Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer to consider the Council’s response to the issues set out in the Audit Commission’s annual audit and inspection letter.

The Chief Financial Officer presented the report on the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter 2009, which set out the response of the Cabinet. Appended to the report was the full report of the Audit Commission and the Use of Resources judgement. Four key areas for action were identified in the report, and these had been approved by the Cabinet. The areas identified were: to address the findings and recommendations made by Ofsted in the Special Joint Area Review, to accelerate the pace of improvement in environment (recycling) and homelessness, to maintain sustained focus on addressing staff sickness levels and recruiting key personnel and to ensure Treasury Management strategy continues to form a robust member led process for protecting the Council’s financial assets.

The Chair reported that, although the report had already been considered by the Cabinet, as per the responsibilities given to the Committee by the Council as set out in the terms of reference of the Committee, it was within the remit of the Audit Committee and accordingly the comments of the Committee in relation to the report should be placed on the formal record for action.

The Committee accepted that, as set out in the report, there were issues with recruitment  to certain posts across London and the South East, but felt that it was complacent to state that the Council was not too different from many other London boroughs, given the unique challenges faced by the Council in relation to recruitment in areas such as the Children and Young People’s Service. The Committee requested that these circumstances specific to the Council be taken into consideration and addressed as part of the Council’s actions to maintain a sustained focus on addressing staff sickness levels and recruiting key personnel. The Chief Financial Officer confirmed that a number of actions to address the issues of recruitment and retention were ongoing.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding whether the Council’s existing policy on reducing the number of agency staff should be reviewed in light of the likely reduction in public spending in the next two years, the Chief Financial Officer reported that this issue was under consideration as part of the forward planning process. The Chief Financial Officer confirmed that, while use of agency staff did provide greater flexibility in the management of resources, this also needed to be balanced with the needs of those services which benefited significantly from the employment of staff on a permanent basis. It was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had requested a Leaders’ Conference on the issue of the contraction of public spending, and it was suggested that this item might be included on the agenda.

The Chair noted that as part of the forthcoming CAA assessment process, the Council would be required to submit evidence of improvement, and asked whether any evidence for improvement in Children’s Services was currently available. The Chief Financial Officer responded that evidence for improvement would be gathered as part of the monitoring of the JAR action plan, which sets out key areas and actions for improvement.

The Chair expressed concern that the issue of teenage pregnancy was not addressed in the actions arising from the Audit and Inspection letter, although this was important for the area of safeguarding children. Grant Thornton reported that the Audit Commission was anticipating that the Council would fully implement the JAR action plan, and that actions relating to safeguarding children would be covered by the JAR action plan. The Chair noted that the issue of teenage pregnancies was mentioned specifically in the direction of travel section of the audit and inspection letter, and that there should be specific actions identified to tackle this issue. It was reported that partnership working was essential to address the issue, and that the Council’s partner organisations did have plans in place to address rates of teenage pregnancy. The Chair reported that he had taken up the issue with the Chief Executive by email and had requested that an action plan for addressing teenage pregnancy, in partnership with other agencies, be added to the response to the audit and inspection letter.

The Committee noted and acknowledged the good work of the Council’s finance officers in achieving an assessment of 3 out of 4, and expressed thanks to all officers involved for this achievement.

Taking into account all the comments made by the Committee in their discussion above, and the specific request to the Chief Executive that an action for address teenage pregnancy be added to the Council’s response to the audit and inspection letter it was:

RESOLVED

i)                    That the audit and inspection letter be noted.

ii)                  That the response and actions as set out in the report agreed by Cabinet on 16 June 2009 be noted.

iii)                That an action plan to reduce teenage pregnancy, in partnership with other agencies, be added to the Council’s response to the Audit and Inspection Letter.