---

Mr. Peter Francis

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on securing today’s debate on an issue on which he clearly feels very strongly, and I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George) for his comments, too. They are two experienced, esteemed Members held in high regard by the House. Their sense of outrage and injustice is evident to all who have heard the debate. I should say that Mr. Francis’s constituency MP, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Steve McCabe), is present, too. Understandably, he has to be silent, but he has made it clear to me that he shares the sense of injustice about the case of Mr. Francis. The debate concerns a dispute between an employee—Mr. Francis—and Walsall council. The relationship between a local authority and a member of its staff is fundamentally a matter for the officer’s contract of employment, and any dispute about an individual’s treatment under his contract can, as it did in Mr. Francis’s case, be taken to an employment tribunal. It then ultimately becomes a matter for the courts to decide on, so I hope that the House understands that it would be inappropriate for me to offer any comment on the right and wrongs of the case at this time. However, I recognise that there is widespread local concern, which has been expressed both tonight in the House and in recent months about the issues highlighted by the case. Those points were made very forcefully by my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North and my right hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, South. As hon. Members are aware, the district auditor for Walsall council is conducting a lengthy and thorough investigation of those matters, and that is the appropriate mechanism to uncover any issues of public concern and to ensure that the council takes any remedial action that is required. For the benefit of hon. Members, I should explain that in these cases, the district auditor works under part 3 of the code of audit practice. There are three areas in which the auditor has to make an assessment that are relevant to this case: the arrangements for managing financial and other resources; arrangements for ensuring compliance with established policies, procedures, laws and regulations; and arrangements for ensuring that the council’s affairs are managed in accordance with proper standards of conduct. That is the basis of the investigation by the district auditor in Walsall, but right hon. and hon. Members will appreciate that the scope and complexity of work required means that it is taking some time to reach a final conclusion. A draft report was published, and comments on it have been received and must be taken into account. The district auditor has recently written to the leader of Walsall council. He explained what stage he has reached in finalising his conclusions and said that he hoped to issue his final report as quickly as possible, with the aim of doing so in June. I appreciate that my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North would like that report to be published before the local elections, and I shall come on to that in a moment. However, as he illustrated, I do not have the power to make the district auditor publish a report at any time other than when he thinks appropriate. It is for the district auditor to determine the most appropriate way to report his findings. He could produce an audit report that he would summarise in the next annual audit letter to the council, or a report in the public interest under section 8 of the Audit Commission Act 1998. A final decision has not yet been made on the appropriate way to publish. As my hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend have said, a further inquiry linked to the case has been set up by Walsall council itself. It is designed to be complementary to the district auditor’s investigation, and to set a broader context, with more emphasis on examining systems rather than on the roles played by individuals. The council asked a former chief Executive of another local authority, Douglas Bradbury, to carry out that work. I understand that, following legal advice, the council concluded that Douglas Bradbury’s report and the district auditor’s investigation would need to be released together, as they dealt with different aspects of the same story. That is why the council’s report has been delayed. I am informed that that is the council’s current intention, but I am sure that it has heard the comments made by my right hon. and hon. Friends.