Venue: The Executive Meeting Room - Third Floor, The Guildhall, Portsmouth. View directions
Contact: James Harris on 023 9260 6065 Email: james.harris@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Richard Adair. Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson was in attendance as standing deputy for Cllr Adair. |
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Declarations of Members' Interests Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2024 RECOMMENDED that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2024 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting held on 10 July 2024 were agreed and signed as an accurate record. |
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Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places Purpose
The purpose of this report is to detail the outcomes of the review of polling districts and polling places recently undertaken and to invite members to consider the recommendations made.
Recommendations
That the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee Recommends to Full Council:
1) That no changes are made to the current polling scheme for the reasons set out in this report; and
2) That it be reconfirmed that the Returning Officer has delegated authority to make such variations to polling places as may be necessary arising from the availability of premises for use at a particular election. Additional documents:
Minutes: Ian Fitchett, Elections Manager, introduced the report which detailed the outcomes of the review of polling districts and polling places recently undertaken. He explained that whilst there were no city council elections scheduled for 2025, the regulations required a review to take place this year. There were no issues to address and no changes were proposed.
The current review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England was likely to make significant ward boundary changes for implementation from 2026 and these changes would necessitate a further review of polling districts and polling places prior to the all-out elections in 2026.
RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee Recommends to Full Council:
(i) That no changes are made to the current polling scheme for the reasons set out in this report; and
(ii) That it be reconfirmed that the Returning Officer has delegated authority to make such variations to polling places as may be necessary arising from the availability of premises for use at a particular election. |
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Complaints Policy Review Purpose
The purpose of this report is to provide the Governance and Audit and Standards Committee with the background and rationale for the updated Complaints Policy and process, and to seek approval for the new policy.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the new Complaints Policy is approved for implementation from 1 November 2024. Additional documents:
Minutes: Charlotte Smith, Assistant Director of Corporate Services, introduced the report which provided the committee with the background and rationale for the updated Complaints Policy and to seek approval for the new policy.
She explained that the policy was regularly reviewed, although this latest review had been placed on hold pending the outcome of a consultation exercise by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and the Housing Ombudsman (HO). This had been around the potential creation of a combined statutory code for complaints and the review had been placed on hold to allow any new requirements from the LGSCO and the HO to be incorporated into the reviewed policy.
In respect of stage 1 complaints, the new code changed the focus to allow councils to respond more flexibly to complaints with the intention of enabling councils to respond in ways that were more proportionate to the nature of the complaint.
In respect of stage 2 complaints, the new code made it clear that all complaints should be escalated to stage 2 of the complaints process if all or part of the stage 1 complaint had not been resolved to the individual's satisfaction. It also stated that while councils should make reasonable efforts to understand why the individual remained unhappy, individuals should not be required to explain their reasons for asking for their complaint to be escalated.
The change in emphasis between stage 1 and stage 2 complaints, and the presumption of automatic escalation to a more detailed response at stage 2 if that was requested by the customer, was very likely to lead to an increase in the number of stage 2 complaints.
In response to a question around complaints received via social media, the Assistant Director for Corporate Services confirmed that the council was required to accept complaints received via all mediums, however this did not include general comments of dissatisfaction made on social media posts.
RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee APPROVED the revised new Complaints Policy. |
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Minutes: Christine Thomas, Corporate Customer Service Manager, introduced the report which detailed the Annual Review of Complaints by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) dated 17 July 2024, regarding complaints it had considered against Portsmouth City Council for the year 2023/24, and provided an overall review of complaints.
She advised that there had been an increase in stage 1 complaints of 17% and an increase of 3.4% in respect of stage 2 complaints. The proportion of complaints reaching stage 2 had been low, which showed that 80% of complainants had been satisfied at stage 1.
The committee discussed complaints associated with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), which it acknowledged was an area of significant concern nationally. In respect of these, the committee understood that some issues existed around parents not receiving responses to requests about where their child was on the waiting list for assessment and the way subsequent requests about this, particularly to academy schools, had been handled.
