A LACK of financial controls and the pressures placed on staff led to the controversial Dorset Waste Partnership failing to comply with legal requirements, it has been claimed.

A damning report into the partnership has revealed “serious non-compliance” with both Dorset County Council’s own rules and the legal restraints on all public bodies.

Monitoring officer Jonathan Mair’s report states that contracts worth £765,000 and £808,000 were given to two contractors without any compliant tendering processes.

More than 28 hire vehicles were also operated without their details being passed to the Motor Insurers Information Centre, a criminal offence.

As reported in yesterday’s Echo, Steve Burdis, the director of DWP, has now been suspended from his £70,000 post and is facing disciplinary action.

The DWP, a partnership of seven Dorset councils, sparked concern when it reported an overspend of £2.8m, including more than £1m used for hire vehicles.

An investigation by the South West Audit Partnership has concluded there were serious weaknesses in DWP’s financial management processes and a lack of controls in place around hiring vehicles.

Mr Mair’s report goes further and states: “What is now apparent is that this lack of control extended so far as the direct award of vehicle hire business to suppliers in breach of both contract procedure rules and legal requirements.”

He said urgent steps needed to be taken to replace the unlawful arrangements with ones that are legally compliant and said the county council should be “fully compliant” by May.

His report also contains a summary of Mr Burdis’ response to the identified problems. He told Mr Mair DWP staff had been working in a “dynamic and high pressure environment” and that staff may not have followed processes and procedures to the letter because their focus had been on delivering a service.

He said purchase of vehicles rather than hiring them would have delayed the operation by around 30 weeks, delaying phases four and five at a time when there was pressure to roll out the service within a tight timescale.

And he claimed a higher level of support from other council departments could have prevented the contravention.

The Dorset Waste Partnership Joint Committee will meet next Wednesday (MAR 11) to consider Mr Mair’s report, the South West Audit Partnership’s report, and other reviews of the effectiveness of the DWP.