Agenda item

This report is the responsibility of the Leader of the Council.

The Executive is recommended to note the report.

The draft minutes of the Joint Committee of Scrutiny and Audit, Governance and Standards held on 12^th February 2020 are included for information.

RESOLVED that the Executive noted the South West Audit Partnership’s (SWAP) Transformation Audit - Lessons Learnt Report.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts introduced the report. Councillor Rigby had been leading on this report but was unavailable this evening. This report had completed by the South West and Audit Partnership and had been taken to a Joint Committee of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee and the Scrutiny Committee where it had had a lengthy discussion. There had been nine areas identified in the report and the Leader wished to discuss how we moved forward from this point.

Discussion took place around:

·       It was broadly felt the report was damning. It exonerated any Council officers involved in this process as Officers advised and it was clear that potential risks of the project had been highlighted, and sadly the worst scenarios were realised.

·       It was stated that the previous political leadership from the last administration should be ashamed as to how this had ballooned out of control.

·       The report alluded that as so many staff left and the costs spiralled, that meant the new council came into being and had to employ more staff to fill the holes that had been left.

·       It was commented that when undertaking a transformation programme such as this risk management must be carried out, which appeared it was not. The Voluntary Redundancy Scheme for all employees was proceeded with without knowing the ultimate effect. The impact was clear and the Council still had a way to go to return. It was hoped nothing like this ever happened again.

·       It was commented that the report was very clearly laid out as to what happened, with programmes and projects not delivered as intended. The Council had lost a vast amount of knowledge at great cost.

·       Concern was raised over the lack of documentation throughout the process. By December 2018 an extra two million pounds was requested for further redundancy costs which should have been at that point a catalyst for a change in direction.

·       Officers were commended for their hard work in dealing with the results of this. It was clear this was a political decision.

·       Some Councillors had been against the merger from the beginning of the process. It was hoped this would serve as a lesson that before there were any further future attempts at mergers, collaborations or transformations in Somerset that it is looked at from a wider perspective than a political one.

·       Comment was made that in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic the proposals around a unitary council for Somerset were a distraction and should be withdrawn.

·       Some of the comments were felt to be political and it was commented that some Councillors had a misunderstanding of what Transformation was and that it had been misrepresented. The report was considered light, but it was recognised there was a need to move on and move forward. The consultation and the cross-party groups such as JPAG had been forgotten. The Council was urged not re-implement the silos that existed previously and a query was raised as to what the new Transformation programme was of the new administration. All Councillors would look to move forward and work towards making this Council one of the best in the country if possible.

·       It was commented that the report was produced by independent auditors and they should not be questioned as to their conclusions.

The Leader had dealt with the after-effects of the Transformation and the points within the report for the past ten months since taking over the administration. The mistakes catalogued must never be repeated again and this report must be learnt from. There would always be a need for the organisation to improve going forward. The Council had had to drastically improve over the last ten months as many of the projects were not completed, despite spending an obscene amount of money. The Council would still need to invest in IT and its services. It was frustrating that Councillors had asked for information at the time but it was not given. Somerset West and Taunton needed to be open, transparent and honest especially to Councillors when questions were raised. It was a credit to officers that we had a balanced budget and were still able to provide statutory services and additional funding to e.g. the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Brewhouse. Transformation was not over but the previous administration’s version of Transformation was, SWT still needed to run an efficient organisation with great IT to enable people to self-serve and would not be looking to stand still.

RESOLVED that the Executive noted the South West Audit Partnership’s (SWAP) Transformation Audit - Lessons Learnt Report.