AUDIT WALES’ investigation into a council pay-off to its outgoing chief executive Ian Westley will probably be concluded by Autumn, Pembrokeshire County Council have been told.

The update into the probe was given to councillors at the Governance and Audit Committee meeting on Tuesday (Jul 13).

The former council chief was paid a controversial £95,000 when he left the authority in November last year, and as The Herald has previously reported, the payment is now under investigation.

The scope of the investigation was the governance and decision-making arrangements relating to the chief executive’s departure, with a timetable of November 2020 – Summer/Autumn 2021.

Council director of finance Jon Haswell told the meeting: “The authority’s response to Audit Wales on financial audit questions which in relation to awareness on non-compliance references the ongoing review into the lawfulness of the settlement agreement.”

Committee member Martin Veale said it was “disappointing that such an investigation was being held;”  

“There obviously is some doubt that the process was a good and proper process; such matters should be done with crystal clear process.”

The report by Audit Wales into the departure of former CEO Ian Westley is very likely to contain criticism of senior council officers.

In November 2020, Mr Westley left Pembrokeshire County Council with a £95,000 pay-out, something which has been criticised by a number of councillors.

In a document before the Audit and Governance Committee on Tuesday (April 13), it says that termination payments to Chief Officers are routinely examined by Audit Wales but in the case of Mr Westley, the audit team was unable to locate a recorded decision to enter into the settlement agreement which led to a termination payment being made to the Chief Executive.

An Audit Office spokesperson said: “This appeared unusual and therefore the audit team decided to undertake an early examination of the process that resulted in the payment being made.”

No complaints were raised by councillors or any other body with Audit Wales, but the number of concerns and questions being raised at following council meetings prompted them to commence an audit.

It is understood that only a handful of senior officers were involved in the procedure surrounding Ian Westley’s departure.

The report by Audit Wales is likely to focus on their involvement and has said that anybody named in its report will be given an extract of it to check its accuracy.

That process is known as Maxwellisation, a legal practice that allows persons who are to be criticised in an official report to respond prior to publication.

It is clearly an exceptional case as Audit Wales said it had to take some external legal advice due to the complex nature of some of the issues in its report.

Audit Wales has completed its work but is currently considering its legal advice before publishing its findings and conclusions.

That will be published in the near future, once those identified in the report have had a chance to read it and confirm its factual accuracy.

The council’s interim Chief Executive will then get the chance to read the documents to identify any remaining factual inaccuracies.

It is also likely that the council’s newly appointed Chief Executive, Will Bramble, will have a chance to see it.

The spokesperson added: “We are unable to provide a definitive timetable for reporting because it will depend on the responses we receive within the clearance process. We are unable to respond to queries about our emerging findings whilst the audit is progressing, and until we have finalised our conclusions.”

In January, Cllr Jamie Adams had called for the council to commence an internal investigation into Mr Westley’s departure but that was deferred to allow for the Audit Wales review to be completed.

Cllr Adams said that the decision of payment should have been a ‘democratic decision’ and has asked why that wasn’t the case.