Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Apologies for Absence
Additional documents:
Minutes:
1.1
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Apologies for absence were received from
Councillor Mohammed Mahroof.
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2. |
Exclusion of the Press and Public
To identify items where
resolutions may be moved to exclude the press and
public.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
2.1
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No items were identified where resolutions may
be moved to exclude the press and public.
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3. |
Declarations of Interest PDF 129 KB
Members to declare any interests they have in
the business to be considered at the meeting.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
3.1
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There were no declarations of interest made at
the meeting.
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4. |
Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 179 KB
To approve the minutes of the meeting of the
Committee held on 21 October 2021.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
4.1
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RESOLVED: The minutes of the previous
meeting held on 21 October 2021 were approved a correct record.
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5. |
Report of those Charged with Governance (ISA 260) PDF 5 MB
Report of the External Auditor, Ernst and
Young to follow.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
5.1
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Janet Dawson and Hayley Clark, External Audit,
Ernst & Young (EY) were in attendance to answer any questions
the Committee had. EY also provided the Committee with the
Report of those Charged with Governance
(ISA 260) which outlined the findings arising from the
external audit to date.
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5.2
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Janet Dawson explained the status of the audit
for 2020/21 was set out on page 5 of their report. Ernst & Young still had to finalise some areas
but anticipated this would be completed over the coming weeks. The
substantive amount of audit was already complete.
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5.3
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Once the audit was complete, Ernst & Young
would then be in position to provide an unqualified opinion on the
financial statements, subject to no further findings arising. Some
of the unadjusted findings from the auditor’s report were
then discussed.
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5.4
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Hayley Clark highlighted that EY had
identified that there was a proportion of the Council’s
investment property which the Council had the right to use which
had not been accounted for as an asset. This was estimated to be
between £1.8m and £3m.
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5.5
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It was mentioned
that page 15 of their report, showed that the pension fund auditor
had alerted EY to an unadjusted error of £9.7 million in
relation to the return on investment assets within the financial
statements of the South Yorkshire Pension Authority. The
Council’s share of this, which would lead to a reduction in
the Council’s pension liability, is £2.6 million.
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5.6
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Members of the Committee asked questions and
the following responses were provided: -
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5.7
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Hayley Clark explained the £2.5m
reported on page 16, had been identified in the previous
year’s Audit Results Report. The decision taken last year was
to not adjust at that time, and was considered as a miscalculation
in PFI model. It was added that this had now been corrected in this
year’s Audit Results Report.
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5.8
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RESOLVED: That the Committee (1)
noted the report and its findings; and (2)
granted delegated authority for the Chair to sign the Letter
of Management Representations and the Statement of Accounts
when final audit procedures are
concluded.
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6. |
Statement of Accounts 2020/21 PDF 265 KB
Report of the Executive Director
Resources.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
6.1
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The Committee received a report of the
Executive Director Resources. The purpose of the report was to
communicate any relevant matters arising from the external audit of
the 2020/21 Statement of Accounts to Members.
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6.2
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The Head of Strategic Finance, Dave Phillips,
requested that approval be delegated to the Chair of the Audit and
Standards Committee, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer,
to conclude the audit by signing the Letter of Management
Representations and the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 on the
conclusion of the audit by Ernst & Young.
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6.3
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The Head of Strategic Finance informed that
Committee there had been three main areas of movement which had
impacted the Council’s Statement of Accounts. These were:
-
- Covid Grants
- Council Housing
- Property Services
valuations
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6.4
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The Head of Strategic Finance agreed to
investigate why Sheffield had an outstanding long-term debt of over
£1m pounds to Doncaster Council.
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6.5
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The Head of Strategic Finance explained the
increase in creditors figure from £181,236k to
£301,458k was again Covid related and due to grants and
business rates. The Executive Director Resources, Eugene Walker
added that due to the significant number of business rates been
cancelled or relieved, the Government compensated the Council to
cover these which caused the figure to increase.
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6.6
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Clair Sharratt, Senior Finance Manager, stated
that page 152 of the report gave a more detailed breakdown on the
expenditure for Housing Revenue Accounts and that the difference
between the years was due to variations in the property valuations
of the Housing stock.
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6.7
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The Head of Strategic Finance advised that the
Council did not have a specific climate change reserve although
other reserves could be used if crucial.
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6.8
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RESOLVED: That (1) the Audit and
Standards Committee noted the 2020/21 Sheffield City
Council Audit Results Report; and
(2) the Audit and Standards Committee
approved the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 and requested that
approval was delegated to the Chair of the Audit and Standards
Committee to conclude the audit by signing the Letter of Management
Representations and the Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 on
conclusion of the audit by Ernst & Young LLP (EY).
