Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor A Barker, Councillor R Johnson and Councillor N Smith

Under the Code of Conduct members are reminded that in declaring interests you should make clear the nature of that interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest, registerable interest or other interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2025

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2025.

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Rogers and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2025 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings.

To note the Committee’s work plan

Consideration was given to the committee work plan.

The committee work plan was noted.

The internal component of the report was presented by the Strategic Director of Resources. The external component of the report was presented by the Head of Public Sector Audit for Azets.

A discussion was had between Members and the Head of Public Sector Audit. Members were assured that External Auditors liaise with the Internal Audit Team and internal findings inform external risk assessments, but other external processes were independent. Regarding concerns about the finance system, the Head of Public Sector Audit informed the Committee that Azets would not duplicate any work the Council had undertaken but would assess the system controls in place which focused on adequacy, timeliness and value for money. It was also assured that Azets provided specific work with the Council’s manual records.

The discussion continued with the Head of Public Sector Audit informing members that having disclaimed audit opinions was difficult but they had worked with other authorities in this position, so they were experienced. Azets would review the audit opinion of 2020-21 and would work to build assurance. Due to the current high-risk position of the Council, Members were informed that Azets would approach the work differently, using different testing procedures and larger samples, for example.

Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.

The report of the Head of Legal and Support Services

The report was presented by the Head of Legal and Support Services.

A brief discussion followed with the Head of Legal and Support Services about details within the complaints process.

Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.

The report of the Head of Legal and Support Services

The report was presented by the Head of Legal and Support Services.

A brief discussion followed with the Head of Legal and Support Services about the complaints process. A member suggested that it may be important to make Committee Members that have not sat on the Assessment Sub Committee more aware of complaint procedures. Members supported the idea of a Code of Conduct refresher training session being delivered. In response to concerns about attendance, the Head of Legal and Support Services assured that the training would be mandatory.

1) Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Simmons and

RESOLVED THAT:

2) Authority was delegated to the Head of Legal and Support Services and Monitoring Officer to make any minor amendments to the report following comments from the Audit and Governance Committee.

3) The Committee approved the Annual Member Conduct Report 2024/25 prior to submission to Council on 17 June 2025.

The report of the Audit Manager

Prior to the presentation of the report, the Strategic Director of Resources sent the Committee an email containing responses to questions from the meeting of 5 February 2025. After some time consulting the responses, the Strategic Director of Resources suggested that the report be presented before addressing any follow up questions.

The report was presented by the Audit Manager.

A discussion followed. Some Members highlighted payroll, with one requesting an update about its system in the future. The Strategic Director of Resources contributed to the discussion with the following statement:

The Director of Resources provided the committee with an update on the actions he has taken recently to address the finance system issues and other related matters in improving the Council’s finance systems and processes. 

He advised Members that they will be aware that the finance system was implemented two years ago and confirmed that the Council is still experiencing issues impacting on the Council’s ability to close down the accounts. The Council has to work with an implementation partner rather than directly with the system supplier, Unit4. The Council’s implementation partner is Embridge. Over the last two years, the Council has worked on the basis of finding a problem and raising a ticket. This process tends to involve a lot of back and forth and can be a lengthy process. However, the Council has progressed a lot of issues. 

In March this year, the Director of Resources described how he contacted Embridge and requested a meeting with their senior management team to highlight his concerns. At that meeting he opined that wo years after implementation, the Council does not have a system that is fit for purpose. He stated to Embridge that he wanted all outstanding issues resolved. The Director of Resources highlighted to Embridge three priority areas that need to be addressed these being: an automated bank reconciliation, an issue with direct debits, and automating the payment of invoices to suppliers. He asked for these three areas to be given priority. Additionally, he has requested that any outstanding tickets are identified and progressed quickly. 

The Council has now been allocated a dedicated project manager from Embridge who is now working with the finance teams to expedite progress. Furthermore, there is now a regular meeting with Embridge to resolve these issues, and a project board will be established to oversee the projects. The Director of Resources stated that he has made it clear that he wants these issues resolved within a matter of weeks. Embridge has agreed to put a consultant on-site at NWL to get a real grasp of the issues. There appears to be some momentum with this approach, and the Director or Resources is optimistic that he will see progress in the next two to three weeks. 

The Director of Resources went on to describe the approach the Council had taken at the time of implementing the new system, unfortunately, it is apparent that approach was not the correct one.  He described how the Council now  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

The report of the Audit Manager

The report was presented by the Audit Manager

1)The report was noted.

It was moved by Councillor Simmons, seconded by Councillor Rogers and

RESOLVED THAT:

2) The Draft 2025/26 Internal Audit Annual Plan subject to any comments made under recommendation 1.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

The report was presented by the Audit Manager.

It was moved by Councillor Rogers, seconded by Councillor Sutton and

RESOLVED THAT:

The Committee approved the Internal Audit Charter at Appendix 1 of the report.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

The report was presented by the Strategic Director of Resources

A discussion was had between Members, the Strategic Director of Resources and the Audit Manager. A member expressed disappointment that Internal Audit were not receiving invitations for Audit to attend DMT/SMT meetings or being involved in new grants. The Audit Manager assured that progress was being made. Internal Audit were being invited into more work within other teams with more work to be done. Projects, as well as grants, have been included and the team have considered controls, particularly to have duplication removed. The Business and Service plan processes were beginning to involve audit, also. The Strategic Director of Resources added that Business Services Planning will be involving Internal Audit. They will also remind colleagues to involve Internal Audit in Business Services Planning, projects and grants in future Corporate Leadership Team meetings.

The progress against the actions agreed in response to the Annual Internal Audit opinion 2023/24 was noted.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources.

The report was presented by the Strategic Director of Resources.

A Member briefly reiterated concerns about workforce capacity in relation Principle E of the CIPFA/SOLACE principles.

It was moved by Councillor Simmons, seconded by Councillor Everitt and

Members voted for the recommendations, with one abstention received from Councillor R Sutton.

RESOLVED THAT:

The Committee approves the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

The report was presented by Strategic Director of Resources.

A brief discussion followed. Members commented that the appointment was great news, and the Committee was lucky to have recruited independent members with such expertise.

It was moved by Councillor Simmons, seconded by Councillor Cooper and
 

RESOLVED THAT:

The Committee approved the appointment of Paul Montgomery and Emma Hutchinson as Independent Persons on the Audit and Governance Committee.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

The report was presented by Strategic Director of Resources

A member expressed that further risks to the Freeport and Local Plan should be included. In response, the Strategic Director of Resources agreed to refer this to Planning colleagues.

Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.

The report of the Head of Legal and Support Services

The report was presented by the Head of Legal and Support Services

A Member thanked the Head of Legal and Support Services for a comprehensive and thorough report.

Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.

The report of the Strategic Director of Resources

The report was presented by the Strategic Director of Resources

It was moved by Councillor Everitt, seconded by Councillor Simmons and
 

RESOLVED THAT:

The Committee approved the Draft Annual Report 2024/25 prior to submission to Council on 17 June 2025.

The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.  Members are reminded that they must have regard to the public interest test and must consider, for each item, whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure outweighs the public interest in making the item available.

RESOLVED THAT:

In pursuance of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that the business to be transacted involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Reason for decision: To enable the consideration of exempt information.

The report of the ICT Team Manager

The report was presented by the ICT team manager.

Members were thanked for their comments and the report was noted.