By: Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporter: Watchdogs have found “significant weaknesses” at the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) in a damning report into the £10,000 unlawful Birthday Bus wrap fiasco.
Last December, the leaders of South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils agreed with Weca’s top legal and finance officers that Labour metro mayor Dan Norris spent the public money to cover a double-decker with huge photos of him and his dog for political gain against government guidelines.
But despite the politicians saying the bus wrap was “clearly unlawful”, they decided to make no formal finding because former Bristol city mayor Marvin Rees, who was then in charge of the combined authority’s other member council, refused to attend the emergency committee meeting, branding it “improper”.
Mr Norris has denied any wrongdoing and was not given the opportunity to be interviewed by the official carrying out the initial fact-finding investigation into the spending, which was intended to promote the Birthday Bus free travel scheme and tackle a bus driver shortage in spring 2023.
It was pulled by Weca chief executive Richard Ennis, who has since left the organisation, when he found out and it never saw public light of day.
A report to the committee in December said the metro mayor issued a “direct instruction” to staff in his office to spend the government funding on the publicity stunt, a finding he refuted.
Now external auditors Grant Thornton have completed their own probe into the debacle and agreed that the conclusions were reasonable.
In a report to be debated at Weca audit committee on Monday, September 9, they found three significant weaknesses in the organisation’s value-for-money arrangements in relation to the bus wrap and issued six key recommendations.
The report said staff in the West of England mayor’s office failed to communicate with senior officers in the wider organisation who were therefore “not sufficiently informed to enable them to intervene” to make sure the bus wrap design complied with government rules.
It said the communication breakdown meant mayor’s office staff were able to “bypass key governance controls that would have prevented the purchase of the Birthday Bus wrap”.
The report said: “In our view, the conclusions set out in the fact-finding report point to the possibility that there was intent on the part of staff within the mayor’s office to deliberately circumvent the governance arrangements of the combined authority to accelerate the Birthday Bus launch.
“It also points to the possibility that there was deliberate action on the part of officers within the mayor’s office to bypass financial controls, specifically through the use of the mayoral office operational budget to fund the purchase, describing the expenditure as printing.
“We have considered further evidence that indicates that the request to raise the purchase order through the proper route had already been stopped, because the senior officers responsible for the programme were not satisfied that the governance requirements had been met.
“However, we accept that the members of the mayor’s office are likely to have acted without a clear understanding that their actions could result in the purchase being deemed unlawful.
“We have significant concerns about the actions of the mayor and the mayor’s office.”
Grant Thornton said the “underlying cultural and behavioural issues” at Weca that led to the Birthday Bus wrap had not yet been addressed.
The auditors said: “We note that the working relationships within the combined authority that contributed to the Birthday Bus issue speak to a culture within the combined authority that has become siloed between the small team referred to as the mayor’s office and the wider combined authority directorate team structure.
“In our view, the actions of the mayor and the mayor’s office in regard to the Birthday Bus wrap issue are symptomatic of a wider problem of division between the mayor and a number of senior managers of the combined authority.
“The sense of frustration expressed by the mayor in regard to the speed with which their priorities are being delivered was highlighted in the fact-finding report and provides an important part of the context behind the actions taken by the mayor’s office that resulted in the unlawful payment.
“This sense of frustration works both ways, as in the case of the Birthday Bus issue, where officers had to react quickly to actions taken by the mayor and his office without sufficient prior notice of intentions, to try to ensure that proper governance and consultation with partners took place and that conditions for the use of funding were met.
“We observe that there are several areas that reinforce this sense of division and present obstacles to a healthy and unified senior leadership structure within the combined authority.
“It appears to us that some of the concerns outlined above have damaged the relationship between the mayor and members of the senior management team in place at that time, a number of whom have now departed the organisation.
“While the mayor is entitled to fulfil their role in a style that they choose, they need to ensure that they do not fall short of applicable standards of conduct and do not expose the combined authority to a disproportionate level of financial, legal or reputational risk.
“Officers must have the confidence and ability to provide appropriate challenge where they feel things are not as they should be without fear of negative repercussions.”
The report said management controls had since been strengthened and roles and line management clarified, with the assistant chief executive given responsibility for the team called the mayor’s office.
In a response to the key recommendations, Weca management said in the report: “The previous mayor’s office referred to in this report no longer exists following the departure of almost all officers who previously worked in this area.
“In June 2024 a review of the organisation’s operating model, incorporating functions which directly support the mayor, was initiated to improve the working arrangements between officers and the mayor, ensure that new arrangements are robust and effective and that the organisation is politically responsive.
“We recognise the importance of officers and the mayor working together to develop effective relationships, and all parties are committed to this aim.”
But the report said that while relationships between Weca officers and their council counterparts had improved significantly, they remained “fragile” at the political level between the leaders where there was still a “lack of trust”.
In March, the government issued a major warning to Weca over the “poor state of professional relationships” between the metro mayor and council leaders.
The “best value notice” orders the local politicians to get along, and the combined authority must show significant progress within a year or face further sanction.
Grant Thornton’s report also found that the rationale, process and scale of a severance payment to former chief executive Patricia Greer was reasonable.
Weca declined to comment further. Mr Norris has been approached for comment.
Bath Voice and Local Democracy Reporters
The journalists are funded by the BBC as part of its latest Charter commitment, but are employed by regional news organisations. A total of 165 reporters are allocated to news organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland including Bath Voice. These organisations range from television and radio stations to online media companies and established regional newspaper groups. Local Democracy Reporters cover top-tier local authorities, second-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
Adam is a Local Democracy Reporter for Bristol, South Gloucestershire and West of England. He is a BBC-funded journalist writing for local media partners and employed by Bristol Live.
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