Giving contract to firm with links to council's commissioner is 'unacceptable' says former Northampton MP

A former Northampton MP says the awarding of a lucrative contract to a firm that has links with Northamptonshire’s Government appointed lead commissioner is ‘unacceptable’.

Sally Keeble says there are ‘too many questions’ about the multi-million contract the council granted to Newton Europe on Tuesday (Feb 11).

The council’s lead Government commissioner Tony McArdle is a paid advisor to the firm, although his office has issued a statement this week to say ‘he has never been involved in any way around the company’s work in Northamptonshire.’

Mr McArdle, who is paid £800 per day and works a minimum of two days a week at the authority, has listed his Newton Europe role on his list of interests published on the council’s website.

Sally Keeble, who represented Northampton as MP from 1997 to 2010 and since then has been keeping a close eye on the actions of the county council said: “This is the kind of behaviour that caused a lot of problems at Northamptonshire County Council in the first place: lucrative contracts being awarded to companies in which senior figures at the council have an interest. Declaring an interest doesn’t make it disappear.

”It is completely unacceptable that an official appointed by the government and paid a huge salary by local taxpayers to oversee the turnaround of the council should also be paid by a company that is awarded council contracts to carry out some of the turnaround.

“If Northamptonshire is to be transformed, and if public confidence is to be restored, then there must be complete transparency and no room for doubt. The Minister must account for what has happened and if he can’t then he should replace the lead commissioner.”

A spokesperson for the commissioner said: “Tony McArdle has been very clear, open and transparent about his role for Newton Europe. This has been fully declared on his register of interests and rather than just leaving the room during discussions he has never been involved in any way around the company’s work in Northamptonshire.”

Newton Europe has been contracted to make savings in adult social care and introduce a new operating model. It was paid £435,000 for a 12-week piece of work last autumn and now could earn up to £7m a year for savings made.

Tony McArdle was sent into the council along with Brian Roberts in May 2018 to turn the failing and broke council around.

Since then the pair have overseen the stabilisation of the council, and have issued four reports to central government giving their verdict on the council's performance.

The latest report says that things have improved under the direction of chief executive Theresa Grant but many of the council’s services are in a poor operational state.