Dudley Council facing calls for probe into how £100k was splashed out on French Riviera trip

In March 2022 a delegation from the authority visited the MIPIM trade event in glamorous Cannes on the Mediterranean coast looking for property investment.

Councillors clashed at a meeting of the Audit Scrutiny Committee on December 18 about how decisions were made about who got a seat on the plane for what the Daily Mail branded a ‘booze-soaked week’.

Councillor Shaukat Ali, Labour’s spokesperson for finance, said: “There are still issues in relation to this, what role did members take in that decision process? There needs to be an investigation.”

The row broke out as councillors discussed the conclusions of this year’s audit which said the usual financial and governance processes did not operate effectively around a contract with an events company connected to MIPIM.

Labour argues the 2022 decisions about who went on the trip were made by councillors as well as officers on the authority’s appointments panel.

The ruling Conservative group disagrees. Council leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, told the meeting: “MIPIM was an appointments panel failure of officers to follow due process.”

Speaking in March 2022, Councillor Harley said: “Having been somewhat of a sceptic at spending £100,000, I was extremely pleased with the outcome. I don’t accept the Daily Mail’s ridiculous story of this being a booze-soaked week.”

Nine delegates attended the 2022 MIPIM event including Councillor Harley, the then-Cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, Councillor Simon Phipps, and Dudley’s chief executive, Kevin O’Keefe.

The council was contracted to attend MIPIM in 2020, 2021 and 2022 although the first two events were cancelled due to covid.

The council spent £270,154 with event management company Associate Events in relation to the three events plus £13,056 on hotels and flights in 2022 and a further £5,000 on sponsorship in the same year.

An internal audit found there had been a “collective lack of competence” from officers in relation to overspending on the events.

This year’s independent audit found, while the council was in most cases governed effectively, there were concerns about finance and standards of conduct.

The auditors’ report said inspectors were concerned about the role of the council’s monitoring officer due to his place in the management hierarchy.

Dudley’s deputy chief executive, Balvinder Heran, who also attended MIPIM in 2022, told the audit committee: “We have started a process of organisational redesign looking at senior management restructure. This issue is a live piece of work.”

A recent review by the Local Government Association (LGA) also found problems with how the council handled MIPIM.

The LGA report said: “The issues occurred as a result of a failure to follow the governance arrangements that are in place and understanding what went wrong here is important.”

Labour’s Councillor Judy Foster, who is a member of the audit scrutiny committee, said: “The LGA review is clear there has to be change, I am looking forward to seeing the details.”