It was part of an audit report which gave us a pass with flying colours and has now been resolved
Steve Read, managing director, SWP
The internal report was, on the whole, praiseworthy of the statutory body's work.
However, it highlighted that inflation had not been applied during the 2008/09 financial year by either Viridor or the Waste Partnership for management fees on its 18 household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs).
This “indexation charge” had been agreed by the two parties but not applied.
The Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) oversees the waste disposal for Somerset county council and six district and borough councils.
The audit carried out by the South West Audit Partnership identified the discrepancy as a “significant finding” but the Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) reported that the irregularity did not affect the 2009/10 financial year as the bookkeeping used a zero rate system.
The document, which was published in August but made public earlier this month, stated that the discrepancy was set to be resolved by negotiations between the SWP and Viridor.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Steve Read, managing director of the SWP, said: “It was part of an audit report which gave us a pass with flying colours and [the underpayment] has now been resolved between the SWP and Viridor.”
Concerns
Issues surrounding underpayment were not the only finding concerning the HWRCs, with the audit also encountering “unexpected trends” in the figures for the volume of tyres collected at the SWP sites.
The spreadsheet used by Viridor to calculate tyre invoices based upon the number of tyres collected showed the highest invoice charge during the month the least amount of tyres were collected and the lowest invoice in the month where the number of tyres was the greatest.
Viridor said it would investigate the figures in the table and explain the anomalies to SWP, as well as the way it planned to prevent the issue arising again.
Furthermore, the audit said that certain items collected at the HWRCs were not being pulled through the data management system by Viridor, with items classed as ‘bric-a-brac', such as cupboards, ladders and sideboards, not showing up in SWP monthly totals.
However, it was noted that Viridor contacted the SWP and corrected the figures once they were flagged up by the audit. The audit claimed that the additional benefit for SWP's recycling rate by adding in these items was “low” and had “minimal financial impact”.
In the document, it was revealed that the SWP spent £16.8 million on its waste disposal contract with Viridor during 2008/09, which included management of the household waste and recycling centres. The budget for the contract is set at £18 million for 2009/10.
Responding to the report, Chris Jonas, regional manager at Viridor, said: “Viridor continues to work hard with the Somerset Waste Partnership to provide residents with a top quality recycling service and some of the best performing HWRCs in the UK.
“The company is satisfied with the outcome of this audit – which highlighted overall good performance – and subsequent negotiations.”
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