Calderdale highways service ‘adequate’ but issues not fully resolved, councillors told

Independent member of Calderdale Council’s Audit Committee, Martin Townshend, said he was disappointed by management’s responses to a review, with an update on progress presented at its last meeting.

There were six actions and a three-month timescale agreed for these but not only was the timeline not met this was still the case after Audit Committee had followed it up, he said.

“It doesn’t look good when the dates are agreed and not delivered,” he said.

Head of Neighbourhoods Andrew Pitts said Audit was taken seriously but in this period the service was going through a period of change, an unsettled 18 month period, with combination of its Safer, Cleaner, Greener and Highways functions.

Officers could give councillors some comfort that these were moving forward though there was still some way to go, he said.

Coun Steven Leigh (Con, Ryburn) agreed with Mr Townshend that timescales may have been over optimistic to deliver the changes and did not think the mitigation was acceptable to the committee.

“I am concerned about the lack of control of spending and lack of progress against the various points made and now it should be flagged up as urgent,” he said.

Highways service lead officer Steven Lee said spending was monitored with finance colleagues on a monthly basis and there was a good understanding of what the budget is and what it buys.

The issues mainly concerned back office finance and this was not the same as the works budget, which was monitored on a regular basis, he said.

Coun Ashley Evans (Lib Dem, Warley) asked when the work could be realistically be achieved and said some realistic dates needed to be set.

Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden), Cabinet member for Resources, said it should be noted the rating was “adequate”.

“It means controls are in place but not as effective as they could be,” she said.

Coun Mike Barnes (Lab, Skircoat) said revised end dates were needed and problems should be flagged up in advance not talked about on the night.

Audit Committee Chair, Coun Sophie Whittaker (Con, Rastrick) said members had identified that further action was required and completion dates needed to be reviewed.

Main potential risks identified from the audit findings – with an overall rating of “adequate” – were excessive overtime worked, budget overspend, poor level of service delivery, performance targets or legal requirements not being met, reputational damage for the council, financial loss to the authority if a contractor fails to meet required standards and there is no contract in place, ineffective budget monitoring and value for money not being maximised.

When the follow-up audit was received it was identified that although some progress had been made to implement the recommendations, some actions were still outstanding.

Responses to an update position as at May 2022 shows progress on the majority of the recommendations, but further work required for full implementation, members heard.