The Audit and Governance Committee convened to discuss a range of reports, including updates on GDPR compliance, contract waivers, internal audit findings, risk management, counter-fraud measures, and savings delivery. The committee reviewed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) annual report, quarterly reports on contract waivers, internal audit updates, risk management, counter-fraud progress, and savings delivery, as well as the year ahead forward plan. Several action plans were criticised for lacking specificity, and officers were asked to rewrite and resubmit them with more detail.

GDPR Annual Report

The committee reviewed the GDPR Annual Report 2024/25, which highlighted the council's efforts to improve its GDPR posture and assurance levels. Lauren White, Assistant Director for Information, Assurance and IT Contracts, and the Council's Designated Data Protection Officer, noted the growth within the team as part of the split from OneSource IT into a Newham sovereign service.

Councillor Paul asked about financial implications of data breaches. Lauren White responded that there had been no financial implications, and that the recommendations from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) were generic and related to best practice already undertaken. She added that most data breaches were due to human error, such as emails being sent to the wrong recipient.

Councillor Melanie Onovo raised concerns about the frequency and risk of data breaches, particularly those involving children and young people. Lauren White explained that the council uses an encrypted email service and promotes the idea of sharing information within the Microsoft Teams environment for better control.

Councillor Paul asked if the council was considering implementing measures such as removing autocompletes from Outlook to prevent email breaches. Lauren White said that this was something that could be considered, but that she was conscious of the impact on staff. She added that staff recognise email breaches very quickly and take steps to contain them.

Councillor Paul also raised the issue of staff not accessing GDPR training. Lauren White said that whenever there is a data breach, the council checks whether the individuals concerned have completed their training, and if not, they work with their managers to ensure that it is completed.

The committee noted the report.

Quarterly Report on Contract Waivers

The committee reviewed the quarterly report on contract waivers. Only one waiver was presented at the meeting, for £135,000.

An officer explained that the waiver was a result of additional works on a block of flats. The original commission for work was tendered to Thomas Sinden in July 2023, which included scaffolding. When the new interim director of housing came in, it was decided to extend the works for additional window replacement for leaseholders. Because the scaffolding was already up, the ownership of the second piece of work, the windows, was tendered again. RMS won that award, so the council had to change the direct. The scaffolding was kept with the original supplier, but awarded directly with LBN and the supplier to have that additional work.

The committee noted the report.

Quarterly Internal Audit Update

The committee considered the quarterly internal audit update, which included six limited assurance reports and an update on the follow up of actions. Councillor Paul criticised the action plans in the reports for lacking specificity and being more like a wish list. He requested that officers rewrite the action plans to be SMART¹ and include the names of the responsible officers.

Rental Income and Collection

Cheryl, and Andrew from the housing team, presented the report on rental income and collection. Councillor Paul asked about the £2,500 unidentified payments held in the council's suspense account. Andrew said that the council had installed a new cash allocation system and was working to clear the backlog.

Councillor Thelma Odoi asked about payments being made outside of Fusion, which was causing a significant fraud risk. She asked what the council was going to do if it was not feasible to raise invoices directly into Fusion.

Councillor Odoi also asked about high credit rate accounts and how many people had died without the council reconciling their accounts. She said that she could not believe that there were sums of over £10,000 that the council did not know about. Cheryl said that the threshold had been newly agreed at £1,000 and that the council was looking at automating and reviewing these on a monthly basis.

Councillor Paul asked if some of the issues in the report were also on the action plan for the housing regulator. Sean, program director of tenancy services, said that most of the issues were not directly related to the regulator report, but that everything within income feeds across all the council does in housing.

Councillor Nate Higgins ( Green Group Leader) asked about the joint rent management manual and GDPR requirements. Sean said that all of the five policies and the manual that are waiting for formal sign off in September have been implemented across the service, and that any issues around GDPR have been rectified.

Councillor Paul said that the issue was not policy, but delivery and implementation. He asked for the names of the officers responsible for each action to be included in the new action sheet.

The committee requested a new action plan to come forward.

Development Management

Jane, from the planning department, introduced the report on development management. Councillor Paul said that the report stated that senior leadership presents achievement not supported by data, and asked how she accounted for that statement. Jane said that she did not think that was correct, and that the audit was carried out a reasonable amount of time ago and corrections had been made.

Councillor Paul asked why she had not updated on the actions then. Jane said that she had not had a report come to this audit committee previously, and so she was not aware that she should have done that. Councillor Paul requested that she redo the action plan and resubmit it with specificity about timelines, when, who and what.

Councillor Melanie Onovo asked about planning KPIs and how the council was meeting its timescales. Jane said that the council is able to agree an extension of time with the applicant, and that this is a smarter way of working. She added that the council has amended the way that it reports on planning application performance, and that it is now reporting on how it has performed against the national planning application deadline.

