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Audit row: what was officer’s role?

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Left of picture: Jonathan Haswell on a site visit with the Audit Committee

Left of picture: Jonathan Haswell on a site visit with the Audit Committee

A SENIOR Pembrokeshire County Council officer’s intervention at the Council’s Audit Committee has raised questions about the selection of its Vice Chair.

Jon Haswell, the Council’s Director of Finance, whose department is overseen by the Audit Committee, appears to have sounded out a councillor to accept the post and then checked to make sure that the councillor could be appointed while out of the country.

Following the Council legal officers’ embarrassment at being proved wrong by Cllr Jacob Williams on the correct construction of the law governing the Committee’s operation, a member of the opposition had to be appointed Vice Chair to abide the event of the Chairman’s absence. This meant that only Cllrs Guy Woodham and Jacob Williams, as members of the opposition could be appointed to the post.

At the meeting of the Committee on Monday, June 22, Cllr Woodham was absent. As was widely known, he was on holiday in the United States of America. With only Cllr Williams present of the elected members, it might have appeared inevitable that the appointment would fall to him by default.

That did not, however, happen.

When Cllr Mike James proposed Cllr Woodham for the post in absentia, Cllr Williams asked whether Cllr Woodham was in a position to consent to the nomination.

At that point Jon Haswell, the Council’s Finance Director, intervened.

Mr Haswell told the Committee meeting that he knew Cllr Woodham would accept the nomination, saying: “My understanding is that he [Cllr. Woodham] would accept the nomination.”

When The Herald asked Mr Haswell to clarify the circumstances in which he spoke with Guy Woodham about the nomination for vice chair of the Committee, we received the following response from a Council spokesperson: “Mr Haswell recalls that he spoke to Cllr Woodham in May. He did not approach Cllr Woodham and the subject of the Vice Chairmanship of the Audit Committee came up in conversation.”

At the meeting of the Audit Committee, however, Mr Haswell went further. He told the Committee he had asked Cllr. Woodham “if he would be happy to be nominated” – to which Cllr. Woodham answered in the affirmative.

The clear inference to be drawn from the above is that not only did Mr Haswell ‘pop the question’, but Cllr Woodham was open to the proposal. It also leads to the inference that it was subsequently, and after learning of Cllr Woodham’s impending absence from the meeting that the Council’s Finance Director took steps to establish whether the candidate he had asked about accepting the nomination could ascend to the heights of being Peter Jones’ number two.

We asked Cllr Woodham to comment on what had happened. He told us: “Not being at the meeting I don’t feel in a position to comment. As for events prior to the meeting I’m sure these will be clarified when the Committee meets in September.”

In spite of his comments, we are now able to offer some clarification as to the sequence of events.

According to both Mike Stoddart and Jacob Williams, a clue was given to the meeting by Jon Haswell himself. He revealed he had discussed the appointment with Cllr Woodham’s leader, Cllr Paul Miller. While Cllr Miller was himself on holiday on the day of the meeting, The Herald spoke to him about the position.

Cllr Miller told us: “At the end of a 30min meeting on the Neyland Community Hub Project Mr Haswell mentioned in passing that he had not seen Guy recently. I confirmed that Guy was still away on leave at which point Mr Haswell inquired as to his availability for the audit committee which was coming up.”

He continued: “When I passed on Cllr Woodham’s apologies for that meeting Mr Haswell said something along the lines of ‘oh I think they were planning on nominating him for the vice-chairmanship. Could he still be nominated if he’s not there?’ I provided my view on that question (that yes he could) and there the conversation on the audit committee ended. (No more than 30 secs in the course of leaving his office).”

At which point two questions arise: Who are they? And why was the Council’s Finance Director, whose work is overseen by the Audit Committee, involved in the process at all?

As the only persons who can nominate a person for a post on the Audit Committee are its members, ‘they’ have to be the IPPG members of the Committee. Why ‘they’ should have communicated their wishes to Mr Haswell is a mystery. Still more mysterious is why Mr Haswell had asked Cllr Woodham if he, in Mr Haswell’s own words ‘would be happy to be nominated’.

It appears to be the unlikeliest of happy accidents that Mr Haswell would ask the pertinent question of Cllr Woodham unprompted; not least in the light of his subsequent comments to Cllr Paul Miller about the identity of the persons who wanted to nominate Cllr Woodham to the role.

Having prolonged the appointment process for the lay member who now chairs the Audit Committee, Mr Haswell is now in the invidious position of having apparently taken an active role in the appointment of the Vice Chair.

With all of the respect in the world, that cannot be proper the function of a council officer, least of all the Director responsible for Finance. As all Council officers, Jon Haswell is bound by a code of conduct that provides that he, “must serve all Councillors” and “must ensure that the individual rights of all Councillors are respected.” He is obliged to be impartial.

It is immaterial whether or not Cllr Woodham is the right person to be vice chair of a committee charged with the marking of, amongst others, Mr Haswell’s homework. The process seems to have become hopelessly compromised by Mr Haswell’s acting as the agent for one party, or at least seemingly being aware of the wishes of one party, when seeking to ensure Cllr Woodham’s nomination could go through.

Cllr Woodham must now be very aware of the risk of being perceived as the IPPG nominee or, worse, that of Council officers. Whether he is prepared to continue in such circumstances we shall all, no doubt, discover in September.

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Rugby Weekly – Tenby’s promotion push continues

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It’s crunch time for all rugby clubs around the county, whether promotion is their aim or fighting relegation or even just trying to improve their league position, it’s now or never. 

Last weekend saw an important win for Fishguard in division two west which should put any relegation fears to bed completely. James Griffiths added an impressive 18 points for the Seagulls as they defeated Nantgaredig 33-19. 

Elsewhere in the second division, Milford were beaten 32-8 by a good Lampeter outfit. The Mariners are still a little too close for comfort with the drop zone but should have enough quality to see them safe. 

At the other end of the table Tenby sit in second place and have played fewer games than leaders St Clears and third place Lampeter. They won impressively again last weekend, beating Pontyberem 64-19 at Haywood Lane. Fletcher Broadhurst impressed with two tries as did Hywel Baker who also grabbed himself a brace. Another excellent performance in an outstanding season so far in which promotion would be the absolute icing on the cake. 

In Division Three West, Pembroke were well beaten by Laugharne 74-15 in which the outstanding Liam Price and Nico Setaro both crossed the whitewash 4 teams a piece. The latter also added 7 successful conversions. 

There was a local derby at Pill Parks where Llangwm hosted Pembroke Dock Quins and it was an exciting clash. The visitors won narrowly 28-23, Craig Barnett and Gethin Bradney both scored two tries for the Quins. The Wasps battled hard and will be proud of their performance, Gethin Thomas impressed for the hosts with two tries of his own but it wasn’t enough to secure the points. 

St David’s hosted the high flying Cardigan outfit and were unable to score in reply to the visitors 20 points, with it ending 20-0. The Saints however won’t be losing too much sleep over it as they have had a great season so far. 

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Business

Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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