In reply, the committee was advised that the council did not deal with complaints associated with academy schools, but a breakdown of the complaints data to show which Children, Families and Education complaints related to EHCPs would be sought and the relevant officers would be asked to provide more detail on the recovery plan to address any issues.
The committee believed that this matter needed to be monitored closely.
The committee thanked the Corporate Customer Service Manager and the Assistant Director for Corporate Services for the report and was encouraged to note the increase in the number of compliments received.
RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee noted the report. |
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Data Security Breaches Report Purpose
The purpose of this report is to inform the committee of any data security breaches and enable them to determine whether any trends appear and whether any further actions should be recommended.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee notes the breaches that have arisen. Additional documents: Minutes: Helen Magri, Corporate Information Governance & Data Protection Officer, introduced the report which informed the committee of data security breaches since February 2024.
She explained that there had been an increase in the number of breaches reported, but this but this may have been as a result of a communication sent to all staff reminding them of the importance of reporting data breaches in a timely way. However, this and other trends detailed within the report were consistent with national and previous Portsmouth City Council trends.
Although the number of reported breaches had increased, none of the incidents had reached the threshold for reporting to the Information Commissioner's Office.
In response to a question as to why 12 breaches had not been reported within 72 hours, the Corporate Information Governance & Data Protection Officer explained that this was because it was sometimes not immediately apparent that a breach had occurred. The communication that had been sent to all staff had reiterated the importance of reporting suspected breaches as soon as it was thought that one may have occurred and it was confirmed that every breach was reviewed to identify the root cause and any trends.
In response to a comment from the committee that the vast majority of breaches had involved emails it was confirmed that this was a national, if not global, trend.
In reply it was explained that technology existed to try to prevent emails being sent to the wrong external recipient, such as the prompt which alerted the sender that the recipient's email was outside of the council. This, along with the prompt to select the appropriate sensitivity for the email, served to make the sender think and assess the email and recipient before the email was sent.
The committee thanked the Corporate Information Governance & Data Protection Officer for the report, but believed that many councillors did not understand which sensitivity level to choose when sending emails and believed that clear guidance on this for councillors would be beneficial.
RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee noted the report and the breaches that had arisen. |
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Internal Audit Performance Status Report to 16th September 2024
Additional documents: Minutes: Paul Somerset, Deputy Chief Internal Auditor, introduced the report which updated on the internal audit performance for 2024-25 to 16 September 2024 against the Annual Audit Plan.
He drew the committee's attention to section 4 of the report which contained changes to the audit plan and section 5 which detailed areas of concern, of which there were none. He did however advise that a rating of limited assurance continued to be applied to hire cars.
In response questions the committee was advised that:
· Internal Audit currently generated around £500k per annum of income for the council, although any additional work for income generation would require additional resource as the team was currently working to capacity.
· Internal Audit were only involved with grant funding where there was a need for such funding to be signed off. It was however a good suggestion to build in a contingency in respect of grant funding.
· In respect of the one remaining high exception relating to damp and mould it was explained that this related more to a lack of evidence around highlighting cases where tenant welfare could be a concern rather than damp and mould problems persisting. There had previously been some gaps in processes, but there was now more assurance that the correct processes were in place.
RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee NOTED the Audit Performance for 2024-25 to 16th September 2024. |
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Treasury Management Monitoring Report for the First Quarter of 2024/25 Purpose
The purpose of the report is to inform members and the wider community of the Council’s Treasury Management position, i.e., its borrowing and cash investments at 30 June 2024 and of the risks attached to that position.
Whilst the Council has a portfolio of investment properties and some equity shares which were acquired through the capital programme; these do not in themselves form part of the treasury management function.
Recommendations
(i) That the Council's Treasury Management activities have remained within the Treasury Management Policy 2024/25 in the period up to 30 June 2024; and
(ii) the actual Treasury Management indicators as at 30 June 2024 set out in Appendix A be NOTED Minutes: Helen Klemm, Finance Manager, introduced the report which updated on the council's treasury management activities as at 30 June 2024.
In response to a question from the committee it was explained that interest rates would continue to be monitored to ensure best value to the council.
