an extension of time to Town & Community Councils, on condition that the work was in hand and that the public were notified (20 March 2020). Sadly the public has been kept in the dark about the state of finances at the Council and there has been no visible reporting. During the lockdown the Rialtus laptop was left behind in the Council offices, and the only crumbs of financial probity were through wobbly spreadsheets briefly screen-shared at infrequent Council meeting (tiny font, scrolling up and down). Concern has been raised about financial controls, such as the new Clerk & RFO buying himself a rally-style chair ("must have accessory for any petrol head"). The focus of the Council's meeting on 23 November 2020 was to agree a backdated payrise for the Clerk/RFO. I'm therefore interested in what involvement Wales Audit has had, both for the last financial year and since.

Yours faithfully,
D Morris

Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

Dear Mr Morris

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information in your email below.

I am considering your request in accordance with the procedures set out on the Audit Wales website at: http://www.audit.wales/openness-and-tran....
The procedures are intended to ensure that requests are dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Code of Practice set under section 45 of the 2000 Act, the Data Protection Act 2018 and other relevant legislation.

I shall write to you again once I am able to provide a substantive response, though I may write to you before then if I need to clarify your request.

Please note that we have a policy of publishing in a disclosure log on our website information that we provide in response to requests where we consider that this is in the public interest. We will not, however, publish personal information if this would be unfair and so breach the first data protection principle. In line with this, we will generally not disclose the identity or other personal information of requesters. We will, however, disclose the identity of requesters if this is in the public interest and doing so would be fair, such as in the case of holders of public office. If you have any concerns regarding inclusion of our response to you in the disclosure log, please let me know.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, you are welcome to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Yazmin Steelandt-Humphries  
Y Gyfraith a moeseg || Law & Ethics
Ffôn || Tel: 02920 320514
www.archwilio.cymru || www.audit.wales

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Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Morris

I am writing in response to your email dated 15 December 2020 in which you requested information regarding correspondence with Ammanford Town Council (18/19).

I have considered your request, "I'm looking for audited accounts of Ammanford Town Council along with any correspondence between the Audit Office/Auditor General or subcontractors acting for them." for 2018-19.

We hold a copy of email communications from Grant Thornton to Ammanford Town Council regarding the Annual Return for 2018/19, and this is attached. We are in the process of completing the 2017-18 & 2018-19 audits as a result of issues raised with us. Please note that I have redacted names from the communications under the exemption at s40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as disclosures under the Act are into the wider public domain and I consider that release of this information would not be within the reasonable expectation of the individuals concerned.

The report Financial Management and Governance - Town and Community Councils 2017-18 https://www.audit.wales/system/files/pub... provides a list of councils which have prior year audits remaining open and will be concluded once the prior year issues are resolved, Ammanford Town Council is in this list.

If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, please write to Martin Peters, Head of Law and Ethics Manager, by email to martin.peters@audit.wales or by post to 24 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ.

I must also refer you to section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act under which you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision on whether or not your request has been dealt with in accordance with the Act. The Information Commissioner's contact details are:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
email : [email address]
Tel: 01625 545745
Fax: 01625 524510

You should note, however, that the Information Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted our internal complaints procedures before dealing with such an application. Further guidance may be found on the Information Commissioner's website: https://ico.org.uk/

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,
Yazmin
Yazmin Steelandt-Humphries  
Y Gyfraith a moeseg || Law & Ethics
Ffôn || Tel: 02920 320514
www.archwilio.cymru || www.audit.wales

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Martin Peters, Wales Audit Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Morris,

 

Further to our acknowledgement of 16 December 2020 of your request of 15
December 2020 for a review of our handling of your request for information
of 24 November 2020 ([1][email address]) (our
ref IR759), I have concluded my review and am writing to set out my
conclusions.

 

Your request of 24 November 2020 was for:

 

…correspondence between the Audit Office/Auditor General or subcontractors
acting for them (eg letters to the effect of "send your accounts", "your
accounts are late", "why are your accounts still late, send them", "send
your accounts or we'll..." and any replies).

 

As you note in your request for review, the subject line of your 24
November 2020 request was:

 

Freedom of Information request - Correspondence with Ammanford Town
Council for fiscal year 19/20

 

I note that in your request for review you say that you did not intend to
refer to 2019-20 and that you intended to refer to 2018-19. You say that
this was an obvious mistake and that you provided considerable context,
referencing the WAO notice sent in March 2020, which related to 2018-19.
You also say that it seems to you that we have been deliberately evasive
and have failed in our duty to provide advice and assistance (required by
section 16 of the 2000 FOI Act). You say that we could have clarified the
year in question quite quickly after you made the request, had that been a
genuine concern.

