While I can see the political mileage that some may gain from attacking our excellent Acting Director of Resources Clive Medlam and the decision to allow him to travel to Iceland on behalf of the council, it is now a time for calm and rational consideration of the behind the scenes work being undertaken to ensure the return of our Icelandic deposits.

On 6th November 2008, the Local Government Association organised a meeting of 80 of the over 100 authorities who had exposure to deposits within Icelandic banks and at this meeting is was agreed that local authorities should be represented at the Informal Creditor Committee (ICC) meetings in Iceland and that both Clive Medlam, and Lynda McMullan from Kent County Council should attend on behalf of all authorities.

As a creditor of both Glitnir and Landsbanki, the council were invited to attend the ICC meetings as part of the normal Icelandic procedure for dealing with companies in administration. These are Icelandic companies and the procedures will take place in Iceland. As local councils around the country are major creditors, it is expected and proper that Barnet was there to represent itself and other councils.

Over the course of the week, Clive will be meeting Lynda McMullan, legal advisors acting for both local authorities and the Icelandic banks, the administrators of each bank before attending the ICC meetings. These meetings will give us a better understanding of what assets the banks in administration have against their liabilities.

Whatever may be happening on the national stage on a Government to Government basis, it is essential that our voice is heard in these ICC meetings in Iceland and the only way to do this is to ensure that we have a representative on the ground, with knowledge of our deposits speaking up for Barnet.

Be assured, Barnet and Kent will not be picking up the bill to represent every other local authority and the modest travel and accommodation expenses of both Clive and Lynda will be shared between all of the authorities affected. For the record, and to avoid a raft of Freedom of Information Requests, Clive travelled to Iceland using a budget airline and has accommodation in a 3* hotel at a cost of approximately £50 per night.

Update

Officers from Barnet council attended preliminary creditors meetings in Iceland last week along with officers from Kent County Council on behalf of all UK authorities affected by the current crisis. Due to a confidentiality agreement we are unable to discuss specific issues further at this stage, however it remains the position that the deposits placed by the council are frozen and not lost.

Whilst details of the meeting remain confidential to ensure that no commercial information could be divulged about the banks’ assets and liabilities that could potentially damage the value of their assets and in turn, the amounts that may eventually be returned to depositors, we are pleased with the progress made and are optimistic that our deposits will be returned.