Councillor Onovo asked about planning officers requesting payments for direct applications outside of Fusion, and what specific concrete actions were being taken to deal with this risk. Jane said that the council is working with finance on this, and that it thinks it can raise invoices for pre-application advice, but for planning applications it does not really work to try and raise an invoice in Fusion.

The committee requested that Jane update the action log and address the key findings.

Commercial Investments, Rent

Oliver Judges, the interim director of property, introduced the report on commercial investments, rent. Councillor Paul said that he would like the action plan to be rewritten to include the name of the responsible officer and for every action to be SMART.

Councillor Onovo asked about a discrepancy between what's on the council's financial system as opposed to its property system, including some xLLDC properties that the financial consultant did not have access to. Oliver Judges said that he would have to come back on those xLLDC properties specifically.

Councillor Paul asked how the council could let a million pounds just get out of its fingers, and how it was not noticed by the team that a million pounds was not being collected. An officer said that no one was suggesting that this was a satisfactory state of affairs, and that it was one of the reasons that the council has an audit function.

Councillor Paul said that he wanted to make sure that the committee had assurance that the team members have the right governance procedures and processes for the actions which they are guardian for.

The committee requested that Oliver Judges take ownership of the reports and update them with the people's names.

Client Affairs, Adults

Jason, from adult social care, introduced the report on client affairs. Councillor Paul noted that in January 2023 the decision had to be taken to stop new referrals for seven months, and asked about it. Jason said that the challenge has clearly been one of capacity for this team, and that the numbers of residents who are needing support around their financial affairs has grown considerably in recent years.

Councillor Onovo asked what could be done to quell the capacity gap in the team. Jason said that he would like to work through with both the client affairs service and the wider operational services to see if there are levers that could be pulled to take a more preventative approach.

Councillor Paul asked what the legal risk was for the council, given that there were 24 adults out there not giving the council a call and who are statute of being entitled to what. Jason said that it was definitely on the departmental risk register.

Councillor Paul asked if the council could reasonably adjust the criteria to access the client or if it was also a solution of resources. Jason said that he thought it was likely to ultimately be a simple one of resources.

Councillor Paul asked if there were other things with potential that the council could do to normalise its service with the London average. Jason said that he was not aware of anything else where the council was out of kilter on charging issues with other social care departments.

Councillor Onovo asked about the deputieship apartment and how it works. Jason said that he was not the best person to really go into detail on the precise kind of way in which that team operates.

Councillor Paul said that the quality of the action plans needs to be radically improved. He requested that the head teacher write to Annabelle setting out the action plan and making that action plan SMART, and that the head teacher copies in the governing body to that letter.

Open Space Management

Sean and Amy Walker introduced the report on open space management. Councillor Paul asked if the council operated a service where kids could have a party in the park and look after the park. Sean said that the council used to have a dedicated parts officer per park, but that it does not have that anymore.

Councillor Paul asked who owns the park during the day and if the council had someone who physically goes around the park and looks at a tree or that needs fixing or the drainage fixing and reports on the alloy. Amy said that trees are inspected every two years, and high profile trees will be inspected more often than that.

Councillor Onovo asked how accountability is in place, given that the logs show that inspections have not taken place. Sean said that the inspections were being manually logged, but that there was not the level of oversight that was required. He said that this is now happening, and that the council has a performance dashboard that will tell it that those inspections are happening.

Councillor Paul said that there have been a number of issues on play equipment, and that it does seem that the council has the functions in place, but no one has put them all together. He suggested that the council consider the ownership of the park, so that if something goes wrong, it does not look like the council brings five or six different people from different teams.

Councillor Onovo said that it would be good to understand how inter-departmental working slows down delivery. Sean said that they could incorporate that within a photo.

Councillor Paul suggested that Sean speak to Councillor Garfield, chair of the crime environment, and see where the parks are on his plot for the next year.

The committee requested a flowchart showing who owns what in the park and how it works.

Ronald Openshaw Nursery

Annabelle introduced the report on Ronald Openshaw Nursery. Councillor Paul said that in future, when a school comes up, it is really important that the head teacher and the chair of governors are in attendance.

Councillor Thelma Odoi said that she was a teacher as well, and that she was finding some of this a bit confusing. She asked about the review of DBS checks, and if it was the most efficient way to do it to just wait for a certain period of time and renew everybody's, whereas someone's might not be due to expire for quite a while. Annabelle said that the approach has been outsourced to the external provider who provides HR services, so it may not be an efficient way to do it, but it is not something that the council oversees.

Councillor Paul suggested that Colgrave Primary School might be able to help Ronald Openshaw with processes and procedures and perhaps sharing of any training costs.

The committee requested that the head teacher write to Annabelle setting out the action plan and making that action plan SMART, and that the head teacher copies in the governing body to that letter.

Local Government Popular Report

The committee noted the report.

