Agenda and draft minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

David Ewart (Chair) declared a personal interest as a member of CIPFA.

To receive any deputations requested by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations considered at the meeting.

4.1   To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 24 July 2024 as a correct record.

4.2   To note the updated log of actions arising from previous meetings of the Committee.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 24 July 2024 be approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendments:

·             Removal of reference within the list of those present at the meeting to David Ewart as a Councillor.

·            Correction of reference to “evaluations” under Min.8: External Audit Progress Report & Sector Update to read “reevaluations” on Page 10 of the minutes

Members noted the updates provided in relation to the Action Log of issues identified at previous meetings.  In response to an update requested in relation to the Dedicated Schools Grant – Deficit Management Plan (considered at the meeting on 24 July 2024) members were advised that no further details had currently been made available on the VAT arrangements within the SEND private school initiative.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

None.

This report provides the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee with an update on the work of the Housing Companies, i4B Holdings Ltd (i4B) and First Wave Housing (FWH) to deliver against their business plans for 2024-25, which were agreed by the Council as Shareholder of i4B and Guarantor of FWH.

Ahead of the formal introduction of the item, the Chair reminded members of the change in reporting arrangements for i4B Holdings Ltd (i4B) and First Wave Housing Ltd (FWH) with the role of the Audit & Standards Advisory Committee now focussed around assurance relating to the arrangements the Council, as Shareholder (in the case of i4B) and Guarantor (in the case of WFH), had in place to oversee the governance and performance of both companies rather than on their detailed operational management & performance, which would be monitored through the Council’s scrutiny function.  Members were advised that this would involve operational performance being scrutinised by the Community & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee with performance of the companies in contributing to the Council’s strategic priorities by the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny Committee, who had undertaken an initial review on 4 September 2024.

Minesh Patel, Corporate Director of Finance & Resources then introduced the reports which updated the Committee on the governance arrangements of both i4B and FWH, including updates on issues considered at the most recent Shareholder and Guarantor meetings in relation to delivery against each respective Business Plan, financial and operational performance along with outline of key risks and the reports provided for the most recent Shareholder and Guarantor meetings (held on 12 September 24) attached as appendices to the update report.

Key issues highlighted were as follows:

·            The Committee’s attention was drawn to the updates provided in section 3.4 of the update report which outlined the key issues covered at the most recent Shareholder meeting between the Council and i4B and Guarantor meeting between the Council and FWH relating to operational performance and financial performance as well as progress against each respective Business Plan.

·            The overarching focus of the Shareholder and Guarantor in terms of the performance of i4B and FWH Ltd on their ability to support the Council’s strategic priorities through their core business activity which involved increasing the supply of good quality affordable housing in the borough and reducing the use of Temporary Accommodation.

·            In terms of acquisitions, confirmation was provided that i4B remained on track to exceed its target in acquiring 25 properties during 2025-25 with the company expected to acquire circa 40 properties during the year that would help to mitigate pressures caused by temporary accommodation costs.  This was due to a combination of favourable loan rates, property market conditions, and an increase in Local Housing Allowance.  Members were advised that the Shareholder had confirmed their continued support for i4B in seeking to move forward with further acquisitions, subject to loan rates and market conditions continuing to combine positively to make acquisitions viable within i4B’s financial criteria.

·            The i4B 2023-24 outturn position had shown a higher operational surplus for the company than in 2022-23, though this was partly due to large increases in the asset revaluation.  Whilst officers and the Shareholder therefore regarded i4Bs operational performance as stable key areas of ongoing focus for both the Board and Shareholder included performance in relation to voids, addressing outstanding gaps in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This report continues the cycle of regular updates that the Emergency Planning team provide for the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee. The report provides the Committee with an update on the work and priorities of the team since the last update in February 2024.

Darren Armstrong (Deputy Director for Assurance and Resilience) introduced a report, which he advised provided an update on the priorities and work being undertaken by the Emergency Planning Team since the last update provided to the Committee in February 2024 as well as focussing on the programme of continuous improvement being delivered across the service.

He then introduced Melissa Brackley (Emergency Planning and Resilience Manager) who provided the Committee with a summary of key progress and work undertaken, with the following issues noted:

·             The continued progress being made in relation to delivery of the recommendations made as part of the external review of the Council’s Emergency Planning and Resilience arrangements in October 2023 with a particular focus on the increased capacity of the Emergency Planning and Resilience (EPR) Team and provision of training and exercise opportunities for those with response roles. Areas of improvement had also been influenced by the Resilience Standards for London, incidents and public inquiry recommendations.

·             In terms of the detailed external service review recommendations the Committee were advised that nine of the 22 recommendations had now been implemented including five out of the six rated as high priority and 11 remaining in progress.  Members noted that two of the recommended actions were no longer being taken forward in terms of the delivery of on call arrangements, which were already broadly in line with the London standardised approach, and recruitment of an additional Business Continuity Manager which had been addressed through the increased capacity already provided within the team.  Members attention was drawn to the summary Action Plan included as Appendix 1 to the report with the recommendations being progressed alongside actions identified as part of a self-assessment completed against the Resilience Standards for London.

