Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council, Councillor Hamida Ali

Officer: Interim Corporate Director of Resources (Section 151) and Deputy Chief Executive, Richard Ennis

Key decision: no

RESOLVED: To

1.    Note and agree on the progress the Council has made in regard to achieving the recommendations set out by external auditor in the Report in the Public Interest (appendix 1) with 62 out of 99 actions complete;

2.    Note the outcome of the first tranche of work to properly evidence what has been achieved so far following the initial internal audit of actions delivered to provide full assurance to members and residents on the changes achieved; and

3.    Agree the Refreshed Action Plan including actions marked complete, progress updates against open actions and identification of actions to be embedded going forward as business as usual.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Hamida Ali) noted that the Quarter 1 report had been considered at Cabinet in June 2021 and at that stage over half of the actions had been deemed complete. At quarter 2, it was noted that the council were reporting two thirds of actions as being complete which the Leader felt was clear evidence that the Administration continued to make significant progress in addressing the root causes of the council’s financial and governance challenges. The Leader highlighted that in the last quarter a stronger framework of oversight for the council’s companies had been introduced, the council had worked with the Centre of Governance & Scrutiny to develop a scrutiny work programme and access to information protocol. Additionally, it was noted that an internal audit against reported progress had been undertaken to provide assurance to Members and residents that the changes had been made.

The Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance (Councillor Callton Young) welcomed the report and the progress which had been made to implement the recommendations in order to ensure there was good practice within the council which could be benchmarked against other London councils. Officers were thanked for their work in progressing the action plan.

It was noted by the Leader that a lot of the work being undertaken required cultural change which would take time and that a number of actions would require continuous assurance to be undertaken to ensure the council remained on track financially, on a governance point but also culturally. Members were advised that the Member Learning & Development Panel had agreed a training programme which would lead to further progress.

The Cabinet Member for Culture & Regeneration (Councillor Oliver Lewis) noted that the Report in the Public Interest had resulted in 99 actions and he felt that it was no small accomplishment that 62 of those actions had been completed. In terms of the outstanding actions; the Cabinet Member queried when those might be considered completed. In response, the Leader drew Members attention to paragraph 3.7 which set out the high priority recommendations from the external auditors which had been tackled first and were either considered complete or underway.

In terms of the outstanding actions, the Leader stated that these related to the cultural change piece of work which related to the wider Croydon Renewal programme and a range of work streams.

The Leader of the Opposition (Councillor Jason Perry) welcomed the report but noted that almost a year on there remained one third of actions considered outstanding. Whilst it was recognised that many of the actions would remain ongoing, he queried when all actions would be considered complete. In terms of the governance of the companies, he asked whether it was now considered the subsidiaries were opaque. The Leader reiterated that the Member’s Learning & Development Panel had agreed a training programme which was due to be delivered by March 2022 and work in relation to Member induction following the Local Elections in May 2022. It was further noted that appendix 1 of the report set out when the actions were anticipated to be completed.

The Leader highlighted that previous Cabinet meetings had considered reports which addressed the governance of companies which had been important pieces of work to ensure the council exercised its proper shareholder responsibilities. It was stated to be an important area of progress and the RIPI action plan was assisting in ensuring the council addressed the challenges it was facing.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal (Councillor Jason Cummings) noted that within the reported there was feedback from the General Purposes & Audit Committee (GPAC); that the review of the use of transformation funding be taken to the GPAC meeting in October 2021 and that a report on the lessons learnt in relation to Croydon Park Hotel be taken to GPAC in November 2021. The Shadow Cabinet Member sought clarification as to when those reports would be received. The Interim Corporate Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) and Deputy Chief Executive (Richard Ennis) advised Members that both reports would be taken to the November meeting of GPAC as further analysis was to be undertaken.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.     Note and agree on the progress the Council has made in regard to achieving the recommendations set out by external auditor in the Report in the Public Interest (appendix 1) with 62 out of 99 actions complete;

2.     Note the outcome of the first tranche of work to properly evidence what has been achieved so far following the initial internal audit of actions delivered to provide full assurance to members and residents on the changes achieved; and

3.     Agree the Refreshed Action Plan including actions marked complete, progress updates against open actions and identification of actions to be embedded going forward as business as usual.