The Audit and Governance Committee for Newham Council met on 16 July 2025 to discuss governance, risk management, and audit reports. The committee was scheduled to discuss the GDPR annual report, contract waivers, internal audit updates, risk management, counter fraud progress, savings delivery, and a forward plan.

Savings Delivery Programme

The committee was scheduled to note a report on the Savings Delivery Programme. The report detailed how the council performed against its savings targets, noting that £32 million of savings were set in the 2024/25 budget, with an additional £10 million carried over from previous years.

• The report indicated that £27.3 million in savings (85%) were delivered, with £1.9 million (6%) in slippage and £2.8 million (9%) not delivered.
• One-off savings accounted for £3.5 million (11%) of the delivered savings.
• The total savings target for 2025/26 is £39.1 million.

Internal Audit Update

The Audit and Governance Committee was scheduled to receive an update on internal audit activities. The Quarterly Internal Audit Update report included:

• An overview of audit reports issued since the last meeting.
• A summary of other audit work carried out.
• A summary of the implementation of recommendations.
• A copy of the updated Audit Charter and Mandate.
• The draft audit plan for 2025/26.

The report detailed the grading and status of several audits:

• Development Management, Client Affairs, Rental Income and Collection (HRA), Parks and Open Spaces Maintenance, and Commercial Investments Rent all received a Limited Assurance opinion.
• Ronald Openshaw Nursery also received a Limited Assurance opinion.
• Kay Rowe Nursery, Oliver Thomas Nursery, Plaistow Primary, and St James' CoE Junior all received a Reasonable assurance opinion.
• Cyber Security follow up and LATCo Governance (Populo) were marked as complete.

The report also included updates on follow-up audits, such as Cyber Security, where 19 out of 23 recommendations were fully implemented, and LATCo Governance (Populo), where observations from a previous report were updated with an assessment of their current status.

Risk Management

The Audit and Governance Committee was scheduled to discuss a risk management update. The Risk update AGC 16 07 2025 report included:

• A review of the organisation's risk profile.
• An update on significant areas of strategic, major operational, and project risks.
• An assessment of whether these risks are managed effectively and owned appropriately.
• The Corporate Risk Register.
• The Inherent Risk Register.
• Risk Registers for Children and Young People and Environment and Sustainable Transport.

The Corporate Risk Register reflected risks that the Corporate Leadership Board considered they should be actively managing. The Inherent Risk Register included risks inherent to the running of a local authority, with active risk management taking place within the concerned departments.

GDPR Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to discuss the GDPR Annual Report 2024/25. The report indicated that Newham Council has obligations to comply with legal frameworks such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000¹, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the Data Protection Act 2018² and UK GDPR, and the Data (Use and Access) Bill 2025. The report stated that the Information Assurance function within the oneSource IT shared service is responsible for ensuring compliance with these frameworks. The report detailed the current and future team structures, highlighting the creation of a new Information Rights & Corporate Records Manager position.

Key activities delivered across the previous year included:

• Going live with a new system for recording Information Rights requests in Dynamics 365.
• Completing outstanding GDPR Audit actions, including new Records of Processing Activity (RoPA) and Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) form and review process.
• Creating a new Information Sharing Agreement form and process.
• Supporting and inputting into a new council AI Usage Policy.
• Refining technical retention controls on the Microsoft Tenancy.
• Starting work to formalise contract arrangements with offsite paper storage suppliers.

The report also included statistics on data protection and security awareness training, data breaches, and information rights requests completion rates.

Quarterly Report of Contract Waivers

The committee was scheduled to note the summary of waivers for the period March 1st 2025 until July 1st 2025, as detailed in the Quarterly Report of Contract Waivers. The report outlined that any procurement or contractual action which is non-compliant with the Council's Contract Standing Orders (CSOs) is defined as a waiver.

The report included a summary of waivers received, with one waiver approved for Inclusive Economy & Housing, relating to scaffolding hire at Beaconsfield Road. The reason given for the waiver was that a competitive process was not possible due to the nature of the works involved, with the current scaffolding already in place.

Quarterly Counter Fraud Progress Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on counter fraud activity and results, as detailed in the Quarterly Counter Fraud Progress Report. The report stated that the council has a zero tolerance approach to fraud, and the Counter Fraud Team supports this priority.

The report highlighted that between 1 April 2024 and 31st March 2025, the team successfully recovered 54 properties, resulting in £2,268,000 of notional savings. A further 35 right to buy applications were stopped, representing £4,476,500 of notional savings. The total notional savings for 2024/2025 were reported as £7,977,320.

The report also included information on whistleblowing and workplace investigations, as well as the Temporary Accommodation Project, which resulted in 25 tenancies being terminated and/or housing applications being closed.

In addition, the report detailed the work of the dedicated Council Tax Investigation Officer, who investigated 2,300 matches in the 2024/25 financial year, resulting in the identification of £1,101,301 of underpaid council tax.

Year Ahead Forward Plan

The committee was scheduled to discuss a draft year ahead forward plan. The draft forward plan included regular reports such as:

• Quarterly Internal Audit Progress Report
• Quarterly Counter Fraud Progress Report
• Quarterly update on the Risk Management and Risk Register
• Quarterly Report of Contract Waivers
• Quarterly Reports on the Savings Delivery Programme
• Treasury Management Mid-year Report
• The Annual Complaints Reports and the handling of any reports from the Local Government Ombudsman Annual Report.
• Final Annual Governance Statement
• Final SOA and External Audit Reports
• Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) and Treasury Management Annual Investment Strategy (AIS)
• RIPA Policy and Procedure Document Annual Review
• Accounting Policy
• Audit Committee Annual Report
• Biennial updates on significant governance issues

The plan also included training on Treasury Management, Accounting Policies, Audit Reports and the Statement of Accounts. The plan also mentioned a Deep dive into the use of agency staff and contract performance.