The committee was pleased to see how much profit the council had made on lending, coupled to how little interest had been paid on borrowing.
RESOLVED that the committee NOTED the actual prudential and treasury management indicators based on the unaudited accounts as shown in Appendix B. |
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Procurement Act 2023 and Contract Procedure Rules Purpose
The purpose of the report is to provide the Committee with an overview of the significant upcoming changes to public sector procurement that will arise when the Procurement Act comes into force on 24th February 2025, along with a summary of the direct impacts this will have on the council.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee:
(i) Gives approval to the City Solicitor, with support from the Council's Procurement Service, to draft the revisions required to bring the Council's CPRs into compliance with the new legal requirements set out within the Procurement Act;
(ii) That subject to no further delays to the introduction of the act being announced by central government - the revised CPRs are scheduled for review and endorsement at the 5th February 2025 Committee meeting;
(iii) That, subject to no further government delays to commencement of the act and endorsement by the Committee, the revised CPRs are scheduled for approval at the 18th March 2025 Full Council meeting; and
(iv)That subject to no further government delays to commencement of the act and approval at Full Council that the revised rules are formally adopted into the constitution from 1st April 2025. Additional documents:
Minutes: Richard Lock, Assistant Director (Procurement) introduced the report which provided the committee with an overview of the significant upcoming changes to public sector procurement that will arise when the Procurement Act comes into force on 24February 2025, along with a summary of the direct impacts this would have on the council.
In response to questions, the committee was advised that:
· Any recommendations from the current Government inquiry into Government procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic would not necessarily be contained within the Procurement Act. However, there were a number of new mechanisms within the act for contracting authorities to exclude certain contractors. The Government was establishing a Procurement Review Unit which would have the power for the Government to bar suppliers who had been guilty of corporate manslaughter from bidding for public contracts. It would also introduce a mechanism across the public sector to introduce discretionary barring for contractors who had performed poorly.
· In respect of the ability to open up public sector procurement to smaller local businesses post Brexit, the country remained signed up to World Trade Organisation and other treaties whereby the council could not positively discriminate in favour of local businesses. However, these thresholds were high. In preparation for the new act, PCC's own contract procedure rules had been updated to remove locally imposed advertising thresholds, which allowed the council to give greater opportunity to local businesses. There would also be changes to the Local Government Act to remove any barriers to barring certain contractors.
· In respect of an incident of information not being transferred in a timely manner upon the termination of a contract, it was explained that contracts had a 'demobilising' clause which detailed the expectations upon the contractor. However this could be difficult to leverage, although payments could be withheld until the contractor had met their obligations.
The topic of a greater focus on social, economic and environmental value within contracts was discussed. The committee was advised that any contracts over £100K in value went through a procurement gateway and one element of this was for the contractor to detail how their company and contract submission aligned with the council's corporate policies.
In respect of some existing contracts which had been procured when the focus had centred primarily around economic criteria it was explained that it could be difficult and expensive to vary mid contract. However, going forwards the council was using criteria to award to the most advantageous contractor, which could include a greater focus on social and environmental considerations.
In respect of a high value contracts, the council had also awarded more 'open book' contracts for large high value contracts such as major infrastructure, engineering and highways works over £5m. These needed to be managed carefully, however PCC was quite experienced in this area.
Following a vote it was RESOLVED that the Governance & Audit & Standards Committee:
(i) Gives approval to the City Solicitor, with support from the Council's Procurement Service, to draft the revisions required to bring the Council's CPRs into compliance with the new legal requirements set out within the Procurement Act;
(ii) That subject to no further delays to the introduction of the act being announced by central government - the revised CPRs are scheduled for review and endorsement at the 5th February 2025 Committee meeting;
(iii) That, subject to no further government delays to commencement of the act and endorsement by the Committee, the revised CPRs are scheduled for approval at the 18th March 2025 Full Council meeting; and
(iv)That subject to no further government delays to commencement of the act and approval at Full Council that the revised rules are formally adopted into the constitution from 1st April 2025. |