 

I have reviewed the Wales Audit Office communication with town and
community councils of 20 March 2020 and note that it refers to
arrangements for the 2019-20 accounts. It therefore seems to me that it
was not obvious that your reference to 2019-20 was a mistake. Furthermore,
in dealing with your 24 November 2020 request, two WAO colleagues read
your request, and to them it seemed clearly to be a request in respect of
2019-20. Having spoken to them, I am satisfied that in taking your request
at face value they had no intention to be evasive. As the ICO notes on
page 11 of the section 16 guidance that you referred us to:

 

where the request is clear there is no need for the authority to exercise
its right to seek clarification under section 1(3), and therefore no duty
under section 16 to provide advice and assistance to help the requestor
provide that clarification

 

I have therefore concluded that there was no failure to provide advice and
assistance under section 16 of the Act.

 

I also note that you made a further request for information on 15 December
2020 in identical terms to your request of 24 November 2020, except for
the subject line referring to “fiscal year 18/19”
([2][FOI #713031 email]) (our ref IR763). We sent
you information meeting that further request on 13 January 2020.
Therefore, regardless of any question about assistance, we have provided
you with the information that you say you intended to request in November
2020.

If you remain of the view that our handling of your request of 24 November
2020 was not in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, you have
right under section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a review. The Information Commissioner would normally expect you to
have exhausted our internal complaints procedures before dealing with such
an application. It may therefore be helpful if I say that I consider that
you have exhausted our internal complaints procedure.

The Information Commissioner’s contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

email : [3][email address]  

 

Tel: 01625 545745

Further guidance may be found on the Information Commissioner’s website:
[4]https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Peters

Pennaeth y Gyfraith a Moeseg || Head of Law & Ethics

[5]www.archwilio.cymru || [6]www.audit.wales

 

 

Ysgrifennwch ataf yn Gymraeg neu’n Saesneg

Please write to me in Welsh or English

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[FOI #713031 email]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://ico.org.uk/
5. http://www.archwilio.cymru/
6. http://www.audit.wales/

Dear Wales Audit Office,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Wales Audit Office's handling of my FOI request 'Correspondence with Ammanford Town Council for fiscal year 18/19'.

In reference to your partial disclosure of 13 January 2021:

1) I was unable to find the report showing Ammanford Town Council's prior audit of 2017-18 remained open, the link given returned a "Page not found" error. Could you check the link please?

2) I'm surprised you say you only hold communication with Grant Thornton:
a) I understood Mr Deryk Evans had arranged to visit Ammanford Town Council in the last week of February 2020 (pre-covid).
b) Audit Wales also holds copies of the Council's petty cash book [R14 from Internal Auditor's highly critical report "A formal cashbook record should be established identifying, as far as is possible, all transactions during 2018-19 and to date in 2019-20 with a current balance, which should (perhaps optimistically) agree with the physical cash holding." of July 2019] in the form of witnessed photographs taken on signed hand-over in December 2019.
c) Audit Wales had taken considerable interest in the Asset Register, one of the few positive steps noted in Internal Audit preparations of 2019 following the 2018 & 2017 slatings. Sadly the new Clerk/RFO, having been paid ~£40K since appointment, now can't find the same Asset Report - search the WDTK site for the grim details or even ATC Council Meeting Minutes (ha-ha!).
d) Per my original request "An independent Councillor mentioned at the Extraordinary General Meeting Council meeting held on 23 November 2020 that correspondence had been received from Wales Audit Office, asking for this to be Minuted...."

Given the unmatched £5,000 cash withdrawal, thousands of pounds cash found in a carrier bag, thousands of pounds of unrecovered VAT and nineteen stark recommendations from the Internal Auditor (July 2019, on the back of previous exasperation) it would be alarming if Wales Audit weren't in close "dialogue" with Ammanford Town Council at this stage. Some of this must be in be written form!

Whilst 2(a)-(d) should not be treated as an exhaustive list I would hope that those pointers lead your Office into a more rounded disclosure following your Internal Review.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

D Morris

Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

Dear Mr Morris

I write to confirm that I have passed your email requesting an internal review onto Martin Peters.
Whilst writing, please see below the link to the report referred to in my email of 13th January.
https://www.audit.wales/publication/fina...

I am sorry that the link in my previous email did not work, it worked when I sent it, though it is possible you may have experienced an issue following an upgrade of the Audit Wales website recently. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely

Yazmin Steelandt-Humphries
Y Gyfraith a moeseg || Law & Ethics
Ffôn || Tel: 02920 320514
www.archwilio.cymru || www.audit.wales

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Dear Ms Steelandt-Humphries,

Thanks for providing the updated link, I was able to download and read the report. It is pretty grim and sadly echoes so many criticisms found in the PSOW's investigations/declaration of maladministration and ICO's numerous Decision and Information Notices . Fifty weeks ago the Council raised the precept by 43% but didn't know how much it held in Reserves when adopting the proposal, so I expect your team will need to reserve space in the follow-up reports for Ammanford Town Council.

