Agenda and minutes

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(Members of the public wishing to address the Cabinet must register by 12noon on the day of the meeting by contacting Frazer McGown 01604 837101 or by e-mail to fmcgown@northampton.gov.uk)

RESOLVED: That Councillor Palethorpe be granted leave to address the Cabinet in respect of Item 5, Corporate Plan and Item 6, Best Value Performance Plan.

There were none.

Report of Corporate Manager Governance and Communications (copy herewith)

At this juncture Item 7 was brought forward to be considered as the first item.

7 ANNUAL AUDIT MANAGEMENT LETTER 

Councillor Woods submitted the report advising that the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter and Audit and Inspection Plan, both of which were appended to the report, were before Cabinet for noting and commenting on as appropriate.

 The Audit and Inspection Letter was the statutory Annual Report of the Council’s external auditors that summarised the conclusions and significant issues arising from recent audit and inspections of Northampton Borough Council and provided useful information about the governance arrangements of the Council, including financial aspects of governance and its overall performance.

 The Audit and Inspection Plan which had been developed by KPMG, the Council’s appointed auditor, and set out the audit and inspection work that the Audit Commission proposed to undertake for the 2007/08 financial year and was based on the Audit Commission’s risk based approach to audit planning and the requirements of comprehensive performance assessment.

  Mary Perry, from the Audit Commission, together with a colleague from KPMG then presented the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter and the Audit & Inspection Plan in turn.  She reiterated that both the letter and the plan had been produced jointly with KPMG.  She stated that the letter summarised the work done mainly in 2006 and comprised work that had been completed since the last letter and was mainly performance related.  The letter summarised the action needed by the Council; how the Council was performing, including improvement since last year in the Direction of Travel Report; service inspections; and financial management and value for money.  She drew particular attention to page 5 of the report, which summarised the action needed by the Council and to page 4, which provided an overall summary of opinions given through the year and to instances where the Council had achieved an overall score of one, which required actions to be put in place to improve this.  It was noted that the Council were aware of the issue and were looking to put into place actions to improve on this.

  Councillor Woods commented that the content of the letter was something that the new Administration would have to take on board and that the top priority for the new Administration was to drive forward improvement as soon as possible.  Improvements that the Council would wish to achieve in the short, medium and long term were recognised and the problems would be addressed.

  The Director of Finance commented that she would now wish to give the Audit Commission evidence of the improvements made by the Borough Council, as she believed that the Commission had not received substantial evidence on previous inspections.  In conclusion the Cabinet accepted the letter and its contents and would make every effort to make the improvements needed.

  With regard to the Audit and Inspection Plan it was noted that this document reflected the audit and inspection work specified by the Audit Commission for 2007/08, the current national risks relevant to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of Corporate Manager, Performance, IT and Improvement (copy herewith)

Councillor B Hoare, as the relevant Portfolio Holder, submitted the draft Best Value Performance Plan for 2007/08 for approval.  It was noted that production and publication of the Annual Best Value Performance Plan by the 30 June was a statutory requirement for all local authorities and that this year the BVPP formed an appendix to the Council’s Corporate Plan, providing a single strategic plan for the Council.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet recommend for approval by Council the draft Best Value Performance Plan for 2007/08 subject to any detailed amendments that may be agreed by the Interim Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader prior to the Council meeting.

Report of Director of Finance (copy to herewith))

THE CHAIR TO MOVE:

“THAT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS BE EXCLUDED FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE MEETING ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSURE TO THEM OF SUCH CATEGORIES OF EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED BY SECTION 100(1) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS LISTED AGAINST SUCH ITEMS OF BUSINESS BY REFERENCE TO THE APPROPRIATE PARAGRAPH OF SCHEDULE 12A TO SUCH ACT.”

The Chair moved that the public and Press be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that there was likely to be disclosure to them of such categories of exempt information as defined by Section 100(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 as listed against such items of business by reference to the appropriate paragraph of Schedule 12A to such Act.

The Motion was Carried.

Report of Director of Customers and Service Delivery (copy herewith)

Councillor Crake, as the relevant Portfolio Holder submitted a report in respect of a high level review of the DSO. In presenting the report, Councillor Crake amended the first recommendation contained in the report to insert the words “and to let a commercial contract”.

RESOLVED: That the report be received and the recommendations contained therein be approved  with Recommendation 1 being duly amended. 

                          The meeting concluded at 6.50pm