·             The review of internal plans and procedures being undertaken in response to the revised London Humanitarian Assistance Framework and feedback from  Humanitarian Assistance Lead Officers (HALO) with training also arranged for staff from the Council and local partner agencies likely to be involved in supporting a Humanitarian Assistance Centre or Community Assistance Centre in the event of an incident.  Once the review of internal plans and training programme had been completed the team would also be looking to run a Humanitarian Assistance exercise.

·             The outline provided in section 3.5 of the report on the training and exercises delivered by the Emergency Planning and Resilience Service. This had not only involved the Strategic (Gold) and Tactical (Silver) teams but also a planned multi agency exercise and two cyber-attack exercises in partnership with the Shared Technology Service across housing services and children and young people and community health and wellbeing with a focus on business continuity arrangements.  In addition, the team had been working with the housing service to explore the Council’s response to a large-scale evacuation involving a Council owned housing block with a focus on not only the initial but also longer-term response.  Members were advised that in order to ensure training was refreshed regularly and exercises planned in alignment with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The purpose of this report is to update the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee on (a) gifts and hospitality registered by Members (b) member training, and (c) a recent complaint concerning breaches of the Member’s Code of Conduct which has been upheld against a councillor.

(Agenda republished to include the Standards Q1 Update report on 18 September 2024)

Debra Norman, Corporate Director of Law & Governance, introduced a report updating the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee on gifts and hospitality registered by Members during Q1 2024-25, Member Learning & Development activity and also on the outcome of a recent complaint in relation to breaches of the Members Code of Conduct, which had been upheld against Councillor Collymore as a serving member of the Council.

Prior to detailed consideration of the report David Ewart (as Chair) felt it important to remind members in focussing consideration on the members code of conduct issue that whilst the remit of the Audit & Standards Advisory Committee included oversight of Member standards issues it was the Audit & Standards Committee that had formal responsibility for consideration of complaints referred for formal investigation.

Having noted the advice provided the following key updates were highlighted for the Committee:

·             The update on Gifts and Hospitality registered by members in the first quarter of 2024-25, as detailed in Appendix A of the report.

·             In relation to member attendance at mandatory training sessions, the Committee was advised that with the exception of Data Protection, all members had completed their core mandatory refresher training.  Those members still to complete their DP training had been given a deadline with a further update to be provided for the Committee in December 24.

·             The background to the complaint which had been upheld in relation to breaches of the Member Code of Conduct against Councillor Collymore, as detailed within section 3.9 – 3.21, which members were advised (based on the evidence available) the Monitoring Officer had been able to determine without the need for a more detailed investigation by the Audit & Standards Committee.  In noting the basis of the Monitoring Officer’s findings in relation to each aspect of the complaint, as detailed in section 3.16 of the report, the Committee were advised that following consultation with the Independent Person Councillor Collymore’s conduct had been found to have been in breach of sections 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 15 of the Members Code of Conduct which had resulted in the following sanctions having been imposed:

(i)          censure or reprimand by way of a report for information to the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee;

(ii)         a request that Councillor Collymore undertook refresher Code of Conduct and equalities training.

(iii)       Provision of a copy of the transcript of the recording of the incident which had led to the complaint to the Leader of the Labour Group to enable the group to consider its relevance to council positions.

(iv)       The provision of information to Councillor Collymore concerning the appropriate use of a blue badge.

Members were advised that the sanctions imposed had taken account of the actions taken in response by Councillor Collymore in seeking to remedy the breaches identified in the form or both a written and personal apology with the training identified having also been undertaken.  It was, however, noted that Councillor Collymore had subsequently exercised her right to request a review of the outcome.  Following consideration and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

This provides an update on the activity of Internal Audit for Quarters 1 & 2 2024-25.

Darren Armstrong (Deputy Director Organisational Assurance and Resilience) introduced a report providing and update on the activity of Internal Audit for Q1  and Q2 2024-25 based on the Internal Audit Plan 2024-25 which had been agreed by the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee in March 2024.  Members noted the report had been prepared as a light-touch update for information purposes, with a more comprehensive 2024-25 Interim Report due to be presented to the Committee for consideration December 2024.

