At last week's full council meeting it was confirmed that the members of the "independent and impartial" governance review panel, set up by the Welsh Local Government Association in the aftermath of the unlawful payments scandal, had been selected.
They weren't named but with the publication of the minutes today we learn that the panel will be led by Mr Byron Davies, former chief executive of Cardiff Council. According to google, Mr Davies took early retirement in 2009 to join the private sector and appears to be well acquainted with the ups and downs of local government life.
I understand that both the WLGA and the council will formally announce the rest of the panel in the next few days. I'll update this post when they do.
They've certainly got their work cut out.
Incidentally, the WLGA are holding their annual conference today where I'm sure there will be plenty of hot air over merging councils, or not merging councils, strategic strategies, the importance of scrutiny and suchlike.
As a 'warm up' to the conference, the Welsh Minister Lesley Griffiths announced yesterday on twitter that she was commissioning an evaluation of the current cabinet system in Welsh councils and whether, presumably, their decisions come under sufficient scrutiny.
It sounds to me like a roundabout way of saying that the system in Wales is failing - as she is well aware, three councils, including Carmarthenshire, have now been investigated by the Wales Audit Office, and of course the police, for unlawful executive decision making.
They weren't named but with the publication of the minutes today we learn that the panel will be led by Mr Byron Davies, former chief executive of Cardiff Council. According to google, Mr Davies took early retirement in 2009 to join the private sector and appears to be well acquainted with the ups and downs of local government life.
I understand that both the WLGA and the council will formally announce the rest of the panel in the next few days. I'll update this post when they do.
They've certainly got their work cut out.
Incidentally, the WLGA are holding their annual conference today where I'm sure there will be plenty of hot air over merging councils, or not merging councils, strategic strategies, the importance of scrutiny and suchlike.
As a 'warm up' to the conference, the Welsh Minister Lesley Griffiths announced yesterday on twitter that she was commissioning an evaluation of the current cabinet system in Welsh councils and whether, presumably, their decisions come under sufficient scrutiny.
It sounds to me like a roundabout way of saying that the system in Wales is failing - as she is well aware, three councils, including Carmarthenshire, have now been investigated by the Wales Audit Office, and of course the police, for unlawful executive decision making.
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