Agenda item

Lucy Cater, Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit Services

The Assistant Director SWAP introduced herself to new Members, and said that the progress report presented this evening is an update of the work her team is currently undertaking, including four final audits.  She said the actions agreed with clients are followed up in the second part of her report.

A Member raised concerns about matters still outstanding in relation to the Planning Services Review, namely:

-          members of the public left the planning meeting in March under the impression that the application had been refused; there was no proper communication, which undermined public confidence;

-          the application was submitted in 2023, six years after adoption of the Joint Core Strategy, Policy SD12 of which requires viability assessments to be published; the council has not been complying with its own policy;

-          the decision notice has not been published, preventing residents from being able to request a judicial review against the council for not following its own policy;

-          the council has failed to take account of Public Sector Equality Duty, leaving elderly and disabled residents to live next door to a building described by a Planning Committee member as looking like a prison.

The Chair shared these concerns, and agreed that action was needed to ensure the proper process was followed with regard to viability assessments. The Director of Governance and Customer Services noted that work was still ongoing regarding this, but said she would investigate why the decision notice had not been published.  Regarding PSED, she confirmed that the council is looking at policy on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), including a whole section around planning and licensing applications, and assured Members that there would be improvement in these areas moving forward. In addition, a more detailed set of procedure notes and a flow chart are being developed for the Chair, to ensure the proper process is followed.

The Assistant Director SWAP also confirmed that one of the agreed actions is that viability assessments must be published.    

A Member asked that, given the diversity of cases, the learning of flow charts and the decision-making process is taken for all regulatory committees and matters, to ensure anyone chairing meetings is fully informed.

The Director of Governance and Customer Services confirmed that there has been one complaint from objectors regarding the second application; this was responded to and no further action has been taken, as far as she is aware.

In response to further questions from Members, the Assistant Director SWAP confirmed that:

-          duplicate payments represent a very small percentage each year (she will share the precise figure via email), money is quickly recovered, and the process has usually started by the time the duplicate is identified.  She said the errors noted in the audit were due to error, not fraud;

-          regarding procurement and appointment of consultants, she confirmed that an appropriate register to use when appointing would be included in the list of agreed actions;

-          regarding the agreed actions, she said some of these are coloured red on the timescale to tie in with the graph beforehand, showing when the action is due

The Director of Governance and Customer Services added that these relate largely to Freedom of Information requests,  and we are in the process of building a system through a new Netcall platform. This work is running behind schedule due to other online projects taking priority.  The Director of SWAP confirmed that the build on the system started last month, with an estimated completion date of January 2025.

In response to a Member question regarding non-compliance with the code for transparency data, due at the end of March, the Assistant Director SWAP said some actions were complete, but housing services needed to be added to the organisational structure pay grades needed to be linked, and senior officers’ pay needed to be published.

In response to a Member question regarding procedures and policies for service charges at James Donovan Court, the Director of Finance and Assets said that this work was underway, and since the audit was concluded, a tribunal hearing had taken place, some actions were still to be completed as part of that, but all would be brought together and completed in one go.

In response to a Member question regarding the employment of consultants, the Director of Governance and Customer Services confirmed that some are engaged for their specialist knowledge in specific areas, such as the Interim Director for Housing Transformation, and some are taken on due to gaps in the market, particularly around planning with there is a national recruitment issue at present.  In these cases, she confirmed that HR are looking at how to attract, recruit, employ and retain staff, including a pay and grading review.  

Responding to further questions, the Assistant Director SWAP said that: 

-          regarding the S106 recommendations and the deferred conclusions from July and now due to be resolved at the end of October, one of the agreed actions is closed and it is possible that the others will be closed in the next ten days;

-          regarding timescales and whether these are definitive for completion of the actions or for further review, agreed actions are discussed with the client but internal auditors cannot set a immoveable timescale.  It is an agreed action at a particular point, but with knock-on effects of various aspects of the work, auditors have to be pragmatic and sometimes extend the timelines;

-          regarding the escalation process to move forward when actions are overdue, the team is proactive on all agreed actions and follows up when the deadline passes.  If necessary, they can escalate through the Monitoring Officer, Deputy Chief Executive, governance group, or in certain cases, through this committee, which has the opportunity to raise concerns and call officers to explain why their actions have not been concluded.