Committee
Report Checklist
Please submit the completed checklists with your
report. If final draft report does not include all the
information/sign offs required, your item will be delayed until the
next meeting cycle.
Stage 1
Report
checklist – responsibility of report owner
|
ITEM
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Yes / No
|
Date
|
|
Councillor
engagement / input from Chair prior to briefing
|
YES
|
13/01/2026
|
|
Commissioner
engagement (if report focused on issues of concern to Commissioners
such as Finance, Assets etc)
|
YES
|
13/01/2026
|
|
Relevant Group
Head review
|
YES
|
30/01/2026
|
|
MAT+ review
(to have been circulated at least 5 working days before
Stage 2)
|
YES
|
13/01/2026
|
|
This item is
on the Forward Plan for the relevant committee
|
YES
|
24/02/2026
|
|
|
Reviewed by
|
|
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Finance comments (circulate to Finance)
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AB
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01/02/2026
|
|
Risk comments
(circulate to Lee O’Neil)
|
LO
|
04/02/26
|
|
Legal
comments (circulate to Legal team)
|
LH
|
30/01/26
|
|
HR comments
(if applicable)
|
NA
|
NA
|
For reports with
material financial or legal implications the author should engage
with the respective teams at the outset and receive input to their
reports prior to asking for MO or s151 comments.
Do not
forward to stage 2 unless all the above have been
completed.
Stage 2
Report
checklist – responsibility of report owner
|
ITEM
|
Completed by
|
Date
|
|
Monitoring
Officer commentary – at least 5 working days before
MAT
|
L Heron
|
30/01/26
|
|
S151 Officer
commentary – at least 5 working days before MAT
|
T.Collier
|
31/01/26
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confirm final
report cleared by MAT
|
|
|
Audit
Committee
24
February 2026
|
Title
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Improvement and Recovery Plan Assurance Report
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|
Purpose of the report
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To inform and assure
|
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Report Author
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Dr Ruth Adams: Interim IRP Programme Director
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Ward(s) Affected
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All Wards
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Exempt
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No
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Exemption Reason
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N/A
|
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Corporate Priority
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Governance and Assurance
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|
Recommendations
|
Committee is asked to consider:
·
whether the arrangements for the governance of the IRP, including
the role of the Audit Committee are sufficient.
·
progress made to date on IRP actions and to note, subject to CPRC
approval, the shift to tracking outcomes.
·
the recommendation for IRP information coming to Audit Committee
and suggest any changes or amendments to topics or frequency of
meeting attendance.
|
|
Reason for Recommendation
|
The Secretary of State Best Value Directions highlighted weaknesses
in the governance, assurance, control and risk management
environment within the Council and recommended an elevation in the
scrutiny role of Audit Committee. The Audit Committee are an
integral element of the IRP governance, with responsibility to
consider progress in delivering the IRP, obtaining assurance that
appropriate governance is in place to support IRP and embedding the
improvement required.
|
1.
Executive summary of the report
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What is the situation
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Why we want to do something
|
|
•
Following the decision to place Spelthorne Council into
intervention there was a requirement for the Council to develop an
Improvement and Recovery Plan (IRP) and to implement the governance
arrangements for this plan.
•
The IRP was approved by Council in October 2025.
|
•
The Audit Committee is a significant element of the governance
arrangements of the IRP, with the remit to scrutinise progress and
risk. This paper provides an update of progress to date and sets
out a proposal for further assurance reporting for
consideration.
|
|
This is what we want to do about it
|
These are the next steps
|
|
•
Agree a forward plan to enable the Audit Committee to discharge its
governance responsibilities.
|
•
Audit Committee Members consider their role in IRP assurance and
governance; set out the information they require and the frequency
of discussion.
|
2.
Key issues
2.1 The Ministry for Housing
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) required Spelthorne
Council to produce an IRP, that elevated the governance and risk
management practices. The IRP, approved by Council in October 2025,
set out a comprehensive plan for Spelthorne Council to improve its
leadership, culture, governance, financial sustainability,
commercial strategy, debt management, housing and regeneration. The
IRP also set out arrangements for progress would be tracked and
governed.
2.2 This first report to the
Audit Committee, seeks to update Audit Committee members on IRP
progress against initial actions, to agree with Councillors the
forward plan for information required by the Audit Committee and to
outline the amendments to the plan going to CPRC (17th
February 2026).
Governance Arrangements
2.3 The IRP set out the
governance for monitoring and oversight of recovery and improvement
progress, structured around the workstreams as set out in the
improvement diagram below. The Improvement and Recovery Board
commenced meeting in November 2025, and at each meeting considers a
deep dive into one of the workstreams. This is supported by theme
specific meetings.
2.5 A Communications Plan, has
just been developed for regular councillor briefings (currently
done via email) and officer briefings. The forward plan of
participation at the Audit Committee to enable increased Committee
scrutiny is a priority and a suggested timeline of topics of
assurance, for consideration by Audit Committee members is set out
in appendix A.
Progress
setting up programme management
2.6 The IRP PMO
Office is responsible for providing the first line of programme
assurance and are via workstream trackers, identify progress, key
interdependencies and risks across the programme.
2.7 Reporting arrangements
have evolved based on feedback
from the IRB. Feedback received to date is for a greater level of
assessment of progress by outcome achieved and less tracking by
actions completed. The revised IRP (considered by the CPRC 17 Feb
2026) seeks to address the initial focus on actions / inputs and
more clearly articulates the fundamental outputs and cultural /
governance outcomes to be achieved. Alongside this it sets out an
approach to tracking outcomes to provide assurance of
progress.
