Internal governance review - Terms of reference
During 2006, the Authority became involved in a series of enforcement and Licensing activities relating to centres run by one PR. This culminated early in 2007 in a decision by the Authority to apply for a warrant and a decision to refer certain matters for investigation to the Police as there was the possibility of a criminal offence. The Authority's actions were challenged by the PR both at Licence Committee and in subsequent legal action. The aftermath was complex and it has taken many months for the sequence of events to begin to resolve itself.
Since then there has been a far-reaching programme of change in the Authority designed to strengthen its governance, to improve its systems and to develop protocols to cover areas where we should have, and follow, standard operating procedures.
The consequential police investigation has only recently come to a conclusion. Now is therefore the time to review the extent to which the changes we have made would be sufficient in the (admittedly rare) eventuality that similar decisions needed to be made in future. The focus should be on the interface between our regulatory regime and the criminal law; the terms of reference are "to review the adequacy of the Authority's revised governance arrangements in relation to the threshold between administrative enforcement of our powers and the sphere of criminal law and to report back to the Authority with any recommendations".
The spirit of the review will be to look into recent developments so that the Authority can be satisfied that it has learnt the lessons that are there to be learned, not to seek to attach blame to individuals.
The review will be undertaken by a senior Director not employed by the Authority at the time of the events in question. Once complete, it will be subject to external scrutiny by an independent assessor. The aim is to take the report that results to the Authority.
Page last updated: 27 January 2010
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