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7. |
Information Governance Annual Report PDF 555 KB
Report of the Director of Business Change and
Information.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
7.1
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The Committee received a report of the
Director of Business Change and Information Solutions which aimed
to provide assurance around the policies, processes and practices
employed to ensure the Council met those requirements.
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7.2
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The Senior Information Management Officer,
Sarah Green, stated that the Council had worked hard to ensure that
requirements are met through various frameworks and the UK GDPR
action plan.
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7.3
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The Council had handled 326 Subject Access
Requests (SAR) in 2020/21, in which 170 were answered in time. This
meant the overall SAR performance figure had dropped from 85% to
52%. This was due to the suspension of request handling in response
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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7.4
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Additional Resource had been put in place to
focus on SAR’s and improve performance.
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7.5
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The Council had received 1543 Freedom of
Information Requests (FOI) in 2020/21, in which 64% were answered
in time. The response rate the previous year was 93%. The
Information Governance Board’s target response rate was 95%.
It was added that failure to comply with the target response rate,
could mean the Council has to pay a fine or carry out an inspection
although this was unlikely as the response rate was increasing.
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7.6
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The Council had introduced sensitivity labels,
which had to be identified before sending an email or working on a
document. Sensitivity labels classify the Council’s data to
show how sensitive it is. This helps reduce risks and protect
data.
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7.7
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In 2020/21 there was 262 incidents logged
through the Council’s information security incident process.
109 of these were personal data breaches, most were human error
with emails or post. 8 of the breaches were considered to meet the
risk threshold and were reported to the Information Commissioners
Office (ICO).
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7.8
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The Council had several Information Governance
training modules available for staff. The main one was the
Information Governance training which is rolled out each year to
staff and was mandatory. A new mandatory data protection module was
added to the Sheffield Development Hub in January 2021, in which
88% of council employees has carried out as of December 2021.
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7.9
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Members of the Committee asked questions and
the following responses were provided: -
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7.10
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Sarah Green confirmed that staff were
redeployed through the pandemic to support other areas in the
Council which impacted on response times for SAR’s. It was
mentioned that all those members of staff are now back in post.
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7.11
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Sarah Green informed the Committee that staff
had carried out additional training on security when working from
home therefore she was confident that staff understood the
differences when in a different work environment.
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7.12
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New training for Officers and Members was
currently ongoing, this would aim to improve response rates as it
would inform people on what to look out for and how to respond
appropriately in the required timeframe.
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7.13
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Sarah Green stated that some of the
recommendations from the ICO following the 8 breaches reported were
generic. Other recommendations were specific and related to that
...
view the full minutes text for item 7.
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8. |
Whistleblowing Policy Review PDF 72 KB
Report of the Director of Legal and
Governance.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
8.1
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The Committee received a report of the
Director of Legal and Governance. The report provided the committee
with information on activity under the Whistleblowing Policy from
2018 to present date. It provided details of the plans to publicise
the Whistleblowing Policy. It also informed the Committee on the
planned recruitment, support, training
and development to equip a refocused group of Contact Advisors.
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8.2
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The Head of HR, Claire Corneille, informed the
Committee the Whistleblowing Policy had been reviewed and
considered as still fit for purpose although there had been several
amendments.
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8.3
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Since 2018, there had been 5 reports of
Whistleblowing within the Council. This was relatively low for the
size and complexity of Sheffield City Council.
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8.4
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It was mentioned that other methods of
reporting incidents had taken place, therefore a primary objective
was to promote the Whistleblowing and encourage staff to use the
Whistleblowing Policy when appropriate.
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8.5
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Claire Corneille explained that there is an
intention to increase the resource in place to support staff
through the process. 7 contact advisors had been recruited along
historically, with just 5 remaining.
There are 7 Whistleblowing contacts also detailed in the
Policy.
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8.6
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Members of the Committee asked questions and
the following responses were provided: -
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8.7
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Claire Corneille advised that newly created
networks and representative groups could be asked if they would be
prepared to acknowledge receipts of Whistleblowing claims.
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8.8
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Claire Corneille stated that each case is
individual therefore there was no timeframe for dealing with
these.
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8.9
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Claire Corneille was unable to explain why all
the cases since 2018 were reported from employees in the
people’s portfolio. The Committee were informed that going
forward, there will be advisors available in each portfolio in the
hope that people are more comfortable to whistle blow with people
they may know or work closely with.
