There has been much hot air from the Rahman administration about what the devastating PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on best value actually says. Here are some actual facts.

PwC have concluded that with regard to grant making the authority has failed to comply with it’s best value duty and there has been a lack of transparency over the decisions to grant awards, indeed grants were awarded to roganisations which were actually ruled ineligible by Independent officers.

The authority is found to have failed to comply with its best value duty in the disposal of the former Poplar Town Hall, the Mellish Street site and the former Sutton Street Depot.

The authority is criticised, as it was by Ofcom, for spending money inappropriately on political adverts for the mayor on supportive TV stations.

PwC noted that even the council’s Internal Audit functions has found instances of procurement policies and procedures which have not been adhered to.

Finally, in an extremely critical paragraph, PwC have found that governance arrangements do not appear to be capable of preventing or responding appropriately to the failures of best value duty.

This is a wake up call for the administration to work within accepted processes on behalf of all residents of this borough, something the Rahman administration has not been doing over the past four years. The council will, as noted in the report and in Parliament, need to fill the vacant chief officer positions permanent and independent office holders to oversee the delivery of executive policy. More from Peter Golds