I look forward to the outcome from the Internal Review in due course.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Dear Information Officer,

On 29 January 2021 Ms Steelandt-Humphries confirmed that my request for an internal review (28 January 2021) had been passed onto Martin Peters. I thanked her for addressing the problems in a URL she had previously provided (2 February 2021) and said "I look forward to the outcome from the Internal Review in due course". Sadly I haven't received any further correspondence from Martin Peters since.

Could you please provide me with an update of when I can expect the internal review to be completed? I had made a generous allowance for the backlog of problems caused by the early waves of the pandemic, but the internal review is now some 413 days overdue and I'm keen to resolve open issues.

You can find the full case history here:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

Dear Mr Morris,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information in relation to the internal review.

I will follow up on actions taken in respect of the internal review and will report back to you shortly.

Yours sincerely,
Mared.

Mared Ynyr
Swyddog Gwybodaeth || Information Officer
www.archwilio.cymru || www.audit.wales

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Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

Dear Mr Morris,

Further to your information request, received and acknowledged by Audit Wales on 10 October 2022, I write to inform you that due to sickness absence we require more time to carry out searches and are not in a position to meet our 20-working day deadline to provide a substantive response to your request for information.

I will be in contact again once I am able to provide a substantive response. Our apologies in advance for the delay in handling your request.

Yours sincerely,
Mared.

Mared Ynyr
Swyddog Gwybodaeth || Information Officer
www.archwilio.cymru || www.audit.wales

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Dear Ms Ynyr,

Thank you for keeping me informed. I wish your colleague a speedy recovery and look forward to receiving the substantive response in due course.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Martin Peters, Wales Audit Office

Dear Mr Morris,

I am very sorry for the lengthy delay in responding to your request of 28 January 2021 for a review of our handling of your request for information of 15 December 2020. I have been unwell for an extended period, which has caused confusion as well as resource shortage.

Your request of 15 December 2020 was for, "audited accounts of Ammanford Town Council along with any correspondence between the Audit Office/Auditor General or subcontractors acting for them (eg letters to the effect of 'send your accounts', 'your accounts are late', 'why are your accounts still late, send them', 'send your accounts or we'll...' and any replies)." And the subject line of your request was, "Freedom of Information request - Correspondence with Ammanford Town Council for fiscal year 19/20".

As you know, we responded to your request of 15 December 2020 on 13 January 2021, providing you with copies of an email of 18 September 2019 from our contractor at the time, Grant Thornton, and email from Ammanford Town Council to Grant Thornton of 3 September 2019. These were redacted so as to remove personal information as the personal information exemption s40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applied.

I have considered whether the application of the section 40(2) exemption was appropriate, and I have concluded that it was, for the reasons explained in our response of 13 January 2021.

Your request for a review of 28 January 2021 set out several points (labelled 2)a) to d)), which seem to suggest that further correspondence should be held by the Auditor General or Wales Audit Office, especially as you say, "I'm surprised you say you only hold communication with Grant Thornton." For example, your 2)a) says, "I understood Mr [Deryck] Evans had arranged to visit Ammanford Town Council in the last week of February 2020 (pre-covid)."

At my request, colleagues have undertaken further searches so as to identify any further correspondence that we hold (or should hold) that meets the description of your request of 15 December 2019, but they have found no such material. We do hold some records relating to our work relating to the cash book and asset register, as you suggest, but such records are not in the nature of correspondence. And I should note that, even if such records were to fall in scope, they would also fall within the section 33 audit function exemption.

I understand that you may find the limited records of correspondence with the council regarding the financial year 2018-19 somewhat surprising. It may be helpful if I explain that Wales Audit Office colleagues visited the town council on 24 February 2020 without any written prior arrangements, though their visit was notified in advance by telephone.

If you remain of the view that our handling of your request of 15 December 2020 was not in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, you have the right under section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner for a review. The Information Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted our internal complaints procedures before dealing with such an application, and I confirm that we consider that you have exhausted our internal complaints procedure.

The Information Commissioner’s contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

email : [email address]

Further guidance may be found on the Information Commissioner’s website: https://ico.org.uk/.

Once again, I am sorry for my delay in responding to you.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Peters

Information Officer, Wales Audit Office

19 Attachments

Dear Mr Morris,

 

I am writing in response to your request for information of 8 October
2022, which was for:

 

“all correspondence between the Wales Audit Office and Ammanford Town
Council (or agents acting under due authority on their behalf) in relation
to the Annual Returns for:

1) the Year Ended 31 March 2019

2) the Year Ended 31 March 2020

3) the Year Ended 31 March 2021”

 

Following your response of 17 October 2022 to my request for
clarification, and particularly your line, “I’m not just interested in the
Returns but the back and forth…”, I am working on the basis that your
description of the information that you are requesting, “all
correspondence…in relation to the Annual Returns”, is intended to include
the Annual Returns themselves even though we would not normally regard
Annual Returns as items of correspondence.

