Purpose

The Mayor and Executive Member for Adult Social Care and
Public Health submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

 

The report set out the content of the ‘Best Value Notice’ issued
on 30 January 2024, following the expiry of the existing Notice which had been
issued for a period of 12 months in January 2023.

 

A Corporate Improvement Plan was put in place in response to
corporate governance concerns identified in 2022, which were also formally
raised by the Council’s External Auditors in a Section 24 report issued in
August 2022. 

 

Since September 2022, the Council had both a Corporate
Governance Improvement Plan and a Section 24 action plan in place to address
the range of governance issues identified in both plans. In January 2023 the
government issued a ‘Best Value Notice’ on a non-statutory footing, which set
out the government’s concerns in relation to the Council’s governance. The
notice was in place for 12 months, with clear expectations that should the
Council fail to respond positively to it, intervention would be moved to a statutory
footing.

 

The Mayor commented he welcomed the updated Best Value
Notice as it was a clear sign the Government had faith in the Council’s ability
to shape its own destiny. The Best Value Notice was also an endorsement of the
Council’s hard work in achieving its objectives.

 

The Chief Executive commented the Council was heading in the
right direction. However, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities had made it clear that the pace of improvements needed to be
maintained and that hard work to implement improvements was essential. The
Council would be reviewed again in July 2024 and there was a good chance the
Council would not require further intervention.

 

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance stated the
latest Best Value Notice was the second consecutive report considered by
Executive that showed the Council in a positive light on its improvement
journey. There was, however, a need to concentrate on the pace of work being
undertaken.

 

The Mayor thanked all staff for their work in this process.

Decision

AGREED that Executive note the revised ‘Best Value
Notice’ that had been issued by government, following the expiration of the
previous notice that was issued in January 2023.