Agenda item

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling presented recommendations that had been agreed at a meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 9^th March 2023.  During this meeting, the Committee had considered a report that had been produced by the Bromsgrove Audit Task Group, which had been launched by the Bromsgrove Audit, Standards and Governance Committee, at the request of their Council, in response to their Section 24 Notice.  Members were asked to note that the Redditch Audit, Governance and Standards Committee had responded in a different fashion to the Council’s Section 24 Notice, by agreeing to hold more frequent meetings of the Committee than had previously been the case and to receive a regular update at each meeting of the Committee on the Council’s progress in addressing the issues raised in the Section 24 Notice.

The Bromsgrove Audit Task Group had considered hundreds of pages of written evidence and had held eight meetings over a period of 20 hours in February and early March 2023.  Based on the evidence gathered, the group had proposed two groups of recommendations; the first group had focused on general lessons learned in respect of areas such as project management, the need for proper minutes of project board meetings and escalation of issues for mitigation whilst the second group of recommendations had focused specifically on the issues arising in relation to the ERP finance system and the implications for closing the Council’s accounts.  The Redditch Audit, Governance and Standards Committee had concluded that the recommendations were sensible and that they should therefore be endorsed by the Council.  The Committee had also proposed that the Executive Committee should write to the Bromsgrove Audit Task Group to thank them for their hard work.

Since the report had been published, further progress had been achieved with the implementation of the ERP system, although it was anticipated that the backlog in the cash receipting module would not be cleared until the end of the calendar year.  Bromsgrove District Council’s Cabinet was also due to consider a report in respect of the project management arrangements at the authority, in line with one of the recommendations in the report.

In concluding the presentation of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling commented that he had consulted with senior officers concerning the viability of implementing the Bromsgrove Audit Task Group’s recommendations.  They had indicated that, whilst further work was required to implement some of the recommendations, this would be deliverable and would add value to the Council.

Members subsequently discussed the report in detail and in doing so commented on the following matters:

·             The signficant progress that had been achieved by the Council, in terms of addressing the issues identified in the Section 24 Notice.

·             The need for lessons to be learned from the challenges that had been encountered during the introduction and implementation of the ERP system.

·             The benefits in terms of the Council monitoring the work delivered by third parties on behalf of the authority.

·             The need for appropriate Council resources to be allocated to larger projects and for staff positions to be back filled where required.

·             The process by which organisations could procure Software as a Service (SAAS) and the implications of this for the organisation.  Officers explained that the Council adopted this approach to procuring the ERP system from TechOne and, as a consequence, the onus was on the Council to manage that process, including training and the development of user manuals.

·             The difficulties for any organisation arising from being the first to adopt a new module in a system, as had been the case with the cash receipting part of the system.

·             The need for the Council to take into account a range of considerations when procuring new software, not just the financial costs involved.

During consideration of this item, Councillor Joe Baker proposed an additional recommendation:

“That more regular updates and reports on progress with financial compliance should be provided at the Council.”

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Baker and seconded by Councillor Bill Hartnett.

In proposing the recommendation, Councillor Baker commented that this would help to provide Members with assurance that progress was being achieved and that the issues identified in the Section 24 Notice and subsequent Bromsgrove Audit Task Group report were being addressed.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Hartnett commented that it would be helpful for the Executive Committee to receive an update on the progress that was being achieved as well as the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee.

Members discussed the recommendation, and in doing so noted that the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee had already agreed to hold extra meetings during the year and were already scheduled to receive updates at every meeting on the progress that was being made as well as any compliance issues.  Where areas of concern were identified, or where the Committee agreed that issues needed to be highlighted for the consideration of the Executive Committee, the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee could make recommendations which would be reported for the consideration of the Executive Committee. In this context, it was suggested that the recommendation was unnecessary and Councillor Baker agreed to its withdrawal.

RESOLVED that

1)          any improvements arising from the recommendations in the Bromsgrove District Council Audit Task Group Report into the issuing of the Section 24 Statement be adopted by the Executive Committee; and

2)          a formal note of thanks be sent to the Bromsgrove District Council Audit Task Group by the Executive Committee.