Is Mayor 'waiving' goodbye to financial accountability?

2.28.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Jun 2003

Mike Tuffrey

The London Assembly Liberal Democrats will raise concerns about the lack of controls to ensure the Mayor spends tax payers money wisely.

At Mayor's Question Time, Liberal Democrat Mike Tuffrey will highlight weaknesses in the Greater London Authority's systems, which allow the Mayor to award contracts worth thousands of pounds to external companies for work such as organising events:

"I will ask the Mayor if he agrees that current GLA purchasing procedures are weak, as they allow him to waive tests for value for money and the other controls normally in place on his personal say-so.

"For example, the investigation by the Assembly's Budget Committee into the St Patrick's Day event of 2002 found that the £100k contract for this event was not competitively tendered and that the procedures followed in awarding the contract were flawed.

"The Mayor's decisions about how Londoners' money is spent should be transparent and accountable. Council tax payers must be confident that their money is spent wisely and appropriately. However, the flawed processes currently in place hide from the public view exactly why decisions to award contracts are made.

"Before he was elected, the Mayor himself warned that the system was open to corruption and misuse. Now he is refusing to tighten the controls. I am calling for improvements to the procedures to ensure no abuse can take place."