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Dragon Interview: Council Leader on the Latest HRA Report

Published on: 23 Jan, 2025
Updated on: 26 Jan, 2025

Cllr Julia McShane

The multi-million pound overspend on housing maintenance contracts would be bad enough if fraud was not suspected as well.

See: HRA Report Shows Overspend and Possible Fraud Occurred Despite Many Warnings

Even now, nearly 18 months after staff members were suspended and sacked and investigations launched, GBC cannot even estimate of how much of the £24.5 million might have been used to pay irregular invoices raised for work that was unnecessary or had not been completed.

The Heminsley investigation report, makes little mention of the role of any councillors in the debacle but The Dragon editor asks the council leader about her involvement and how responsible she feels for what happened…

In the interview, it is mentioned that the report says that Cllr McShane was told of the 2022 whistleblowing. The report says: “We have not seen evidence that the 2022 Whistleblow was raised to members [ie councillors] as a material issue. Witnesses told us that it would have been mentioned in 1-1s [ie 1-1 meetings], and Cllr McShane recalled only being given high-level details, by the joint Strategic Director, Community and Wellbeing (Annie Righton) that there had been an issue being looked at but nothing more.”

Cllr McShane commented after the interview that she did not recall the term “Whistleblowing” being mentioned to her in any such meeting.

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Responses to Dragon Interview: Council Leader on the Latest HRA Report

  1. George Potter Reply

    January 23, 2025 at 7:54 pm

    More pertinent than the 2022 whistleblowing itself is that the report identifies that the Corporate Management Board (the senior directors and managers at the council) met to discuss the findings of the investigation into the whistleblowing concerns in March 2023, just a few weeks before a new contract was signed with the contractor in question, yet that the outcome of this CMB meeting, or even its agenda, was not reported to councillors until months later.

    George Potter is a Lib Dem borough councillor for Burpham

  2. Wayne Smith Reply

    January 24, 2025 at 5:02 pm

    The reading of the Heminsley report reveals a catalogue of basic failings, lack of procedure within GBC departments and deflection of responsibility.

    Had it not been for the whistleblower, would any of this disgraceful debacle have even come to light? Where are the members of the CMB [Corporate Management Board] now? Oh yes, all handsomely paid off and gone.

    Editor’s note: The size of any settlements paid to officers (it is understood that not all received them) that left GBC following commencement of the HRA investigations have not been disclosed.

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