Health authority attacked for wasting public money
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A REGIONAL health authority wasted pounds 4m of public money on management consultants who charged the cost of leasing executives' London homes, the hire of aircraft and 'lavish' entertainment to the NHS, the National Audit Office reveals today.
A scathing report by Sir John Bourn, Comptroller and Auditor General, accuses the West Midlands Regional Health Authority's former director of regionally managed services, who placed and managed the consultancy contract, of a 'cavalier disregard for the standards of conduct expected from public officers'.
Later sacked, he took away pounds 41,500 too much in redundancy pay after the authority agreed to additional pay-offs without Department of Health approval.
Sir John, who vets whether money voted by Parliament has been properly spent, has also refused to approve 1991-92 accounts for income support and family credit for the fourth and third years respectively because of 'significant' errors in awards, while housing benefit accounts have been qualified because of 'material uncertainty and irregularity'.
Donald Dewar, Labour's social security spokesman, said the Department of Social Security was being rapped over the knuckles again for the same mistakes. 'What is worrying is that there seems to have been little improvement since the accounts were subject to similar criticisms last year.'
The report, packed with instances of financial mismanagement, maladministration or ineptitude, criticises a supplies consultancy contract between West Midlands Regional Health Authority and the United Research Group as 'improperly entered into', vague about the consultants' role and cost, and badly monitored and controlled.
Questionable costs included pounds 350,000 in consultants' expenses containing 'such items as leased houses in London for the firm's executives and their wives, the hire of aircraft to come to work and lavish entertainment', the report says. The authority had paid some invoices without scrutinising supporting bills.
Wessex Regional Health Authority also comes under fire in the report - part of the 1991-92 Appropriation Accounts - for wasting pounds 43m on a largely useless computerised information project, eventually scrapped after six years. Over-reliance on consultants, 'serious' failures in financial and management controls and conflicts of interest at a senior level were to blame.
Wrong calculations of entitlements by benefit offices was the main reason for a 16.9 per cent error rate in income support payments, leading to overpayments of pounds 231.7m and underpayments of pounds 86.8m. Sir John says: 'My audit of income support payments during the previous three financial years disclosed significant levels of error. There was no improvement during 1991-92 - if anything, the situation has deteriorated.'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments