Agenda item

This report will be published in a Supplementary Papers Pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Cabinet.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer provided an overview of the report on Corporate Peer Challenge – Action Plan and in doing so explained that the report before the Committee was due to be considered by Cabinet on 12^th July 2023 and then be considered by the full Council, and the report and the appendices specifically contained the Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Review Challenge feedback and six key recommendations, and the Council’s written response to those recommendations.

It was highlighted that the Corporate Peer Challenge Review was not an inspection but provided an opportunity and forward-looking overview to consider and reflect on areas of improvement and for both the shared service authorities, Bromsgrove and Redditch Councils, the background to calling for the peer challenge was as a direct result of the respective Councils being issued with a separate Section 24 notices. The Corporate Peer Challenge was requested by Bromsgrove District Council at its full Council meeting in December 2022, primarily in response to the Section 24 notice.

The review covered five high-level themes which were:

1.     Local priorities and outcomes - Are the council’s priorities clear and informed by the local context? Is the council delivering effectively on its priorities?

2.     Organisational and place leadership - Does the council provide effective local leadership? Are there good relationships with partner organisations and local communities?

3.     Governance and culture - Are there clear and robust governance arrangements? Is there a culture of challenge and scrutiny?

4.     Financial planning and management - Does the council have a grip on its current financial position? Does the council have a strategy and a plan to address its financial challenges?

5.     Capacity for improvement – Is the organisation able to support delivery of local priorities? Does the council have the capacity to improve?

The Bromsgrove District Council’s Peer Challenge Review had a specific focus on corporate governance. It was also highlighted that a separate piece of work was undertaken by the Bromsgrove Audit Standards and Governance Committee (through the Audit Task Group) which concerned learning points from the Section 24 Notice and which was an area the Corporate Peer Challenge Review did not investigate. The Peer Review did consider the issues of clarity, transparency and speed of decision making within the Council’s governance arrangements and this did include the examination of the role and impact of overview and scrutiny.

It was noted that appendix 2.6 to the report set out the process for the peer review, and it was reiterated that residents, elected members, local partners from public and private sectors, and members of staff all had the opportunity to take part in the Peer Review. There were resident, elected member, and staff focus groups to facilitate participation from these groups. In total, the Peer Review team gathered information and views from around 55 meetings and spoke to over 130 people over the course of the review in Bromsgrove and Redditch.

The Corporate Peer Review team’s formal feedback was enclosed at Appendix A. The Council’s response to that feedback was included at Appendix B, with response to the 6 key recommendations provided in that Appendix B. Supporting action plans that addressed the 6 recommendations were included in Appendices C to G, including the programme for the review of the Council Plan at Appendix C , Governance Action Plan at Appendix D, and  the Workforce Strategy and Agile Working Action Plans at Appendices E and F respectively. Appendix G included the Section 24 notice and interim annual audit report.

The Interim Director of Finance highlighted in relation to the Section 24 notice and the recommendation 5 of the Peer Review Challenge and the External Auditors Section 24 Statement Statutory Recommendations that the progress in addressing those recommendations was reviewed through the Finance Recovery Plan which was reviewed at each meeting of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee and at each Cabinet meeting.

It was noted that the key question raised by the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee concerned the possibility of the Council receiving another Section 24 Notice. It was answered that as long as the Council was fulfilling and progressing on the recommendations of the Interim Annual Audit Report for 2020-21 this was highly unlikely. It was stressed that there were delays in the auditing of Statements of Accounts across the local authority many councils still without their 2020-21 Accounts signed off by their external auditors.

It was reported in relation to the 2020-21 Accounts that the data take-on balances remained to be approved by the Council’s External Auditor. It was stated that the external audit of 2020-21 financial statements was predicted to

be finalised by November 2023, the audit of 2021-22 financial statements in June 2024, and the 2022-23 financial statements in November 2024. However, it was highlighted that these timescales were challenging and could be subject to further change.

The Leader of the Council addressed the Board and placed on record her sincere thanks to the Officers and team at Bromsgrove District Council for the work undertaken in support of the Corporate Peer Review Challenge. It was reiterated that many of the recommendations contained in the Corporate Peer Review report had already been actioned and the Council had already progressed significantly in terms of addressing the points raised.

Following the main presentation, Members had the opportunity to make comments and question the Officers in attendance. The following comments and suggestions were made by Members, and responses provided by Officers:

·       A theme in the Corporate Peer Review Challenge report concerning a lack of capacity within senior management – Members asked why this issue was not recognised before the Peer Review Challenge was undertaken. It was responded that the capacity issues existed in certain areas throughout the Council and there was a challenge whereby the Council was over-ambitious in terms of the number of priorities that it had. If the number of priorities could be reduced, there would be more capacity for officers and management team to deliver on the priorities decided by Members. A review of the Council Plan was currently being undertaken which looked at making sure there were fewer priorities that had more potential of being fully delivered. It was also highlighted that there were financial constraints which needed to be acknowledged in the Plan.

·       Scrutiny of the Council’s Performance reports – It was noted that performance monitoring reports were being considered by the Cabinet on an ongoing basis and were also being regularly scrutinised by the Finance and Budget Working Group.

·       Vacancies – It was noted that the Council had 1 per cent fewer vacancies than the national average for local authorities. However, it was acknowledged that there were significant challenges in recruiting to Planning, Finance and Housing departments at the Council. This was a national problem for local government sector and this issue further brought to light the need for the Council to have a more focused set of priorities in certain areas.

·       A reference in the Corporate Peer Review Report to the considerable slippage in the Council’s capital programme – It was reported that it was rare for capital programmes at local authority to fulfil more than 65 to 70 per cent of expected delivery. The issue the Council faced at the moment was a lack of workforce and / or contractors available to complete the major schemes. It had been reported through to the Government, including through various lobby groups such as the Local Government Association (LGA) because this issue had been becoming more and more acute.

·       Corporate Priorities – It was highlighted that within the Council Plan review it was first imperative to work out the high level strategic priorities and understand how they were going to be delivered and resourced before working on the more detailed level. It was also highlighted that there was a focus on reporting to Members through the performance reports and developing more key performance indicators to ensure they were tailored to monitoring how the Council was delivering its priorities.

·       Digitalisation and the Covid-19 Pandemic – It was noted that the pandemic slowed the delivery of most objectives and the capital programme in various ways. It was also noted that the Government was pushing for the digitisation across the sector and the Plans covered some detail regarding how digitilisation would be implemented, ensuring that residents who struggled to use digital tools continued to be provided for.

·       Selection process for the Community Panel – It was explained that the Community Panel was composed of residents who were volunteers and agreed to be contacted by the Council at any time for taking part in surveys and similar engagement activity on the matters relating to the Council. Officers undertook to provide details of the application page for joining the Community Panel on the Council’s website.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.