Politicians call for formal inquiry into handling of charity’s finances, as accounts show expenditure exceeded grants from leading arts and culture bodies.
Jamie Gray
Members of Coventry City Council are planning to call for a public inquiry into the management of Coventry City of Culture Trust.
The trust, which was responsible for running legacy projects following Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture, entered administration last month. Reports raising concern over the handling of the charity’s finances have since followed.
Leader of the Conservative group of the city council, Gary Ridley, has said he plans to put forward a motion at the next full council meeting scheduled for 21 March, calling for the government to instigate a public inquiry into “this catastrophic mismanagement of taxpayers’ money”.
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Ridley’s comments followed a meeting held last week (9 March) by Coventry Council’s Scrutiny Board, which was postponed after less than half an hour, after it transpired no one with responsibility for the trust was present to answer questions.
The meeting had planned to investigate concerns over the trust’s finances. The council is one of a number of bodies which the trust now owes money to, totalling £1.6m, including a £1m loan agreed last October.
None of the former officers from the trust invited to the meeting by the board – including former Chief Executive Martin Sutherland, former Creative Director Chenine Bhathena and former Director of Audience Strategy Laura McMillan – showed up.
Writing on Twitter, Ridley said: “Coventry City Council and the Labour Group are attempting to close debate and refusing to answer even basic questions on the premise it’s nothing to do with them”.
“Their Chief Executive chaired the Trust Board and signed off their accounts. And Labour councillors even sat on the board. So however hard they try, they can’t distance themselves from this fiasco.”
Speaking in the House of Commons today (16 March), Labour MP for Coventry North West, Taiwo Owatemi, called for a “debate in government time on the efficacy of Coventry City of Culture Trust to ensure there is proper oversight”.
Her question was answered by Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, who said “this is probably a topic for an adjournment debate given it is a highly local issue”.
“The next questions for the Secretary of State are not until after recess so I will also make sure they have heard the concerns.”
Diminishing returns
According to a report from The Spectator, the trust received £3m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, £6m from Arts Council England and around £7m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
In total, the trust received £19.1m in donations and grants for financial year 2021/22, while its expenditure for the same time period totalled almost £20.7m.
The trust’s accounts show nearly £13m was spent on events in 2021/22, which generated a return of £487,000 in ticket sales.
Meanwhile, it paid out almost £3.8m in staff costs, £371,000 in adviser costs and £122,000 on travel and subsistence, compared to £5,000 on community engagement.
Michael Mogan, a former Director of Fundraising at the trust, told The Times costs spiralled under the leadership of Sutherland.
He has claimed “vast sums” were spent on London-based consultants, and that directors at the trust were “flying around the world business class to Australia and America, which made little sense for a Coventry-based project”.
Sutherland resigned from the trust earlier this year before administration proceedings began.
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