Teesworks panel will not extend review into authorities

PARLIAMENT’S Business and Trade Committee has published a letter from the chair of the Teesworks review panel in which she explained why the panel did not extend its review after it criticised Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA).

Committee chair Liam Byrne MP wrote to Angie Ridgwell last month asking about the review she led into governance and transparency at TVCA, its subsidiary South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) and the redevelopment of the former Redcar steelworks site, known as Teesworks.

Mr Byrne asked whether Ms Ridgwell would recommend more decisions made in relation to Teesworks be reviewed, given restrictions on the panel’s time and resources.

In her response, Ms Ridgwell wrote: “We consistently came to the same conclusion about the decision-making processes in respect of the governance and finances of the organisations.

“We do not believe that extending the review to include other decisions taken by TVCA/STDC would have led the panel to reach different conclusions and therefore would not recommend that course of action.”

The Tees Valley Review Report was published in January. Ms Ridgwell and her colleagues made 28 recommendations to improve transparency and governance, having concluded decisions made by TVCA “do not meet standards expected when managing public funds”.

One of the key aims of the review was to consider allegations of corruption, wrongdoing, and illegality in relation to the project, something it said it found “no evidence to support”

Prof Robert Barrington, professor of anti-corruption practice at the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, was critical of the methodology. He told The Yorkshire Post the review was “unlike anything I’d seen before in the world”.

Asked if her panel “had the competence, powers and time to secure evidence of and evaluate any potential evidence of illegality or corruption,” Ms Ridgwell’s reply said she was “satisfied” her panel “had the competence, powers and time to fulfil the terms of reference for the review.”