At the council meeting on 5 March 2015, Cllr Tony Brinsden put down a question regarding the cost of legal advice regarding the former chief executive’s “unlawful” pension arrangements.
As the the following extracts from the minutes show (Agenda Item 183) the Leader was less than forthcoming.
“The Leader stated that the Authority had not specifically sought Counsel’s opinion relating to the former Chief Executive, but had sought opinions in relation to the lawfulness of the pay supplement policy; and he stated that this could be made available if required.”
“Councillor Brinsden stated that he required the full answer to be provided as soon as possible and that the answer be circulated to all Members.”
In due course, members received an email in which they were informed:
The Authority has not obtained any Advice specific to the former Chief Executive. As you will be aware Mr Tim Kerr QC was instructed but this was in relation to the legality of pay supplement policies, this advice was sought in conjunction with Carmarthenshire County Council.
Which didn’t take us any further because, as can be seen, there is no mention of the actual cost.
However, thanks to extensive coverage on that other website, we know that the Mr Kerr’s bill came to £10,289.52 (inc VAT)
As the young upstart observed back in January: “Interestingly, the invoice fails to make any reference to Mr. Kerr’s involvement in the second half of the meeting, which was where the day gained its notoriety.”
The second part of the meeting became known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre on account of it being held on 14 February 2014.
During that meeting, you may recall, Mr Kerr was called upon to advise that several members of the opposition should declare a prejudicial interest and withdraw because of remarks they had made to the local newspapers (see Ambushed).
Conveniently, with upwards of ten opposition members taken out of the equation by this ruse, the prospects for the success of Cllr Paul Miller’s proposal to set up a disciplinary committee to investigate the chief executive were somewhere between nil and vanishing point.
Cllr Mike Evans asked who had instructed Mr Kerr and was told that the Monitoring Officer was his client.
Unfortunately, the webcast of the meeting has been removed from the council’s website but it can still be found on YouTube at the following link, or you can play it below:
However, what we do know is that the Monitoring Officer’s instructions, together with the incriminating newspaper cuttings, were left on the back seat of the council’s limo sent to pick up the QC from Port Talbot station on the eve of the meeting.
However, the QC’s bill (above) was sent to Mr Huw Miller (former head of legal services) and is labelled “Lawfulness of Pembrokeshire pay supplement policies” the issue that was the subject of the first part of the St Valentine’s Day meeting.
I have now established that this is the only bill received by the council f0om Mr Kerr so we come back to the point made by Jacob: “Interestingly, the invoice fails to make any reference to Mr. Kerr’s involvement in the second half of the meeting, which was where the day gained its notoriety.”
So, it seems, three possibilities arise:
1. Kerr QC was working for free (pro bono, as m’learned friends like to put it) during the afternoon session.
2. The Monitoring Officer – Mr Kerr’s “client” – paid out of his own pocket, and
3. The cost of Mr Kerr’s advice, on a matter totally unrelated to the pensions issue, has been hidden away in the invoice reproduced above.
I needn’t tell you which I think is the most probable.
PS. 11 April 2015 – the webcast of the meeting of 14 February has now been reinstated on the council’s website.
Ever since I came across him when studying biology almost 60 years ago, I have been an admirer of Alfred Russel Wallace, who, along with Charles Darwin, co-wrote a paper on the theory of evolution that was presented to the Linnean Society in 1858.
I first wrote about this in 2009 (see Second-rated).
Wallace was born in Usk and spent part of his life in Neath working as a surveyor in his brother’s firm before embarking on specimen collecting expeditions to South America and the Malay archipelago.
Wallace seems to have come to the theory of evolution in a flash of genius, while Darwin had been worrying away at the subject for ten or more years.
Indeed, it is widely thought that it was only when Darwin came to realise that the younger man might beat him to it that he decided to publish his own findings.
One possible reason for Darwin’s reluctance to make his work public was that he knew it would upset the religious apple-cart and he didn’t want to cause offence to his extremely pious wife.
Unfortunately, Darwin, who had friends in high places, got all the credit, while Wallace has been more or less forgotten.
The National Park Authority are running an exhibition on Wallace’s work at Oriel y Parc St Davids.
It is about time this great scientist was given the recognition he so richly deserves.