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31 March 2024
There was one other item discussed at the last Full Council meeting of Hughenden Parish Council on 19 March which I need to report. The last item on the agenda asked Council to consider quotes for the “provision of Project Management Services for the renovation of playgrounds at Templewood and Great Kingshill.” This item was to be discussed in the confidential part of the meeting.
During my career as a civil servant, I was the security officer for personnel for a government department with 50,000 employees. So, I take the issue of the disclosure of information very seriously.
On the other hand, I am committed to the principles of public life, which include taking decisions in an open and transparent manner, and not withholding information from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.
So, in writing this blog, I have been careful only to include information which is already in the public domain or not confidential. You need to read between the lines for the rest.
In October, HPC’s Environment and Services Committee considered a paper advising the Committee what to do about HPC’s playgrounds. The paper had been prepared by a private sector company called the Local Government Resource Centre (LGRC).
LGRC provides services to local councils on a commercial basis. It has provided a number of locum Clerks to Hughenden Parish Council over the past 2 years under a contract with the Council.
One of those locum Clerks is Mr. Truppin, HPC’s current locum Clerk.
I don’t know who asked LGRC to provide E&S Committee with advice on the playgrounds but I assume it was Mr. Truppin, who is in employment with LGRC.
In its paper, LGRC advised Council to outsource a procurement exercise for the playgrounds to management consultants. LGRC added that it would be “very happy to discuss any aspect of the project and provide a firm proposal as necessary.”
Mr. Truppin was the locum Clerk at the E&S Committee meeting in October. Although there are no minutes available, I understand he did not declare an interest for this item on the agenda i.e. he attended the meeting and advised the Committee on LGRC’s paper without acknowledging an interest as being in employment with LGRC.
E&S Committee agreed with LGRC’s proposals and recommended Council should “engage project management services to move the playground project forward”.
An item to this effect went on the agenda of HPC’s Council meeting in November.
No papers were provided to Council by Mr. Truppin and no explanation provided at the Council meeting – just this one-line recommendation. So it was not clear to Council that the recommendation arose from proposals from LGRC or that LGRC intended to make further proposals if HPC went out to seek quotes.
Moreover, Mr. Truppin did not declare an interest in this item at the November Council meeting.
Luckily, I had read LGRC’s paper and therefore asked for clarification.
It then became clear that, if Council approved this recommendation, Mr. Truppin would be asked to draw up a specification and then seek quotes for a contract with consultants, including seeking quotes from LGRC, his employer. I pointed out that this was a clear conflict of interest but Mr. Truppin did not agree.
After the November Council meeting, I remained concerned about Mr. Truppin’s failure to acknowledge or take action about conflicts of interest between his role as a locum Clerk to HPC and his employment with LGRC.
The Seven Principles of Public Life state that public office holders, such as the Proper Officer for a parish council, must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.
Guidance makes clear that it is not only essential for decisions to be taken fairly and objectively but for decisions to be seen to be taken fairly and objectively. It stresses that “it is important that the public know about any interests so that decision - making is seen as open and honest. This helps to ensure the integrity of local governance is maintained.”
As Mr. Truppin was advising the Council, preparing the project specification and handling the bidding process, other organisations putting in a bid, or considering it, might consider that LGRC had an advantage in bidding for the contract.
Moreover, Mr. Truppin would be in the possession of valuable commercial information about the proposals and quotes of the other bidding organisations.
The agenda item on the contract for the playgrounds for the Full Council meeting on 19 March said:
“Three quotes have been received as follows:
Quote A £450 per day = £22,500 plus expenses (50 days)- Appendix N
Quote B £375 per day = £14,250 plus expenses (38 days) – Appendix O
Quote C £375 per day = £9,375 (25 days) plus expenses(25 days) - Appendix P (all ex VAT).”
I cannot tell you whether one of these quotes was from LGRC as this is confidential.
I can however tell you that I wrote before the Council meeting to the CEO of LGRC to express my concern about Mr. Truppin’s failure to acknowledge or take action about conflicts of interest between his role as a locum Clerk to HPC and his employment with LGRC.
In response, LGRC made a complaint against me to the Monitoring Officer.
You might also like to note that three of LGRC’s values are integrity, professionalism and fair dealing.
At the March Council meeting, Mr. Truppin did not declare an interest under the relevant item at the start of the meeting.
When Council came to consider the quotes for the management service for the playgrounds, I asked Mr. Truppin, politely, to leave the meeting as I believed he had a conflict of interest. I can tell you this because my request should be recorded in the minutes.
Mr. Truppin said he was not going to leave the meeting; he intended to take the minutes but not speak. I asked Mr. Truppin again to leave the meeting. Mr. Truppin again declined and became angry.
Cllr Jones, the Chair, then asked Mr. Truppin to leave the meeting. Mr. Truppin declined again.
I then said, politely, that if Mr. Truppin stayed in the meeting, I would leave. This would have left the meeting inquorate. The Chair asked Mr. Truppin again to leave and he finally did.
Council decided which quote to accept and Cllr Jones called Mr. Truppin back to the meeting. Mr. Truppin was still angry. He said he was angry because he had been “ejected” from the meeting. He started shouting at me. I quickly left the meeting and walked towards the exit. Mr. Truppin shouted after me saying “I will never forgive you, Councillor Derrick”.
I can tell you this because when I left the meeting it became inquorate and the confidential session ended.
I leave it to you to make your own judgement call.