Agenda item

(Copy herewith)

At the Chair’s invitation, Gurpreet Dulay presented the follow up report from BDO and explained that the report contained a summary of all the recommendations made to Northampton Borough Council over the past three years, as demonstrated in the summary table. He explained that there were several outstanding actions due to the impact of Covid-19 and some of these actions related to training that was required. Gurpreet stated that there was a low completion rate of 9% for the year 2019/20 and for 2020/21 more time was needed to complete some of the recommendations, and these reports would be taken forward into Unitary. He then highlighted the recommendations relating to safeguarding, as discussed at the previous Audit Committee, which BDO had received no response for as detailed in the table from page 21. Gurpreet then concluded his report and passed over to Greg Rubins to present the Annual Audit Report and Annual Statement of Assurance.

Greg Rubins presented the report and explained that BDO had given a limited overall assurance opinion which was disappointing but nevertheless backed up in the concluding statements in the report. He continued that BDO had been asked to focus on areas with the highest risk with known issues and these conclusions would be passed over to the West Northamptonshire Council. Greg highlighted that there had been issues with communication between BDO and senior management staff at the Council which led to no response on the implementation of recommendations. He concluded that it was an honest assessment, which considered the impact of Covid-19 and communication issues.

The Chair asked if there had been discussions with West Northamptonshire Council and for more information regarding these discussions. Greg responded that there had been discussions with LGSS, and they have been involved in discussions with Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH). Members asked how far Covid-19 had affected the audits and Gurpreet responded that Covid-19 had some impact as this caused time pressures with staff as well as the move to Unitary which meant that staff were being redeployed to deal with other matters. However, there are some actions which predated the Covid-19 pandemic and implementation had still not been acted upon. Greg responded that other local authorities responding to Covid-19 had not seen a change in their audit opinion, so there was a clear deterioration in the progress of audits.

The Chair asked a question surrounding the high risk recommendations on pages 12 and 13 of the report and the relationship with the Council and NPH. The Director of Housing and Wellbeing responded that he met with NPH on a regular basis and there were some examples of good practice. He acknowledged that BDO’s audit had highlighted some examples of practice that could have been done differently such as more defined roles and ways of engagement with NPH. He confirmed that the Council had not seen the deed of variation. Overall, the Council had a good relationship with NPH, and the Council was in some ways accountable for the organisation as it delivered housing services on behalf of the Council. The Director of Housing and Wellbeing concluded that he had met with officers from West Northamptonshire Council to pass on his advice and discuss best practice going forward.

Councillor Oldham echoed the good relationship the Council had with NPH and commended NPH for their sterling work over the years working in Northampton.

The Chair asked if the matter with the deed of variation had been resolved. The Monitoring Officer responded from a legal position that there was a management agreement in place that had been signed by all parties which stipulated that board meetings were to be held in public. He continued that there had been discussions around the deed of variation to change meetings from public to private, however this had not been agreed and NPH had continued to hold meetings in private. The Chief Executive continued that he had been in conversation with Stuart Lackenby, Executive Director of Adults, Communities and Wellbeing and the CEO of NPH to review the management agreement and build a rapport going forward into Unitary. He concluded that there had been suggested improvements put forward to West Northants and this would be determined by the Council at their future governance meetings.

The Chair expressed his concern at the lack of responsiveness to the safeguarding recommendations listed on page 21 of the report. He felt that it reflected poorly on the Council, principally as safeguarding is a very sensitive topic. The Director of Housing and Wellbeing admitted that he was being chased for responses and referred to the pressures on officers with additional work demands as a result of Covid-19. He apologised for his oversight, as he had responded to the growing problem of rough sleeping in Northampton and felt he tried to balance his workload by dealing with the most important safeguarding tasks. The Director of Housing and Wellbeing explained that he took full responsibility for his actions and had tried to rectify his initial lack of response by work to ensure that there was a concise hand over before he left the Council on 1 April 2021.

The Chair asked for reassurance that the recommendations would be taken forward by the Unitary Council. The Director of Housing and Wellbeing responded that he had an upcoming meeting with West Northamptonshire Council, and he had spoken to Max Armstrong from BDO. He gave his assurance to the Chair of the Audit Committee that he would deliver a thorough hand over. The Chair questioned if BDO would continue as the internal auditor for West Northamptonshire Council. BDO responded that LGSS would formally take over the responsibility for internal audit, and currently there were no plans for BDO to continue work past 31^st March 2021. The Chair commented that it would be helpful to have BDO to monitor the situation.

The Chief Finance Officer stated that there were comprehensive handovers, and the Governance and Risk Manager would be migrating to the West Northamptonshire Council and all the BDO reports would be handed over. It would be the decision of the Unitary Council to appoint their auditors. The Chief Executive echoed the comments of the Chief Finance Officer and added that under his directive, Northampton Borough Council had chosen areas of high risk audit that needed review over the past year. He concluded that although these audits would be difficult to read, it was important to face the areas that needed addressing and consistently learn and develop. The audit reviews would be handed over to West Northants Council ensuring that they put the right controls in place going forward.

The Chair thanked BDO for their thorough and professional work and agreed with the Chief Executive as the reports would be beneficial in the long run for the West Northamptonshire Council. Gurpreet Dulay from BDO shared his thanks to Jo Bonham, Stuart McGregor and Karen Middleton, as well as the Chair and the Chief Executive for working with BDO over the years.

RESOLVED: The Audit Committee noted the Internal Audit Follow Up Update and the Annual Audit Opinion from BDO.