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8.10
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It was stated that trade unions are supportive
of the Whistleblowing Policy. They are available to support
individuals considering Whistleblowing and to provide ongoing
support through the process.
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8.11
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There was no required qualification to be a
Whistleblowing contact advisor and colleagues of all grades and
backgrounds will be encouraged to be involved through the planned
campaign to recruit more.
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8.12
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RESOLVED: That the Committee (1)
noted the information on the activity under the Whistleblowing
Policy since April 2018; (2) noted and encouraged the plans
for publicising the Whistleblowing Policy and associated ways in
which staff can raise concerns; and (3) noted and encouraged
the plans for Contact Advisors.
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9. |
Progress on High Opinion Audit Reports PDF 157 KB
Report of the Senior Finance Manager, Internal
Audit.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
9.1
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The Committee received a report of the Senior
Finance Manager of Internal Audit. The report provided an update on
position on implementation of recommendations contained in audit
reports issued with a high opinion or a limited/no assurance
opinion and high organisational impact assessment.
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9.2
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The Senior Finance Manager, Internal Audit,
Linda Hunter, mentioned that the Audit & Standards Committee
received this report every 6 months for an update.
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9.3
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The Committee were informed that the 5 reports
highlighted had now been implemented therefore the Committee were
asked to agree the removal of these from the tracker.
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9.4
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The report highlighted 34 recommendations that
Internal Audit was tracking, in which 23 of them were implemented
and 11 still ongoing.
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9.5
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There was 1 critical recommendation ongoing
which related to the Housing Management System. This recommendation
was to upgrade the system which had now been carried out, although
there was limited functionality improvements therefore a new system
is needed to be built and tested. So Internal Audit are still
tracking this recommendation. It was added that The Performance
Delivery Board had a future agenda item (8/3/22) to undertake a
deep dive exercise on this area and it would include staff
resources, change management, investment and lessons learnt.
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9.6
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A Member of the Committee asked a question and
the following response were provided: -
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9.7
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Sarah Green confirmed the delay in
implementing the information security incidents recommendation, was
Covid related.
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9.8
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RESOLVED: That the committee (1)
noted the contents of the report; and (2) agreed to the removal of the following reports from the
tracker:
- Enforcement Agent Review
- Appointeeship Service
- Council Processes for Management Investigations
- Controls in Town Hall Machine room
- Data
Security and Protection (DSP) Toolkit
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10. |
PSIAS - External Quality Assessment Peer Review PDF 144 KB
Report of the Senior Finance Manager, Internal
Audit.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
10.1
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The Committee received a report by Birmingham
City Council which provided feedback on the recent independent
review and external quality assessment peer review.
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10.2
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The Senior Finance Manager, Internal Audit,
Linda Hunter informed that Committee that Sheffield City Council
received the rating ‘conformed’, which was the highest
possible rating.
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10.3
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Birmingham City Council interviewed key
officers in the Council, reviewed responses from surveys and
questionnaires and looked at the self-assessment checklist and
evidence to support the assessment.
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10.4
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There were 115 questions contained within the
self-assessment checklist, 89 were assessed as conforms, 14 as
partial conforms and 12 as not applicable.
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10.5
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From the review, Birmingham City Council made
8 recommendations which the Council agreed. The date for the last
recommendation to be implemented was September 2022.
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10.6
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A Member of the Committee had a question and
the following response were provided: -
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10.7
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The Senior Finance Manager confirmed 2 of the
3 recommendations due to be implemented by December 2021, had been
completed. The third recommendation had been partly actioned
(Declaration of Endorsement produced), although it was awaiting
sign off by the Chief Executive.
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10.8
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RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the
contents of the report and the highest possible rating of
‘conforms’.
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11. |
Work Programme PDF 56 KB
Report of the Director of Legal and
Governance.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
11.1
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The Committee considered a report of the
Director of Legal and Governance that outlined the work programme
for the remainder of the municipal year. Members were asked to
identify any further items for inclusion.
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11.2
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The Chair suggested that a report on the
performance of the Contact Centre be brought to a future meeting of
the Committee.
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11.3
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The Chair suggested that the Annual Housing
Ombudsman Report be brought to the next meeting of the
Committee.
.
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11.4
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RESOLVED: - that (1) the work
programme be noted; and (2) that the further mentioned
reports be included to the work programme.
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12. |
Dates of Future Meetings
To note that meetings of the Committee will be
held at 5.00 p.m. on:-
24th February 2022
24th March 2022
16th June 2022
21st July 2022
Additional documents:
Minutes:
12.1
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It was noted that the next meeting of the
Committee would be held on 24 February 2022.
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