 

Similarly, I am erring on the side of caution by including the standard
notices that are issued to all councils each year, even though, again, we
would not normally regard these as items of correspondence. I should also
note that these would not seem to fall within the scope of your previous
requests for copies of correspondence, which emphasised the chasing of
late accounts. I have redacted some personal data from the standard
notices and from correspondence chasing late accounts in line with s40(2)
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 exemption. This is because
disclosure would breach the data protection principles of the Data
Protection Act 2018. This is an absolute exemption.

 

I should also make clear that I believe that the correspondence that you
are referring to is correspondence between staff of the Wales Audit Office
working on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales (collectively known as
“Audit Wales”) and Ammanford Town Council rather than correspondence
between the Wales Audit Office per se and Ammanford Town Council. I am
therefore responding on that basis. The Wales Audit Office per se does not
audit councils, rather it provides staff and other resources to enable the
Auditor General to undertake such audits.

For ease of reference, I have provided my response and/or an explanation
in respect of each year’s Annual Return.

 

Return for the Year Ended 31 March 2019

On 13 January 2021, we disclosed correspondence with Ammanford Town
Council relating to the 2018-19 Annual Return in response to your previous
request for information of 15 December 2020 (our reference IR763). This
information should reasonably be accessible to you by other means and so
falls within the section 21 exemption, but I attach it for your ease of
reference.

 

I also attach the notice of audit issued by Grant Thornton UK LLP. While
this would not seem to strictly fall within the scope of your request, it
is perhaps relevant to it. I have redacted some personal data from the
notice as falls within s40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
exemption. This is because disclosure would breach the data protection
principles of the Data Protection Act 2018. This is an absolute exemption.

 

The unaudited Annual Return of Ammanford Town Council for the year ended
31/03/2019 is accessible on the Council’s website here:
[1]https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...

 

Return for the Year Ended 31 March 2020

Please see attached notice of 14 May 2020. I have redacted some personal
data from the notice as falls within the s40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 exemption. This is because disclosure would breach
the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act 2018. This is an
absolute exemption. The unaudited Annual Return of Ammanford Town Council
for the year ended 31/03/2020 is accessible on the Council’s website here:
[2]https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...

 

Return for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Please see attached notice of 31 March 2021. I have redacted some personal
data from the notice as falls within the s40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 exemption. This is because disclosure would breach
the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act 2018. This is an
absolute exemption. The unaudited Annual Return of Ammanford Town Council
for the year ended 31/03/2021 is accessible on the Council’s website here:
[3]https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...

 

As should be evident from the links above, the Council’s Annual Returns
for the years ended 31/03/2019, 31/03/2020 and 31/03/2021 are reasonably
accessible to you by other means and are therefore exempt from disclosure
under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is an
absolute exemption which means there is no requirement to carry out a
public interest test.

 

Other:

You also asked for information on an individual named Janet Ellis Collins.
We do not hold any information relating to that individual. Further,
please note that only the Auditor General for Wales or Auditors appointed
to carry out audits on the Auditor General’s behalf may give an opinion on
community and town councils’ Annual Return letters.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you can request
an internal review. Requests for internal reviews should be addressed to
the Head of Law and Ethics, by email to [4]law.ethics@audit.wales or by
post to Audit Wales, 24 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ.

 

I must also refer you to section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act
under which you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision
on whether or not your request has been dealt with in accordance with the
Act. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office               

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

email : [5][email address]

Tel: 01625 545745

Fax: 01625 524510

 

You should note, however, that the Information Commissioner will not
ordinarily investigate a complaint until the internal review process has
been exhausted. Further guidance may be found on the Information
Commissioner’s website: [6]https://ico.org.uk/

 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

Mared

 

Mared Ynyr

Swyddog Gwybodaeth || Information Officer

[7]www.archwilio.cymru || [8]www.audit.wales

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...
2. https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...
3. https://www.ammanfordtc.co.uk/_UserFiles...
4. mailto:law.ethics@audit.wales
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://ico.org.uk/
7. http://www.archwilio.cymru/
8. http://www.audit.wales/

Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

Info from 11 November 2022 belongs with WDTK request whatdotheyknow.com/request/correspondence_with_ammanford_to_4.

IR completed on 8 November 2022 had a very useful snippet of information:

Wales Audit have a copy of the Asset Register that Ammanford Town Council have lost. Council agreed at committee to instruct the Clerk/RFO to contact Wales Audit to ask for a copy of the Asset Register that the Clerk/RFO has been unable to find for the last three years.