Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for non attendance were received from the Monitoring Officer, Sanjit Sull as well as Counicllor Richard Levell.

The chair asked members to declare any interests on items present on the agenda.

No declarations were registered.

RESOLVED            That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit &                                           Governance Committee held on 12^th August 2024 be                                signed as a true record of the meeting.

Following debate it was

RESOLVED                       That the Audit and Governance Committee noted                                      the progress regarding the recommendations from                                    the internal audit report on the Highways                                              Maintenance Contract Management                                                         arrangements. 

Graeme Kane, Assitant Director Highways, Waste and Growth attended the meeting along with George Candler, Executive Director of Place & Economy and provided members at the request of the Chair, a brief update against progress towards completing the recommendations of an internal audit of the Highways Maintenance Contract (July 2024).

Members heard that there were five recommendations outlined in the audit report and that progress against each of the recommendations was strong and controls were being improved. Progress was assisted by the recent appointment of a key posts within the Highways Contract Management Team, including a Quantity Surveyor and Inspector. Efforts to recruit permanent staff into the team continued with several posts out for advert during August and September including Head of Highways, Assistant Head of Highways Delivery and Highways Contract Service Manager.

It was also confirmed that a new inspection regime had been implemented to ensure that there was a clear process for assessing the quality of works undertaken by the contractor. This included both desktop assessments based on photographs taken by the works teams before, during and after the works as well as on-site inspections following the work that has been completed. Reports made by members of the public or local Members of poor-quality repairs were investigated. If the quality of the repair was below the standards outlined in the contract, the contractor was required to rectify the failure with no further cost to the Council. 

During the period December 2023 to March 2024, NNC undertook 408 quality inspections. In 39 cases the works failed the inspection. This is a failure rate of 9.5%. The Council’s ability to inspect after this period was limited as the inspector left the employment of the Council. Whilst ad hoc inspections continued to take place following concerns identified by officers, local Members or members of the public, there was not a formal inspection regime in place for maintenance works. Now that the Council has appointed an inspector, a revised inspection regime is being developed and will be implemented. 

Members then heard that a new programme of contract inspections has been developed to help ensure effective contract assurance was being carried out by NNC. This would have resulted in an increase in inspections carried out by NNC across all activities and will include more audits of the contractor’s own inspections to check on their accuracy.  There was also be an increase in joint inspections carried out with the contractor.

Following debate it was

RESOLVED                       That the Audit and Governance Committee noted                                         the progress regarding the recommendations from                                         the internal audit report on the Highways                                                  Maintenance Contract Management                                                         arrangements. 

Following debate it was

RESOLVED                       That the Audit and Governance Committee noted                                      the progress regarding the recommendations from                                    the internal audit report.

Evonne Coleman-Thomas, Assistant Director Strategic Housing, Development and Property Services and David Watts, Executive Director of Adults, Health Partnerships & Housing (DASS) and Children’s Services attended the meeting and provided members of The Audit & Governance Committee with a progress update on the work within the Housing Service to address key areas highlighted in the previous audit coverage.

Members heard that the Housing service sought to be agile, proactive and responsive to residents’ needs, offering values for money and meeting statutory and regulatory duties.  Progress had been made in relation to development of a Housing Strategy, aligning of practices, commissioning of key contracts and stock condition surveys. The Assistant Director had been engaging with the regulators to ensure alignment with requirements, in anticipation of an inspection under the new regime introduced in 2024.

The housing strategy continued to be developed, and had been out to consultation with members, developers as well as other Registered Social Landlords and applicants on the Council’s waiting list. A working group had been established with colleagues from across the council to support the development and implementation of the strategy. It was noted that the draft strategy was to be reviewed by The Corporate Leadership Network in the new year, then to Executive for formal sign off for April 2025.

It was then heard that restructuring proposals were being progressed and were brought forward by the service in line with HR and consultation requirements This included all service areas and would support the development of one council housing service, as at present the legacy council arrangements remained in place. 

The stock condition survey was a rolling programme and to date the service had completed full surveys on 34% of the stock against a requirement of 20%. To expedite this work in June 2024 two officers were recruited to work on a dedicated basis in delivering stock condition surveys. Their priority was to ensure surveys were completed on 20% of all property architypes to inform the 30-year business plan being developed in collaboration across council departments. This required a focus on the legacy Kettering stock, where the number of stock condition surveys within the last 5 years, was lower than those held for the former Corby stock. This Kettering surveys were due for completion in September 2024.

