Agenda item

To consider a report setting out the findings of an independent review into the Leader of Council’s mobile telephone usage.

Victoria Jackson, Senior Investigations Officer, Wokingham Borough Council, presented a report on the independent review of the telephone usage of the Leader.

The review had been commissioned following the publication of a number of articles in the local press based upon the outcomes of a number of Freedom of Information requests and the receipt of a formal complaint alleging that the extremely high costs of telephone usage by the Leader constituted a breach in the Code of Conduct for Members.  No evidence had been found to support claims of misuse.  However, the Review found weaknesses in the Council’s policies and procedures relating to telephone usage by members and a number of recommendations to strengthen these were proposed in the Review Report.

It was reported that there was an omission in paragraph 6.6.25 of the Review Report and the Committee noted that the paragraph’s final sentence should have read “Whilst Councillor Bettison did advise that he ‘very rarely’ made personal calls using the Council’ mobile phone on the balance of probabilities an occasional call cannot be deemed as misuse.”

Arising from the Committee’s questions and comments the following points were noted:

• It was clarified that the reference to raw data in paragraph 6.6.3 referred to fully itemised phone bills where all numbers called were shown.  When processing the bills Democratic Services separated personal calls to nominated prefix codes from the main bill so that these could be invoiced to the Leader
• The review covered 5 non consecutive quarters covering the periods: January – March 2009, April – June 2010, July – October 2011, September – December 2012 and January – March 2013
• The LGA provided the Leader with a Blackberry which was to be used for LGA business only
• Analysis of the phone bills showed the presence of a large number of text messages that had been sent to groups made up of multiple recipients
• The figures for Roaming SMS data analysis and roaming call data analysis related to calls to and from the Isle of Man.  Costs which were recovered by the Council
• Whilst scoping the review it was decided the volume of calls logged meant that it would be impossible to identify every individual number so a sampling approach was taken.  Of the sample of 92 numbers all were identified as being connected to the Council
• The total annual bill for all officers and members across the Council was approximately £250,000 for telephone rental and call charges
• The review found that there had been no reduction in the volume of calls made following the Leader’s receipt of a Blackberry from the LGA
• The Council’s current telephony standards were not explicit about their audience and the fact that they applied to both officers and members needed to be made clear
• Phones were only automatically issued to those members who fulfilled a particular role members falling outside these parameters had to make a business case justifying why they required a mobile phone for council purposes
• It was acknowledged that automatic connection to a number via Directory Enquiry services was expensive and it was felt that protocols ought to be put in place to provide guidance on this area
• Under the terms of the Leader’s new phone contract overseas call should be monitored and if these incurred additional cost then the contract should be reviewed with the contract provider

The Committee acknowledged that with the benefit of hindsight the initial decision to allow the Leader to use his own mobile phone for Council business rather than issuing a Council phone and to not require the full scrutiny of all bills had been a mistake.  It was accepted that no exceptions to Council policy should be made for individuals.

The Committee thanked Victoria Jackson for her comprehensive report and requested that their thanks be formally sent to Wokingham Borough Council.

RESOLVED that:

1. The report on telephone usage by the Leader be noted
2. The recommendations set out in Section 7 of the Independent Reviewer’s report be endorsed
3. A report on the implementation of the Independent Reviewer’s recommendations be brought to the next meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee