Agenda item

To present a report on the management responses to the External Auditor’s recommendations as requested at the March 2025 A&S committee.

The Committee received a report presenting the management responses to the External Auditor’s recommendations as requested at the March 2025 A&S committee.

The following matters were considered:

Councillor Lawrence gave a verbal statement to the Committee.

a)             Publishing Urgent Decisions. The Chief Executive acknowledged  that there had been confusion on occasion regarding the publishing of urgent decisions and that often the delay had been caused by human error, where the initiating officer believed the authorising officer would publish the decision and vice versa. The Strategic Leadership team have taken notice of that issue and clarified the urgent decision process so it is clear what process should be followed and to ensure that the same mistakes aren’t made in the future. She also highlighted that there is a difference between an urgent decision and an urgent matter, which may take the form of a late paper being added to an agenda following publication.

b)             Report changes. The Chair asked what changes have been made to the report in comparison to the one presented to the Committee in July. The Director of Corporate Services (S151) explained that both reports reaffirm SLT’s commitment to transparency. He highlighted that there is an explanation in the report regarding the use of exempt items and ensuring items are only made exempt where legally necessary and all other reports are discussed and received in public. He informed the Committee that both reports reference the LGA peer review and the external audit findings and make clear that any issues raised will be revisited in the next audit cycle.  The September report includes additional reflections and actions following further internal consideration and recognises the discussions that happened at the Audit and Scrutiny Committee in July.  The September report highlights that restricted reports and agenda items are placed at the end of the agenda, to minimise disruption to public attendees and viewers and to ensure that all of the agenda that can be discussed in public is held in the public session. The September report has added a comment about regular catch ups with external auditors throughout the year, which have been scheduled to ensure timely communication on key matters. The September report also acknowledges the rationale for exempt items and recognises that sometimes it isn’t always clear as to why an item is exempt, so it is the intention and plan going forwards to ensure that it is always made clear why an item is exempt, both to Councillors and Members of the Public. The September report also welcomes external audit to commence a review of historic exempt reports for assurance and refers to training session for councillors and staff on the decision-making process. The September report also acknowledges that the issue under review should have been flagged earlier to auditors and confirms that regular meetings have now been scheduled to prevent reoccurrence. The Chair thanked officers and raised that this report is the response of a valid check and challenge from the committee.

c)             Restricted reports. A Member of the Committee asked what steps are being taken to ensure that all reports considered restricted are properly justified, and that the rationale for such decisions is communicated in public documents. The Chief Executive responded to say officers have improved in this area and will continue to look at every report to ascertain what, if anything, meets the criteria for needing to be held in a restricted session. She explained that officers have experimented with putting part of reports in the public section and part in the exempt section. She confirmed that this has worked well, and officers will carry on trying to do that so that a whole report is not restricted unnecessarily. She informed the Committee that the legal reason as to why a report is restricted will always be listed, but going forwards there will also be a section to say in layman's terms why a report or part of a report has been restricted, which will be much clearer for Members and members of the public who may be looking at reports. She reiterated that the external auditors will be completing a review of restricted reports over the last 12 months to provide extra reassurance to officers and councillors that they are being used correctly.  She confirmed that if anything comes out of the review, the recommendations will be taken on board.

d)             Open dialogue. The Vice Chair asked how the regularly scheduled catch ups with the external auditors throughout the year will be structured to promote open dialogue and ensure that key matters are raised and addressed appropriately.  The Director of Corporate Services (S151) explained that the regular catch ups with the auditors will inform the conversations and discussions as part of their review, and anything picked up in their review will be reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Committee. The Chief Executive raised that catch ups with the external auditors have been scheduled with statutory officers, not just the Section 151 Officer, to ensure key matters are raised and addressed appropriately. She also highlighted that there will be a joint part of the session with external auditors and then a private part of the session which will be between the Chief Executive and the External Auditor and will promote open dialogue and allow a space where anything relevant for the auditors to know can be raised.

e)             LGA Peer review.  The Vice Chair asked what specific actions are being taken to address the concerns Raised by the LGA peer review regarding the culture, secrecy and the lack of transparency. The Chief Executive informed the Committee that they had contacted the peer team to find out exactly what the comments were. She explained she had received an email earlier that evening from the lead peer who stated that they didn’t recall making the comment about there being a culture of secrecy at EEBC and they also did not remember hearing it in any of the sessions. The lead peer clarified that they were more concerned with transparency from the aspect of clarity rather than hiding things, meaning being transparent in a way that everybody understands the processes around decision making. The Chief Executive explained that somewhere along the line the meaning of the comment has been lost. The Vice Chair asked if the LGA peer review was minuted and how the comment has not been able to be tracked down. The Chief Executive explained that the lead peer has gone back to their notes and stated that she did recall a conversation with three members about how they weren’t clear on how members and officers had come to some decisions around one of the Council’s larger projects. She agreed to follow up with this further and provide a response to Members in writing.

f)               Monitor effectiveness. The Vice Chair asked how the council plans to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of new measures aimed at improving transparency and open decision making. The Chief Executive explained that the new measures that have been introduced are the steps taken to improve the process of taking exempt reports to Committee, in terms of providing reasoning and explanation and only restricted part of reports where necessary. She explained that the monitoring of that will speak for itself because everyone will be able to see the difference in the papers being put forwards. She highlighted that there is also the new measure around meetings with the external auditors and statutory officers, where before this channel for open dialogue and communication was not there. She informed the Committee that the annual governance areas improvement is beingimplemented and tracked through the new performance hub and the corporate performance and risk reports, which will then be presented to A&S Committee and monitored by Members. The External Auditors have been complementary that the Council has taken positive steps.

g)             Importance of Transparency. A Member of the Committee asked how the council will ensure that all members and staff are adequately trained and informed about the importance of transparency and the procedures for making decisions public. The Chief Executive explained that as a result of the work done with the Corporate Peer Challenge Team, officers put together a flow chart on how decision-making works within the Council, this was then followed up with training for staff to help them understand the process around how a report gets from inception through to decision making. The Chief Executive explained that officers will continue to learn and create new controls and provide new training where necessary.

h)             Indicators and Metrics. A Member of the Committee asked what indicators or metrics will be used to assess the success of the initiatives aimed at enhancing transparency and openness in the Council’s operations. The Chief Executive referred the member to the previous answers about monitoring and managing measures aimed at improving transparency and open decision making.  She explained that it is not possible to put metrics in for meetings or restricted paper measures.

i)               Feedback and Concerns. A Member of the Committee asked how the Council will ensure that the feedback and concerns raised by the A&S committee are effectively addressed and incorporated in future decision-making processes. The Chief Executive responded to explain that the extra measures to be taken are outlined in the report and invited Members to raise anything else they were expecting to see in the report to officers who will be happy to take it on board.

j)               Thanks. The Chair expressed thanks to officers for attending the meeting at the request of the committee and stated that it has been a valuable learning curve for members and this exercise has enabled certain improvements in regard to transparency that are welcomed.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)       Receive the report.