Update Order Charter and Mandate

The committee reviewed the copy of the update order charter and mandate. The committee agreed to the update.

Audit Plan

The committee reviewed the audit plan. Councillor Paul asked how the audit plan can support the organisation in the other groups setting up to improve the organisation. An officer said that the core skill set of the audit function is to provide assurance about compliance with controls.

Councillor Odoi asked about Fusion, and if it was something that should be brought forward and looked like, given that payments are going into the areas. An officer said that this was somewhat different then, and that it was more about the IT internal controls.

Councillor Conrad Hall said that he wondered whether the committee needs to see quite all the level of detail that it requested. He said that there was an audit follow-up process, so typically six to twelve months after the audit takes place, the auditors go back and say whether the recommendations have been implemented.

Councillor Paul said that if the committee were to wait for the follow-up, it could have an area going out of control for a year.

Corporate Register

The committee reviewed the corporate register. Councillor Paul asked if the council was actually GDPR compliant, and if it was breaching anything at the moment. An officer said that no organisation ever is 100% compliant, and that it was impossible for them to be.

Councillor Onovo asked about the insufficient counter-terrorism related arrangements resulting in increased risk to public safety. An officer said that the council uses the risk register as a proactive way of managing risk, and that he wanted to highlight that it was a council-wide risk.

Councillor Paul asked about people's experiences and the people culture, and asked for a rating. An officer said that the Tell Jane anonymous pipeline has received 24 calls since it was launched, and that 6 of those have reported it there. He said that the number of calls received to date is somewhat high for an organisation of the council's size.

Councillor Onovo asked for some clarity over the level of risk, which is high from this element, and the mitigation that the council thinks is most effective. An officer said that the turnover of staff is much higher at more senior levels than at more junior levels, and that this was a concern.

Councillor Paul said that the HR director was coming in November, and that the committee could bolt on the issues raised about the impact of culture and turn the atmosphere off attention.

Councillor Paul said that he would go back to adults, have a conversation and see whether what he had read out there is the description of the risk, and that does not mean that it is happening.

The committee noted the report.

Counter Fraud Progress

The committee reviewed the counter fraud progress report. Councillor Onovo asked about some of the council's properties that are rented, also some of them the temporary accommodation, and if the council has found some of those to be subletted by tenants. She asked if the council had any vision for how long this has been going on for, and also how effective it has been in the recovery of those. An officer said that the length of time a property has been sublet can vary, and that the council recently had a civil recovery whereby it was awarded a not-for-profit order of around £68,000, which is something that it can try to actually sort of enforce to cover those funds.

Councillor Paul said that he would like to see the misuse of the council's assets and resources in the right place. He asked if housing was doing enough to strip out the fraud, and if the council was doing enough upfront for temporary accommodation.

Councillor Onovo asked if the five cases that are going to be potential criminal convictions, in the council's experience, criminal prosecutions, is that acting as a deterrent to other people. An officer said that the council does apply a public interest test to cases before it decides to go for criminal prosecution.

Councillor Paul asked how the council identifies and finds people who are subletting. An officer said that a lot of the council's cases, referrals come from members of the public, and that they come through to the council's fraud email box. He said that the council also gets referrals from other council services, including housing, and that it also does proactive work in order to try to find people that might be subletting.

Councillor Paul requested a short paper, no more than a page, of those strands, without giving away any of the council's secrets.

The committee noted the report.

Court Delivery of Savings and Psychiatry

The committee reviewed the quarterly reports on the savings delivery programme. Andrew Ward gave some top lines. Councillor Onovo said that children and young people services just seems to be quite anomalous in the data, with slippage of £900,000 and undelivered savings of £2.2 million. Andrew said that there were some large undelivered savings, one of which dates back to the 2021 financial year.

Councillor Paul said that there was a meeting that must have been budget when the corporate director of children saying she's got high-cost placements, and that was a major problem. He asked if the two parts of the organisation were sitting in the room and agreeing a plan of action. Andrew said that there is work going on to create and develop suitable accommodation for care leavers that is much cheaper than the council would otherwise.

Councillor Paul asked if the council had not considered using popular properties to house its young people. Andrew said that the popular properties need to cover their costs, and that the costs of building those properties needs to be recovered from the rental incomes.

An officer said that the council can't sort of directly use popular properties, and that they are not exactly necessarily suitable for that. He said that the council is in the process of trying to conclude business cases, and indeed some significant grants have just been announced from government as well, that would go towards building essentially a children's home.

Councillor Onovo asked where the other £100,000 was, given that the targets, savings target is 9.8 million, and 1.4 million of that is fully delivered, 7.3 million is delivered, includes ongoing substitution, and 1 million is one of delivery. Andrew said that it will just be around, and that the council tends not to try and make everything to the ground perfectly.

The committee noted the report.

Planner Here

The committee noted the planner here.

The next meeting was scheduled for 5 November at Newham Town Hall.