Auditors warning over Highland Council in-house bus service as officials miss deadline to show it will ‘deliver the intended performance and outcomes’
Highland Council does not have a business and financial strategy to support its in-house bus service - even as it is set to splash millions to buy D&E Coaches.
Last month, we revealed that the council had announced its intention to purchase the coach firm to expand its public transport project with the deal expected to be worth between £5.5 million and £6 million.
The absence of the strategy was flagged up by the council’s own internal audit staff two years after the launch of the scheme amid concerns about the cost of contracts for school runs and the like.
Auditors are worried because officials cannot currently show that it can “deliver the intended performance and outcomes” and they cannot yet “benchmark the cost avoidance model”.
The strategy was due in November but has been delayed until April. It has now been classed as a “high priority action” because it is “essential to inform the new operating model” as the “project transitions from its pilot status”.
Drawing up the plans is challenging and the delay is related to “ongoing strategic discussions and complex specialist legal advice” that is under way to “target” an operating model and “which have not yet been concluded”.
Without that operating model being put on a sound financial footing there would be significant concerns relating to such an investment in expansion with assurance that it has a good chance of delivering.
But the bus service has proved not just popular but reliable with expanding routes meeting demand and that is mostly valued by the communities it serves.
The council’s audit committee meets tomorrow.
