grandad wrote:
At the full council meeting held this evening I had tabled a public question. following the response to this question here is my supplementary question.
Thank you Councillor XXXXX.
As many of you are aware the taxi drivers association have been unhappy with the way in which the time recording data collected in 2013 and the material costs stated in previous reports has been used to set the level of fees for our licenses.
The data was collected by untrained, unqualified people with no independent verification. There was no recording of any time that was spent on other activities so the percentages claimed can’t be verified. It was a very amateurish exercise.
Included in the list of costs of materials are sums for personal licenses issued to people working in Pubs, clubs and restaurants. Clearly nothing to do with taxi license materials. This has been agreed by the head of Regulatory Services.
There was also a sum for membership of licensing institutions. Again clearly nothing to do with taxi licensing materials. This has been agreed by the head of Regulatory Services.
There is also nearly £1,000 included in taxi license materials for staff training. How can this be correct?
It has already been shown previously that the time recorded for reviewing the licensing policy should not have been included in its entirety.
Councillor XXXXX has just confirmed that there was only one active application for an operator’s license during the time recording period. The head of Regulatory services has confirmed to the association that this application was stamped as received on November 13th 2013 yet two thirds of the time recorded by officers as working on operators licenses was recorded before this application was received. This shows that officers were falsifying the records. This could be seen as fraud.
There are still many costs that have not yet been explained by officers and this will remain an ongoing task for the association but there seems to be a pattern of deliberately and systematically adding time and including incorrect costs with the sole intention of increasing the cost of taxi licenses.
My supplementary question is this. If these sort of inaccuracies are being allowed to pass through committees, what are the chances of similar inaccuracies showing up in all the Councils financial reports including the setting of Council tax?
Thank you Councillor XXXXX.
As many of you are aware the taxi drivers association have been unhappy with the way in which the time recording data collected in 2013 and the material costs stated in previous reports has been used to set the level of fees for our licenses.
The data was collected by untrained, unqualified people with no independent verification. There was no recording of any time that was spent on other activities so the percentages claimed can’t be verified. It was a very amateurish exercise.
Included in the list of costs of materials are sums for personal licenses issued to people working in Pubs, clubs and restaurants. Clearly nothing to do with taxi license materials. This has been agreed by the head of Regulatory Services.
There was also a sum for membership of licensing institutions. Again clearly nothing to do with taxi licensing materials. This has been agreed by the head of Regulatory Services.
There is also nearly £1,000 included in taxi license materials for staff training. How can this be correct?
It has already been shown previously that the time recorded for reviewing the licensing policy should not have been included in its entirety.
Councillor XXXXX has just confirmed that there was only one active application for an operator’s license during the time recording period. The head of Regulatory services has confirmed to the association that this application was stamped as received on November 13th 2013 yet two thirds of the time recorded by officers as working on operators licenses was recorded before this application was received. This shows that officers were falsifying the records. This could be seen as fraud.
There are still many costs that have not yet been explained by officers and this will remain an ongoing task for the association but there seems to be a pattern of deliberately and systematically adding time and including incorrect costs with the sole intention of increasing the cost of taxi licenses.
My supplementary question is this. If these sort of inaccuracies are being allowed to pass through committees, what are the chances of similar inaccuracies showing up in all the Councils financial reports including the setting of Council tax?
I think TT and you are soul mates
