Staffing disputes and infighting at internal drainage board the result of poor governance and accountability – says Assembly Committee
18 October 2013
A breakdown of relationships, staffing disputes and infighting at Caldicot and Wentlooge Internal Drainage Board (IDB) was the result of poor governance and accountability according to a new report from a National Assembly for Wales committee.
The Public Accounts Committee is calling on the Welsh Government to use the poor practices of the Board as an example for other public organisations across Wales to guard against.
It also recommends that clear guidance be published regarding the accountability of Internal Drainage Boards wholly or mainly in Wales.
Caldicot and Wentlooge IDB has a budget in excess of a million pounds and is responsible for managing drainage across the Gwent Levels between Chepstow and Cardiff. The area contains hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in a low lying area bordering the Severn estuary.
But a Wales Audit Office report on the Board’s 2010-11 accounts found that the Board had little in the way of an approved constitution and that its standing orders, the rules by which it should be governed, were out-of-date. The report also found irregularities in the way some senior staff had awarded themselves and others pay rises.
The Board undertook trips to Italy, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands with little or no business case to justify their need and virtually no records were kept of the Board’s activities while away or evidence of learning from the visits.
The Committee undertook its inquiry after the publication of the Wales Audit Office report which detailed inadequacies in management and internal control at Caldicot and Wentlooge IDB and asserted that failures resulted in the Board acting unlawfully on occasion.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Darren Millar AM, said, “Caldicot and Wentlooge IDB is responsible for managing the appropriate drainage for a strategically critical area of Wales which encompasses major infrastructure, businesses, farmland and tens of thousands of homes.
“The Committee believes that the poor governance, accountability and transparency at the Board had the potential to put all of that at risk.
“It all adds up to a prime example of how not to run a public-funded organisation.
“Unfortunately, we don’t necessarily believe that the issues at Caldicot and Wentlooge are unique which is why we are recommending that the Welsh Government uses this example to remind other public bodies of their responsibilities and the need for good governance and a clear strategic direction.”
The Committee recognised that, since the audit of the 2010-11 accounts, significant changes in personnel and operations at the Board had occurred and its findings did not reflect on the current management team.
Among the 12 recommendations contained in the report are:
that the Welsh Government publishes clear guidance regarding the accountability of Internal Drainage Boards operating wholly or mainly in Wales;
that the Welsh Government reviews the governance arrangements of Internal Drainage Boards operating wholly or mainly within Wales and that a system of monitoring of governance arrangements be introduced to ensure that they are transparent and consistent with best practice elsewhere in the public sector and have appropriate documents and plans in place, and;
that the Welsh Government re-issues guidance on Governance, citing the problems experienced at Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Internal Drainage as an illustration of what can go wrong.
What is a drainage board?
Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) are independent statutory bodies operating mainly under the Land Drainage Act 1991. Their role is to take responsibility for land drainage in areas in England and Wales (often referred to as districts) where there are specific drainage needs.
There are three IDBs operating wholly or mainly in Wales:
Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels IDB which is wholly in Wales;
Lower Wye IDB which is mainly in Wales (and partly in England); and
Powysland IDB which is also mainly in Wales (and partly in England).
Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels IDB (the Drainage Board) is responsible for the day-to-day management of the drainage system on the Gwent Levels. This is an area of land between Chepstow and Cardiff, south of the M4 motorway and bordered by the Severn Estuary. This is an area where, in the absence of a well-maintained drainage system, valuable agricultural, commercial and residential land would be more vulnerable to flooding on a periodic basis.
The operations of the Drainage Board are financed from the following sources:
levies raised upon Monmouthshire, Newport and Cardiff local authorities (currently constituting 72% of finances);
private drainage works undertaken on behalf of landowners or other organisations at their request (18%);
other miscellaneous income (8%); and
rates payable by landowners with property on the Gwent Levels (2%).