In presenting the report the following key areas were highlighted:

·             The 2024-25 Internal Audit Plan had been the first prepared under the new Internal Audit Strategy for 2024-2027 (also approved in March 2024), which had introduced a new method for determining the activity of internal audit in-year and moved away from the more traditional ‘annual plan’ approach. This new approach was designed to enable the Internal Audit function to work more flexibly and to ensure it was more responsive to the Council’s changing risks, priorities and assurance needs.  In view of the nature of challenges and risks faced by the Council, and increasing demand and stakeholder expectations, the Strategy had identified the need to ensure the Internal Audit service remained agile, responsive and closely aligned with the strategic objectives, risks and needs of the Council and was able to provide a programme of robust assurance in the highest risk areas with the Plan developed therefore focussed around the following four areas core assurance work; a list of audit areas identified under an agile risk based approach designed to provide enhanced flexibility in order to respond to changing risks and priorities; consultancy & advice work and finally follow up activity to track agreed actions arising from internal audit activity to ensure improvements in the Council’s governance, risk management and control arrangements.

·             In terms of Internal Audit activity during Q1 & Q2 service had continued to deliver a broad range of work in the first half of 2024-25 including a focus on the scoping and planning of audits that would take place later during the year. This included core assurance work, in particular key financial system reviews, which members were advised was intentionally undertaken during Q3 & Q4 to ensure that assurance was provided across as much of the financial year as possible to help underpin the Head of Internal Audit’s annual opinion.

·             Details of the audit work undertaken during Q1 & Q2 had been included within Appendix 1 of the report with members advised that seven reviews had been completed, five high risk/high assurance need audits were at draft report stage, awaiting management responses with five in progress and fieldwork underway.  Ten core assurance reviews were in progress, with fieldwork due to commence in Q3 and Q4 with six follow-up reviews having been concluded, and a further twelvein progress.  A summary of the risks/issues identified in audits completed during Q1 & Q2 had also been included as Appendix 2 of the report with comprehensive management responses provided for each action and Internal Audit due to undertake follow-up  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

This report provides the Committee with progress update from Grant Thornton on the delivery and responsibilities they are conducting as the Council’s external auditors. The report also provides sector updates and further details on matters relating to audit progress.

Sophia Brown (Key Audit Partner, Grant Thornton) introduced the report, updating the Committee on Grant Thornton's progress in fulfilling its responsibilities as the Council’s external auditor.

In presenting the report, Sophia Brown advised that work to complete the audit on the Council’s 2023-24 financial statements remained in progress with the aim to now include detailed findings (subject to the process having been completed) in the 2023-24 Audit Findings Report scheduled to be presented to the Committee the additional meeting scheduled on 31 October 2024.

The Committee was advised that work to date had been affected by delays in obtaining final evidence for several sections of the financial statements and whilst the original target had been to finalise their work by the end of September 2024 delays in obtaining the required data and the quality of some supporting evidence had meant Grant Thornton were unable to finish their work and had needed to allocate additional time to complete the audit.  The information on which further details were awaited included PPE reconciliation and valuations with work ongoing to complete and review data provided in relation to journal testing, valuation on land and building enquiries, group audit procedures and grants testing.  An emerging pensions issue across the local government sector was also stated to have affected deadlines, requiring an assessment from the Council's actuary.

As a result, an additional two weeks of audit resource had ben allocated in an effort to complete the outstanding work in advance of the revised timescale for the end of October 24, although this would also require submission of the necessary data from the Council and also be subject to management review of the audit findings, which may further delay progress in being able to complete the audit process.  The Committee were advised that if not possible to achieve the October 24 deadline this was likely to mean the final outcome of the audit process being delayed until February 2025, with the aim to avoid (if possible) falling within any backstop arrangements.

In terms of the Annual Auditors Value for Money Report, the Committee were advised that under the Code of Audit Practice there was a requirement for the Annual Report to be issued no later than 30 September or, where that was not possible, to issue an audit letter advising for the reasons for any delay.  As the audit work on the Council’s value for money arrangements was still in the process of being completed Sophia Brown advised that she had formally written to Councillor Chan (as Chair of the Audit & Standards Committee) advising that due to the ongoing challenges in relation to meeting the necessary regulatory and other requirements it had not been possible to complete that work within the usual timescale.  As a result, it was now planned to publish and issue the full 2023-24 Auditors Annual Report in December 2024.  Under changes to the Code, should the VFM work not be completed in time for the audit opinion on the Council’s 2023-24 financial statements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider the Audit and Standards Advisory Committees future work programme 2024-25.

The Committee RESOLVED to note the Committee’s Forward Plan and Work Programme for the 2024-25 Municipal Year subject to an additional meeting having been scheduled for 31 October 24 in order to enable (subject to completion) sign off of the Statement of Accounts 23-24 and External Audit Findings Report.  Members were advised this meeting would also consider the update on the Council’s Strategic Risk Register, which had been rescheduled to enable a further review and incorporation of evolving risks identified as needing to be assessed since the previous update including temporary accommodation, financial challenges, community unrest and cohesion, and the results of the Grenfell Report.

No items have been identified in advance of the meeting that will require the exclusion of the press and public.

There were no items of business considered at the meeting which required the exclusion of the press and public.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director Democratic Services or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.