Report criticises park authority over governance when paying off chief executive

The New Forest National Park Authority made payments to its former chief executive and then to an interim successor without proper authority, a public interest report by the Audit Commission has concluded.

The report said the payments in 2009-11 “were not supported by a proper business case, approval processes were weak and it was unclear how the authority had complied with its own financial regulations”.

External auditor Patrick Jarvis’ report said this “revealed a weak governance framework at the authority at that time [and] raises concerns about the role of members and the effectiveness of the authority’s committees”.

He said: “In making some key decisions about these payments the authority sometimes failed to achieve an adequate standard of governance and accountability. In particular it failed to demonstrate that it was achieving value for money through its actions.

“I am pleased however that the authority is now showing a real commitment to improving its arrangements.”

His report said that following an external peer review some members of the authority met informally during May 2009 and agreed that the authority’s then chairman should negotiate the termination of its chief executive's contract.

“A formal record of the meeting was not made,” Jarvis found. “The discussions and advice received were not translated into a formal business case….the subject or decision was not discussed at, or taken back to, an appropriate committee or authority meeting for approval.

“The chair may not therefore have been properly authorised to negotiate the contract termination on the authority's behalf.”

Once a settlement was reached with the former chief executive, there was “no evidence that the authority formally considered or approved the payment””

Members were not formally aware of the options, and value for money considerations were not explicitly documented.

New Forest then recruited an interim chief executive through an agency on a rate of £1,000 per day, who remained in office for nearly a year.

Payments to him and the agency totalled £255,000. “By comparison, the normal annual salary cost of the chief executive post is around £85,000.” the report noted.

Jarvis added: “Although the authority formally delegated the chairman to appoint an interim chief executive I have seen no evidence of a proper appraisal of alternative options for filling the post including the potential use of internal cover.”

The authority’s current chair Julian Johnson said: “This report relates to a very difficult period for the authority, now over two years ago.

“We acknowledge that at that time, since the organisation needed to act quickly and decisively in difficult circumstances, some processes were not taken forward in the best way. However, it is important to mention that the course of action taken was backed by members.”