Agenda item

To consider an update report concerning gas safety inspections in Council properties.

(Report attached)

Following a request at the previous meeting of the Committee, Officers provided Members with an update in respect of the Gas Safety Testing which covered the following:

·         Regular updates had been provided to all Members detailing the number of overdue inspections, including a Ward breakdown.  As of 30th September 2015 40 remained overdue.

·         The Council referred itself to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) verbally with a follow up in writing.  HCA were considering the matter to ascertain whether it represented a breach of consumer standards.

·         The matter was also referred to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the issue of a press release and HSE were undertaking an enquiry into the Council’s system of carrying out annual gas inspections, including the accumulation of a backlog.

·         The HSE would seek to recover their costs for the work undertaken by them, if the Council was found to be in contravention of health and safety law.

·         An interim Internal Audit report had been completed and provided, in confidence to the HCA and HSE.

Officers assured Members that since the last report the issue had been dealt with as a priority with additional and dedicated resources being deployed, regular contact with the gas contractor and support from other teams. The Corporate Management Team (CMT) had also been provided with regular progress reports.  There had already been a comprehensive review of the gas testing schedule/process and all relevant documentation, which had led to a number of measures already being put in place to ensure that this did not happen again. 

The Committee was advised that a final report would be made available for Members’ consideration once it had been produced.  However, at this stage only an interim report had been drafted.  The legal team had been consulted and it had been agreed that as the report was both confidential and in an interim form, and as there was further work to be undertaken, Members would not, at this stage, be able to see the report.

Following consideration of the report Members, whilst pleased to see that such swift action had been taken to rectify the matter, expressed disappointment that they were unable to have sight of the interim Internal Audit Report, as it was felt this document would provide vital information to enable them to ascertain how this situation had occurred and make a constructive response.  It was highlighted that Members had previously been informed that they could, in theory, be legally responsible for what had happened.  Whilst the Committee noted the reasons for not being provided with access to the report, it was suggested that a copy of the document should be made available for the consideration of all Members.  Members therefore reiterated their request to have access to the interim internal audit report. 

Members also discussed the availability of historic data in order to understand how long the delays had been going on, as this would provide useful background to the report, though it was suggested that such information was likely to form part of the overall report.  The Committee was further reminded that some backlog data had already been provided for each ward.

RESOLVED that

the Gas Safety Testing update be noted.