Has the Conservative Administration on Wiltshire Council sabotaged their own audit department?

The decision to make the Head of Internal Audit redundant means Wiltshire Council could be operating without scrutiny, say Lib Dem Councillors.

Councillor Chris Caswill, a Lib Dem Audit Committee Member, said "Charitably, I'd say the redundancy of the Head of this well-functioning, essential department, is an issue of gross incompetence on the part of the Conservative Administration. It leaves this organisation, responsible for spending over a billion pounds of public money, without adequate internal scrutiny."

Chris continued: "What worries me now is the decision to hold the committee meetings that will clean up this mess in private, away from public knowledge. This will only add to people's suspicion that the redundancy was an act of deliberate sabotage by a Conservative Administration that doesn't like being questioned, and doesn't want a functioning department auditing how they spend taxpayers money."

Mark Packard, Lib Dem Resources Spokesperson, argues that these secret meetings must now be made public: "We currently have a situation where the people of Wiltshire are paying their Council Tax to a Conservative Administration who will be able to spend their money without proper scrutiny. It is unquestionably in the public interest that these meetings held behind closed doors must be revealed to the public, so the Conservative Administration can prove they have nothing to hide."

More information: The Full Council Meeting was held on Tuesday 17th May, at 10.30am. Papers are available online here: https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=130&MId=5619&Ver=4Questions in Agenda Supplement 1 (Page 10-12), by Chris Caswill and Mark Packard among others.