Agenda item

8.1

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.

8.2

The Chair of the Committee (Councillor Colin Ross) asked that the report ‘Update on the New Housing Management System’ be widened to reflect that the delay in the system, impacted the whole delivery of the housing repairs service. He also asked that Officers from the housing service be present at the meeting to respond to member’s questions.

A Member of the Committee referred to previous comments made by the Committee around the poor standard of the repairs service and how this could lead to a significant reputational risk for the Council. It was suggested that the Audit and Standards Committee received a report of the Housing Service that explained why the repairs service was performing at such a poor standard.

Another Member of the Committee agreed that the repairs service was performing at a poor standard but mentioned that performance of that service was to be monitored by the Housing Policy Committee. The Update on the New Housing Management System was added to the work programme of this Committee to check whether the implementation of the system was on track.

8.3

A Member of the Committee asked why the ‘Statement of Accounts (Audited)’ report were not ready in time for the January meeting.

The Senior Finance Manager, Internal Audit explained that she had contacted external audit to ask for the reasoning for this and that the Committee would be updated when known.

The Interim Director of Finance and Commercial Services, Tony Kirkham explained that the delay with this report was not uncommon and the Council found itself in a similar position to many authorities due to national pressures around the valuations of infrastructure assets etc. Only a small number of local authorities had managed to sign off their accounts on time.

8.4

RESOLVED:  That the work programme be noted.