Progress made in delivery
of recovery and improvement actions
2.8 Workstreams
are currently well underway in delivery of recovery focused
actions, except for LGR, which is the last workstream to be defined
following the decision on the West Surrey Authority. The plan for
this is to set up LGR as a distinct programme, separate from the
IRP but for the IRP arrangements to assure leadership and
governance arrangements and for there to be an integrated
communications strategy and plan for LGR and IRP. A summary of
progress made to date is provided in sections 2.9-2.12 below.
2.9 Finance –
Progress made to date:
·
Debt has been restructured.
·
MRP has been re-set.
·
Additional skilled resources brought into the team
·
External Auditors in their 2024-25 Audit Findings Report confirmed
good progress being made by the Finance team in improving the
robustness of the accounts
2.10 Governance – Progress
made to date:
·
Risk Management workshop on the development of a new governance
assurance approach to risk management and risk assessment.
·
New Governance Assurance Policy and Framework agreed by Corporate
Policy and Resources Committee
·
New governance assurance register approach agreed by Audit
Committee
·
New governance arrangements for Audit Committee agreed
2.11 Commercial – Progress
made to date:
·
Asset valuation work undertaken and completed.
·
Procurement for expertise to do the asset disposal planning
underway, due to commence work imminently.
2.12 Regeneration and Housing -
Progress made to date:
·
Consultant appointed and commenced work on Staines Masterplan.
·
Commenced the work to develop a social value strategy to support
Housing and Regeneration (CPRC January 2026)
·
MHCLG Audit undertaken on temporary accommodation, awaiting report
to action plan any required improvements
·
Options analysis being undertaken with respect to future of Knowle
Green Estates
Assurance of
Improvement
2.13
Internal Audit review – The IRP progress is subject to an
internal audit review early in 2026. The audit field work has
commenced, and recommendations and the management response will
come to the IRB and Audit Committee for their oversight.
2.14 The
IRB recommended a review of the IRP, early in the New Year,
to move from the plan being predominantly focused on recovery
actions to focus and place a greater emphasis on the more sustained
cultural changes required for embedding improvement. If agreed the
assurance of improvement can be further planned and scoped out.
2.15
Audit Committee assurance arrangements – a draft of
topics for the Committee to consider at future meetings is
suggested in Appendix A.
2.16 A
six monthly progress report is in development for consideration by
full Council in April.
3 Options
appraisal and proposal
3.1 The remit of the Audit
Committee extends to providing councillor oversight and assurance
of the IRP. Doing nothing is not an option if the Council wants to
meet its objectives within the IRP to strengthen Audit, Risk
Management and the Audit Committee role in providing governance,
financial and risk scrutiny.
3.2 Our options therefore
consider the extent of information required, the frequency
information is provided and frequency of formal Audit Committee
attendance. A draft option of topics is provided for Committee
Members to consider if this enables them to fulfil their
responsibilities.
4 Risk
implications
4.1 The Best Value Inspection
highlighted significant weaknesses in the risk identification
culture of the council and in the management of risk. The culture
of risk and a new approach to risk management through governance
assurance is a significant element of the governance theme /
workstream and some development and training has been undertaken,
with further work and training planned. However, considerably
more needs to be done for a strong culture of risk management to be
realised.
4.2 At the level of the
programme, the IRB require the SRO and the PMO office to provide an
assessment of risks and progress, so this narrative review has been
elevated in the reporting progress.
4.3 Resourcing pressures
relating to delivery of the IRP workstreams will need to be
monitored closely, particularly in view of the additional strain
from work associated with Local Government Reorganisation.
Where necessary, additional resourcing will need to be provided to
support delivery of these programmes. Organisational
resilience is one of the key governance assurance areas that will
be addressed through the new Governance Assurance Register, which
will be presented at future meetings of the Audit Committee.
5 Financial
implications
5.1 There are no financial
implications arising as a result of this report. Nevertheless, the
programme is important to maintain strategic direction on managing
among other things the Council’s financial standing
5.2 Any financial implications
resulting from the delivery of the improvement is subject to a
formal resourcing decision and spend will be monitored and reported
on as part of the remit of the PMO.
6 Legal
comments
6.1 There are no legal
implications directly associated with this assurance report.
6.2 The role the Audit
Committee plays in the assurance of the IRP, is part of the
requirement to improve governance, scrutiny and risk. As such, this
report assists in demonstrating compliance with the Directions from
the Secretary of State.
Corporate
implications
7 S151
Officer comments
7.1 The S151 Officer confirms
that all financial implications have been taken into account and
that there are no direction financial implications arising from
this report.
8
Monitoring Officer comments
8.1
The Monitoring Officer confirms that the relevant legal
implications have been taken into account.
9
Procurement comments
9.1
There are no procurement implications arising directly from this
report.
10
Equality and Diversity
10.1
There are no obvious equality and diversity issues as a result of
this report or the report to the Audit Committee.
11
Sustainability/Climate Change Implications
11.1
There are no Sustainability / Climate change implications
associated with these proposals.
12
Other considerations
·
None.
13
Timetable for implementation
13.1
Appendix A includes proposed topics to be considered by the Audit
Committee; a final plan will be produced following consideration by
Committee Members.
14 Contact
14.1 Ruth Adams, Interim
Programme Director, radams@Spelthorne.gov.uk
Please submit any material questions to the Committee Chair and
Officer Contact by two days in advance of the meeting.
Background papers: Improvement and
Recovery Plan
Appendices:
Appendix A: Suggested topics for Audit
Committee Forward Plan
Appendix A: Suggested topics for
inclusion on the Audit Committee Forward Plan for assurance
1. Amendment
to IRP (March 2026)
2. Progress
Reporting Arrangements (April 2026)
3. Governance
Assurance Register Review and Change Control (April 2026/ May
2026)
4. Internal
Audit Report and Management Actions (May 2026 / June 2026 –
when report is received)
