Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council, Councillor Hamida Ali

Officer: Executive Director Resources, Jacqueline Harris Baker

Key decision: no

RESOLVED: To

1.    Agree the amendments to the RIPI action plan recommended by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Appendix 1);

2.    Agree the amendments to the RIPI action plan recommended by the General Purposes & Audit Committee (Appendix 2);

3.    Agree that the action plan (Appendix 3) should be updated accordingly;  and

4.    Note that in accordance with the resolutions of Council on 19 November 2020, Cabinet, alongside the General Purposes & Audit Committee, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and Council, will receive quarterly reports detailing progress of delivering the action plan as part of quarterly progress monitoring reports from the forthcoming Council Improvement Board.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report which included the outcome of the consultation on the draft Report in the Public Interest (RIPI) action plan with the Scrutiny & Overview Committee (SOC) and the General Purposes & Audit Committee (GPAC). It was noted that both committees had detailed discussions on the draft plan and had made a series of suggested amendments to the plan which were outlined in the appendices to the report. The Leader stated that Cabinet were being asked to agree those amendments and note that quarterly progress updates would be taken to both Cabinet and Council.

The Executive Director of Resources, Jacqueline Harris Baker, advised Members that the report was in line with the decisions made at the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 19 November 2020 to report to Cabinet the proposed amendments to the action plan following consideration by GPAC and SOC. It was noted that both committees had considered the action plan in detail.

Members were advised by the Executive Director that a revised action plan would be produced which incorporated the proposed amendments and revised timescales for delivery. The Executive Director stated the council had only 21 days to produce the original action plan and subsequent detailed work had been undertaken which was cross cutting with improvement work across the council.

The Executive Director confirmed that the council had strengthened its systems for monitoring, reporting performance and expenditure, and that a programme delivery approach had been adopted. A central programme management office had been established to ensure consistent and effective management of improvement and savings programmes was being delivered. Furthermore, an internal Croydon Renewal Steering Group had been established to ensure all projects were being delivered and would hold officers to account for delivery; this Group, it was reported, was chaired by the Interim Chief Executive and included members of the Executive Leadership Team.

It was further stated that progress against the action plan would be monitored, tested and reported upon by the council’s internal audit team.

Cabinet were advised by the Executive Director that the next report would include an updated action plan, revised deadlines and progress updates on all actions. In the interim, it was suggested that Members would experience progress on actions as they happened; such as financial reports and an update on the review of Brick by Brick being taken to February Cabinet.

The Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson, thanked Members for their contribution and amendments to the action plan which would be incorporated in the next iteration of the action plan. It was noted that it was a complex piece of work with over 434 actions or programmes of work that were being undertaken but it was the ambition of officers to distil the work into a structured report process which would assist in the oversight of progress.

The Chair of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee, Councillor Sean Fitzsimons, stated that the committee had considered the RIPI and action plan in December 2020. Following consideration of each line of the plan the committee had drawn up 23 proposed amendments. The Chair of SOC noted that the main area of concern of the committee was in relation to deliverability; both in terms of pace and ensuring lessons had been learnt.

The Chair of the General Purposes & Audit Committee, Councillor Karen Jewitt, thanked officers for their support at the committee meeting in December 2020 and noted that following the consideration of the plan a number of amendments had been proposed.

The Chair of GPAC noted that concerns had been raised in relation to the lack of training for GPAC members and stated that Mazars were arranging training for members on their role on GPAC which she hoped would be well attended. Furthermore, it was recognised that there had previously been insufficient time spent on items and that the committee would meet more regularly going forward to ensure items were given full consideration, such as a meeting to review the risk register. The Chair reported that she had asked members of the committee to submit suggestions on how to improve the committee further.

Members of SOC and GPAC were thanked for their work in considering the action plan by the Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance.

Concerns were raised by the Leader of the Opposition that the Cabinet continued to close down challenge, in his opinion, as a sufficient number of questions from the Opposition were not asked. He noted that Croydon was the only council to have had a RIPI and to have issued two Section 114 Notices. He also raised concerns that a number of key deadlines within the action plan had already been missed.

In response, the Leader noted that the action plan which had been considered by the two committees was a draft and as such the timeline contained within the plan was indicative. Following the 20 recommendations from the auditors, Grant Thornton, and four additional recommendations from the council, 434 actions had been drawn up. That action plan had been consulted upon and was being finalised. The Assistant Chief Executive confirmed that a number of the actions had been progressed and work was continuing to draw up the final report. It was noted by the Assistant Chief Executive that both committees, as part of the consultation, had provided challenge in relation to deadlines and officers were looking to respond to that challenge by reviewing all the deadlines ahead of final publication in April 2021.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care, Councillor Yvette Hopley, noted that within Appendix 1 of the report it discussed the need for Member training and stated that she felt that Opposition Members did not require training to know that the council was heading to severe financial difficulties. Furthermore, she stated that she, Councillor Jason Cummings and Councillor Buttinger had written to the previous Monitoring Officer in 2016 with concerns relating to the financial implications of decisions being made by the council and yet she felt that no action had been taken following her letter. As such, the Shadow Cabinet Member stated that without the desire to make significant change training would be unnecessary. She sought assurance that the council would be more transparent and questioned who she should raise future concerns with if the Monitoring Officer was not in a position to respond to concerns.

In response, the Leader highlighted that the external auditors had raised that training would be of use to Members across the council. As such, she stressed that it would be prudent to heed that judgement and ensure training and support was provided to enable Members to discharge their responsibilities effectively. The council had sought to enhance the commitment to training by ensuring that both GPAC and SOC were able to effectively challenge the Executive. The Leader concluded that she felt establishing more training programmes was a positive step and queried how anyone could oppose such a move.

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

RESOLVED: To

1.     Agree the amendments to the RIPI action plan recommended by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee (Appendix 1);

2.     Agree the amendments to the RIPI action plan recommended by the General Purposes & Audit Committee (Appendix 2);

3.     Agree that the action plan (Appendix 3) should be updated accordingly;  and

4.     Note that in accordance with the resolutions of Council on 19 November 2020, Cabinet, alongside the General Purposes & Audit Committee, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and Council, will receive quarterly reports detailing progress of delivering the action plan as part of quarterly progress monitoring reports from the forthcoming Council Improvement Board.