It was noted that whilst transformation and progress had taken place, the Housing service leadership team recognised that further work remained and will be continuing to progress work in the areas set by the internal audit report, this included the creation of the Housing Improvement Board, which increased oversight, governance, and visibility of the improvement journey of housing services.

Following debate it was

RESOLVED                       That the Audit and Governance Committee noted                                         the progress regarding the recommendations from                                         the internal audit report.

Members heard from the Chief Accountant, Dean Mitchell who stated that following the conclusion of the disaggregation of the former Council Council’s balance sheet it was reported that there was now a final draft position for the 2021/22 accounts which was going through a quality assurance process. With regards to the 2022/23 accounts. Officers were in the process of finalising financial statements and both 2021/22 and 2022/23 will be brought before The Audit & Governance Committee in Novembre 2024 before hitting the backstop date of 13^th December 2024 where the external auditors will issue a disclaimer opinion. It was then heard that for 2023/24, officers were working with external audit colleagues on the audit and have processed disaggregation numbers through financial systems allowing officers to produce an updated financial position which was to be fed into the Council’s 2023/24 statement which was to be shared with auditors at the end of September 2024.

External Auditor Paul Harvey of Grant Thornton also attended the meeting an provided members with an update. It was stated that the required legislation relating to the back stop was being laid before Parliament. A backstop was also to be applied for the 2023/24 accounts which was currently being audited. The back stop for this particular set of statements was 28^th February 2025. Additional information was to provided to members at the next meeting of The Audit & Governance Committee in relation to 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts.

In relation to the 2023/24 audit, value for money (VFM) work was underway and officers were working to provide evidence. As part of this, external auditors were following up on the key recommendation to see what progress had been made since a report was issues in May 2024.

Following debate it was

RESOLVED                       That the Audit and Governance Committee noted                                      the Internal Audit progress report attached as                                           Appendix 1 and considered the main issues                                                  arising.

Members received a report which sought to the committee with a progress update on the work of the Internal Audit team and the key findings from audits completed to date. Since the last meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee, the Internal Audit service had been progressing delivery of the audit plan.  The key findings of four audit reports had been finalised and bought before the committee for consideration.

An update was provided by the Assistant Chief Executive, Guy Holoway in relation to the audit of agency staff and consultants. It was highlighted that whilst procedures has been strengthened and several processes had improved since the last committee there still remained concerns with compliance with some key controls which resulted in a limited assurance in relation to the compliance element of the audit. It was also heard that the staff appointment panel had been a robust tool which had helped recognise anomalies within the agency appointments. Members heard that a business case including justification for the appointment of agency staff was required as part of the policies and procedures to improve ownership within service areas to ensure compliance and expectations. There had been a significant reduction in the number of agency staff appointments due to key factors such as finalisation of pay and grading including attractive policies and procedures that support recruitment and staff retention. Assurance was also provided to members of the committee in relation to the Council of the IR35 risk, it was noted that there was no employees working at NNC outside of IR35. In addition it was noted that monthly service area meetings were taking place with the service area finance strategic business partner and HR business partner to ensure compliance and monitoring of agency staff employment.

Members also heard that a number of agency staff were seeking and applying for permanent NNC jobs and were securing role through a fair and transparent recruitment process which supports stability and retention.

The Chief Internal Auditor Rachel Ashley-Caunt then provided members with an update on an internal audit in relation to Reception areas.  It was heard that North Northamptonshire Council had five reception areas located in Corby, Rushden, Thrapston, Wellingborough (Tithe Barn) and Kettering (Bowling Green Road) with approximately 75,000 interactions per year. As part of the Council’s transformation programme, an internal review of the customer experience was currently taking place across these areas. The audit sought to provide assurance over the management of customer service reception areas to ensure that customers' needs were met, to an expected service standard and in line with accessibility requirements (incl. self service offerings), and staff were enabled and supported to work safely. Each reception area was visited to assess the controls and processes in place.  All reception areas were found to be clean and presentable with surveillance cameras covering waiting areas, entrance and exits as well as the reception desks. Risk Assessments for all areas had been completed and aligned, highlighting key risks in relation to lone working and violence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 186.