Nottingham Post: City rapped on £12m jobs fund

THE city council has been criticised for how it managed employment schemes worth £12 million.

Concerns have also been raised over the conduct of former senior Labour councillor Hassan Ahmed.

The district auditor, Sue Sunderland, has completed an investigation into the £10.5 million Future Jobs Fund and £1.5 million Community Programme.

She concluded the council failed to meet the requirements of its own constitution and financial regulations in giving contracts to companies and organisations.

The auditor also said "specific individuals failed to demonstrate appropriate accountability for the decisions taken".

And she believes Mr Ahmed, who was the portfolio holder responsible for the job schemes, may have breached the city council's code of conduct because of behaviour "which has compromised or is likely to compromise the impartiality of officers".

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In an annual audit letter to the council, Ms Sunderland wrote: "My concerns arise from the need for transparency and good corporate governance rather than that there was any actual inappropriate allocation of contracts, in relation to which I did not find any evidence."

Mr Ahmed stood down from the city council at the local elections last May.

He announced his intention to stand down, to the surprise of Labour Party colleagues, in March last year as the district auditor was preparing her report.

He said at the time that his departure was not connected to the auditor's investigation.

Ms Sunderland launched an investigation into the schemes in August 2010 after the Post passed on the findings of the newspaper's own inquiries and the concerns of whistle blowers.

She completed her report in November 2011 and submitted it to the city council.

But to date the council has declined to release the full report and only a ten line summary of the auditor's conclusions has been published.

The local authority has declined requests for the document from the Post and today it is due to be discussed in private session at the council's Audit Committee meeting.

Former Liberal Democrat city councillor Tony Sutton also took concerns about the city's jobs plan to the district auditor .

He said he had requested the report under the Freedom of Information Act but has not received it.

Mr Sutton said: "Why is the council now afraid to let people see the final report? What have they got to hide?

"The district auditor clearly felt these issues were worthy of investigation and the annual audit letter suggests she did find failings."

A spokesman for the city council said the authority was pleased the auditor did not find evidence of "actual inappropriate allocation of contracts".

He added: "It is however accepted there should have been some sharper processes and record keeping in place and these issues are being addressed to ensure our actions are beyond reproach."

The spokesman said there is a case for the report to be exempt from the public part of the meeting and it is for the chairman of the committee to decide whether or not to do so.

He added that "open circulation" of the report might lead to defamation of those identified within it and prejudice the initial stages any standards committee hearing.

The Post revealed in September 2009 how Mr Ahmed had failed to register interests in five companies involved in training, enterprise and community development.

The Standards Board for England subsequently found Mr Ahmed had breached the council's code of conduct by failing to register all his outside interests, but it decided to take no further action.

When contacted by the Post Mr Ahmed issued a statement.

It said: "The outcome of this is that a comprehensive investigation by the District Auditor has cleared me of all of these allegations.

"As a result of her investigation, the auditor accepts that I did not breach any rules of the council's constitution and I did not 'deliberately set out to improperly influence officers'."