Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Bell and Councillor Moema for lateness.

2.1   Councillor Gregory declared that she sat on the Board of a Tenants Management Organisation.

3.1  The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record.

4.1  The Chair invited the Mayor to meeting. He stated that the Audit Committee was moving to centre stage as the Government reduced support and Local Government had to take increased risk in it’s operation. He identified three specific areas which we believed might have a serious impact on the Council as a whole: introduction of Universal Credit; commercial risks associated with the Council’s development strategy; recycling collection and treatment. Further, he asked the Mayor for his vision of demographic oversight of key generic risk.

He referred to the negative GLG report on scrutiny and stated that Hackney Council had a good record on scrutiny. The Chair emphasised that there were activities that could not be attached to parts of the Council and wished for reassurance that these came together.

4.2 The Mayor told the Committee that it had been ten years since he had served on the Audit Committee at a time when the Council was better resourced. He referred to complex contract arrangements with the Hackney Learning Trust and the Hackney Homes at the time and that much had happened since then. There was a need to maintain focus on key areas and the activities of policy groups to ensure that any matters were not overlooked.

There was a need to look at how the Council embedded scrutiny into policy. Audit and challenge ensured transparency, holding to account and management of risk. He referred to the role of the Council’s various Boards in managing projects and that risk management was considered within this. Increased costs and sales values had impacted on these projects. He stressed that the Council needed to be better engaged in audit and saw value in having senior officers presenting reports to the Committee. He had concerns that there could be a disconnect in how projects are managed and that there was a need for a shared understanding of risk and a wrap around approach to the management of these projects. He suggested that the Committee could meet more frequently and that other members could attend at these meetings.

The Mayor went on to speak about Universal Credit and that the Council continued to lobby Government on this and hoped it would learn about the difficulties. There were challenges for the Council as a landlord and ensuring that private tenants were not made homeless.

In terms of the North London Waste Authority there had been substantial discussion since the plans had collapsed. The Mayor referred to the challenge as being around the length of decision making. 

4.4  Councillor Michelle Gregory asked in relation to Universal Credit what the current level of debt was for Council tenants and what plans there were for reducing this debt. She further asked about what support the Council will offer to support tenants in paying rents. Deirdre Worrell confirmed that the current level of debt was 4.5 million and that the direction of travel in this regard was static. She confirmed that the Council wrote to tenants before the roll  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5a.1  Kim Wright introduced the report.  Steve Platt introduced the report in more detail referring to service development work in progress in order to reduce the numbers of missed repairs appointments and work in progress to reduce the number of days to re-let void properties. The Committee stressed the need for targets in relation to work to be done together with details of when work is completed and mechanisms for gauging a lack of tenant dissatisfaction and up to date performance information on the service.            

5a.1   Steve Platt reported that up to date information was produced by ‘Click View’ which was used to drill down into performance issues. Improvements were being made to the service including sending a text message to the tenant prior to arrival at their property. Mobile working was up and running. Statistics on Click View were at 95 % performance and access was at 82 % in quarter 4. Steve Platt told the Committee that the aim was to see resident satisfaction improvements.  Kim Wright emphasised that repairs would remain under scrutiny.

RESOLVED:

To note the report.   

5b.1  Ian Rae introduced the report updating the Committee on a key recommendation of the 2015 Audit of Land Charges relating to the implementation of a new ICT system following concerns raised at the previous meeting of the Committee about the length of time taken to complete local authority searches during house sales.  He reported that in total there were 1600 enforcement cases. Some were more than four years old. The figure had reduced by 600 cases. He clarified for the Committee that by November 2017 99% of local authority searches were being processed within the usual 10 days. He further confirmed to the Committee that no one would be asked to pay beyond their means.

RESOLVED:

To note the report.

5c.1  Ian Williams confirmed that the report on temporary accommodation would be circulated with the external audit plan.

6.1  Kim Wright introduced the report updating the Committee on the current Risk Register for Neighbourhoods and Housing at January 2018. It also identified how risks within the Directorate are identified and managed throughout the financial year and the Council’s approach to embedding risk. Kim Wright referred to the fact that as a result of Grenfell the Fire Risk Assessment on pages 36 to 40 had been escalated to the Corporate Risk Register.  The risk on contract procurement and management in housing services had increased. This was a marginal increase driven by ongoing investment in the use of the Council’s external contractors.

6.2  Councillor Michelle Gregory asked whether fire assessments had been carried out only in the communal areas and how many block had internal assessments.  Kim Wright reported that 1083 risk assessments had been carried out on every Block in the Borough with a work programme imminent.  Internal assessments had not been carried. These would form part of a further tranche of work.

6.3  In response to a question from Councillor Robert Chapman on the increase in risk on contract procurement and management in Housing Services Kim Wright agreed to circulate a briefing note to the Chair on this matter. The Chair congratulated Officer on action taken in relation to fire risk.  He stressed the need to look at whether contract management was sufficiently robust.

  ACTION: Kim Wright

RESOLVED:

To note the report and the attached risk registers and controls in place.

7.1  Matthew Powell introduced the report updating the Committee on the current Corporate Risk Register of the Council as at January 2018. It also identified how risks within the Council are identified and managed throughout the financial year and the Council’s approach to embedding management.  Matthew Powell told the Committee that most risks had not changed.  Five new risks had been added as follows:

·  Hackney Learning Trust related risks, impact of government reforms, SEND funding and serious safeguarding failure in a school

·  Safeguarding Families

·  Fire Safety

·  Integrated Commissioning

·  Management of Pensions Data

The Committee noted the difficulties in relation to integrated commissioning in bringing together different cultures and developing governance and that the matter would be taken forward with Corporate Management Team and members of the Integrated Commissioning Board.

7.2  Councillor Robert Chapman commented on improvement in the performance of the Council’s investments. This stood at 83 percent up from 71 percent.

7.3  The Committee noted continuing problem with the payroll system and the need improve self-reporting. An update would be provided to the next meeting of the Committee.

7.4  Councillor Carole Williams raised the question of how the Council picks up on agency spend at Audit Committee.  Ian Williams reported that there was a risk around how

7.5   In response to a question from Councillor Robert Chapman Ian William reported that there was no direct contract with ‘carrrillion’. He told the Committee that the Hackney procurement process had regard to the financial health of contracting firms and raised the question of whether this financial health should continue to be monitored together with considering the company’s culture and overall pay gap.   

7.6   Councillor Michelle Gregory made the suggestion that the requirement to produce company’s accounts each year be made a provision of contracts.

8.1  Ian Williams introduced the half year treasury activity report for 2017/18 outlining the detailed update on the treasury activity for the first six months of the financial year and the Q3 treasury activity update for the period October 2017 to December 2017.

RESOLVED:

To note the report

10.1  Michael Sheffield introduced the report outlining performance of the Audit & Anti-Fraud Service up to the end of December 2017, the areas of work undertaken, and the information on current developments in Internal Audit and Anti-Fraud together with statistical information about the work of the investigation teams. Michael Sheffield report that 70 percent of the original plan had been completed, up from 30 percent from the previous meeting. He reported a reduction in numbers in relation to tenancy fraud. The Tenancy Fraud Team was now …..A dedicated legal resource now existed for fraud with legal providers.   The caseload was now more manageable with 300 final cases.

10.2 The Committee noted that there was a lack of a robust framework on TMOs and action plans had been issued. Efforts would be made to ensure that a framework was in place with a report back to the Committee on results.

11.1  Ian Williams introduced the report providing an updated set of reports that were selected to be reviewed by the Audit Committee on a regular basis as part of the Committee’s overview of the Council’s performance. The report also provided an updated set of key performance