Issue - meetings

The Section 151 Officer presented the Combined Assurance Report and summarised that the review was facilitated by Internal Audit who worked with teams to review the strategic and operational risks, consider any further risks and to have discussions and provide assurance. The process allowed for junior Officers to be part of the process and make assumptions about their respective areas. The Management Team were overall accountable for the Corporate Risk Register and the reporting of this. In terms of the overall assurance and direction of travel, the green rating had moved up from 57% to 65%, and the review highlighted risks associated with Project Management. The report detailed various service areas of the Council and the overall level of assurance, emerging risks and other relevant comments relating to governance.

The key projects highlighted in the report were as follows:

§  The regeneration of RAF Scampton

§  IT Systems

§  Customer Services out of hours provision

§  Improvements to Contact Centre Technology

§  The Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP) System

The Chairman thanked the Section 151 Officer for the report and invited members to ask questions.

Members made comment on the accessibility of the report as the green text was difficult to read. The Section 151 Officer explained they would relook at the formatting and recirculate to members outside of the meeting.

Members asked a point of clarification relating to the RAG rating system with the green being the factors the Council could control. The Section 151 Officer confirmed this and explained the Council would continue to look at things within its control and ways to improve overall assurance going forward.

Members questioned the failure to deliver food waste on time and hoped that progress would be made in this area. The Section 151 Officer shared that procurement for the purchase of vehicles to deliver this initiative was being investigated and a report would be presented to Corporate Policy and Resources Committee to look into the financial detail and to Prosperous Communities Committee to review the operational matters surrounding this. The legislation would be changing from 2025 and Councils would be required to deliver on minimising food waste.

Members requested that an update on RAF Scampton and learning from the project be brought to the Governance and Audit Committee for consideration.

RESOLVED to accept that the findings illustrated the Council’s governance framework was operating effectively and that the report be approved .