The Chief Executive of Sheffield International Venues (SIV) admitted the company had become "lax" in gaining proper approval from their board of trustees for financially risky projects, according to a document seen by Sheffield Politics.
CEO Steve Brailey MBE made the admission in a report to the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Sheffield City Trust (SCT) covering lessons that should be learned from the Sheftival sports and music festival in August 2012, which it emerged last month had lost £180,000.
Steve Brailey is Chief Executive both of Sheffield International Venues, and of the Sheffield City Trust, the charity of which SIV is a subsidiary. He sits on the board of trustees of SCT.
In the report, Brailey says:
“We did not fully explain the risks associated with the event, and should have reported the projected financial cost at an earlier stage. Whilst we regularly take a degree of risk in decisions we make about events across the Company we may have become “lax” in ensuring we have the appropriate Board approvals.
“We will review all our event risks and we will ensure that if the total risk is greater than Executive authorisation limits, the appropriate approval will be obtained.”
He goes on to admit that due to changes in the structure of Sheffield City Trust over the last 18 months, “it is not always clear which board or sub-committee should take decisions.”
While Brailey admits the cost of Sheftival was not communicated to trustees and the council in a timely manner, he denies allegations that these costs were to be “hidden” in the accounts of Stocksbridge Leisure Centre.
“We have provided for the cost in all our forecasts and the cost is shown centrally and not in any venue. We have had outrageous accusations that we have put some of the cost against Stocksbridge accounts. This is wholly inaccurate.”
SIV recently bid successfully for contracts to run a number of venues outside Sheffield, including Scarborough Spa. Their bid included a pledge to invest £700,000 in refurbishments to the venue.
