Board officer gave uncle contract

The BELB has been accused of ignoring its own advice on conflicts of interest

A report by an Assembly scrutiny committee has found that a maintenance officer for Belfast Education and Library Board awarded £64,000 of work to his uncle's firm.

The report by the Public Accounts Committee makes a series of severe criticisms of the Board's handling of contracts.

The committee chair described it as one of the worst cases it had examined.

BELB said it had dedicated resources to tackling a "historic" problem.

In April, the Northern Ireland Audit Office reported that the Board had paid £80,000 for work in two libraries which was never started.

The report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), entitled 'The Investigation of Suspected Contract Fraud in the Belfast Education and Library Board' details further shortcomings.

It highlights poor value for money, conflicts of interest and evidence of favouritism towards certain contractors.

"This is one of the most worrying cases the Committee has come across," said PAC chair, Paul Maskey.

"This public body failed to recognise the extent to which it was vulnerable to fraud and responded too slowly as evidence of malpractice accumulated over several years."

He said there was "extensive evidence" that BELB's Property Services Unit had no regard for proper procurement procedures.

"In one case, a BELB maintenance officer was involved in the award of £64,000 worth of work to his uncle's firm.

Even if only a small proportion of this spend is fraudulent, very significant sums of public money are potentially lost. Paul Maskey - Public Accounts Committee Chair

"Despite this being known by the employee's supervisor and senior management, including the chief executive, the Board's own instructions on dealing with conflicts of interest were ignored.

"In another case, a maintenance officer accepted a four-day junket to Italy arranged by a Northern Ireland supplier."

Disciplinary charges

In April the Audit Office said that the BELB paid £80,000 to contractors for disability access work in Whitewell and Oldpark libraries.

The work was never started.

The Public Accounts Committee report says that the Board also paid £110,000 for work in 14 other libraries that was either not completed or not carried out to the required standard.

The committee also criticises disciplinary proceedings that were taken against three officers involved with school maintenance procurement for the Board.

Two originally faced charges of gross misconduct for their relationship with a contractor.

This was later downgraded to misconduct and warnings remained on their records for only a year.

The Committee said it felt this was inappropriate given the seriousness of the offences.

Mr Maskey said the BELB "must learn lessons".

"The schools estate currently has a backlog of £200m for maintenance work," he said.

"Even if only a small proportion of this spend is fraudulent, very significant sums of public money are potentially lost.

"The crucial lessons learned about maintenance procurement in this report must be applied, not only in the education sector, but throughout the whole of the public sector."

A spokesperson for the Belfast Education and Library Board said it had put "extensive time and resources" into dealing with a "historic problem".

"The Board has now developed and put in place systems and procedures that have been recognised by DFP as best practice in public sector maintenance procurement."