Friday brief: Auditors warn West Northants unitary about its ‘financial stability’ and reserve levels
Plus the chief executive of Kettering General Hospital is leaving and some election news
Auditors for West Northamptonshire Council have warned the authority that it needs to strengthen its financial stability and should top up its depleted reserve levels.
The external audit for the financial year 2022/23 makes worrying reading, as the reviewers of the council’s finances have made a series of recommendations and pointed to concerns with the authorities decreasing reserve levels; the spiralling cost of children’s services; capitalisation of some expenditure and the lack of agreement with NNC about debts of the former county council.
In the report, which was finalised last month, Grant Thornton said all of these elements ‘represent a significant risk to the council’s financial stability’.
The lack of reporting to the cabinet and wider authority about the financial results of companies the council owns or is a shareholder in, such as Northamptonshire Partnerships Homes (NPH) and recruitment company OPUS was also highlighted as a concern. They noted that the performance of NPH was ‘a concern’ saying that in February last year a report to its board showed that 50 per cent of its performance targets were not being met. It said repairs had declined since June 2022 and a tenant satisfaction survey had not been carried out since later 2020.
Auditors made a series of recommendations including increasing reserves; urgently addressing the backlog in internal audit work; making agreement with North Northamptonshire Council about overhanging county council debts; improving its risk management by more reports to cabinet and setting up a shareholder committee to have oversight of its arms length companies.
Going back over the history of the new council, the auditors said the general reserves started off at £102m and were predicted to be at £88m at the end of the 2023/34 financial year and are predicted to reduce further to £77m by April next year.
An issue of the former county council was its reliance on using reserves to pay for services, which in the end led to its collapse.
However the authority’s management has pushed back on some of the auditors findings and has said it does not agree the reserves are too low. It said it ‘believes there is no action to take at this point’ but will monitor the levels closely. It also said a full review was taken by the council’s leadership team in 2022 of governance arrangements for the companies the council owns and that the companies have their own governance arrangements.
The council’s audit committee discussed the report on Wednesday and Liberal Democrat councillor Rosie Humphreys, who was there told NN Journal there did not appear to be much concern in the room about reserve levels.
This week the authority issued a press release in which cabinet member for finance Malcolm Longley said the authority had delivered its budget promises.
He said: “We have balanced the books and delivered the budget we promised to residents, that addresses the ongoing funding pressures whilst still protecting essential frontline services. This has been due to prudent financial planning and management, a thorough review of our revenue and capital programmes to ensure we are spending the money responsibly and making efficiencies that achieve savings yet deliver better outcomes for residents.
“We know another tough financial year lies ahead of us with continued funding pressures and we are not being complacent, with work already under way to plan ahead to ensure we are in the best position possible ahead of our next budget-setting period.”
The report will be discussed at the authority’s cabinet on Tuesday.
Election news in brief
Conservative unitary councillor for Oundle, Helen Harrison, has told a Kent newspaper she is living in their county.
After losing out on her attempt to become the candidate for Wellingborough and Rushden, Harrison, who is Peter Bone’s partner, won the nomination for East Thanet.
In an interview with The Isle of Thanet News, she said she is living in the county and ‘will be buying a house locally’.
This is the second time an Oundle councillor has moved out of the area. As exclusively revealed by NN Journal back in 2021, Annabel de Cappell Brook moved to Norfolk and continued to collect her allowances. After our expose she stood down.
We have contacted Helen Harrison for comment.
Leader of the council Jason Smithers said:
“To clarify, there is no legislative requirement for elected officials to live within the boundaries they represent. Residency is only necessary for candidacy on the ballot. With modern technology and remote work capabilities, it's easier than ever to fulfil the duties of an elected position, regardless of location. Helen has always been transparent about her aspiration to become an MP. She is highly qualified and, in my view, will be an excellent MP when elected.
“I have always advocated for a more diverse and gender-balanced House of Commons, and Helen's election will contribute to this goal. I am confident that Helen will continue to serve her constituents in Oundle and the villages with the same high standards she has always demonstrated.”
All of the candidates standing in Northamptonshire constituencies at July 4’s General Election will be made public later today. We intend to send out a list to all our members, so subscribe here if you want to receive the round up.
News in brief
The chief executive of Kettering General Hospital Deborah Needham is leaving. She has been the hospital boss since 2021, first of all working under Simon Weldon and more recently, the new boss of the Northamptonshire hospitals group, Richard Mitchell, who is also in charge of Leicester’s hospitals.
In his board report on Wednesday, Richard Mitchell thanked Deborah Needham for her ‘unwavering focus on patients and colleagues’. She was quoted as saying she was proud of the change in culture she had helped bring about.
A trained nurse, she has worked in the NHS since 1991, and joined Northampton General in 2004 before becoming a director at the hospital.
Deborah Needham’s role will be replaced by a new joint chief executive of the two hospitals and last month the board appointed Laura Churchward to the role. She had formerly been director of strategy at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
She said:
“Having lived in Northamptonshire for much of my life I am really proud to lead my two local hospitals. UHN services saved the lives of both of my twins and me, so I have experienced the incredible difference UHN’s teams make to the lives of local people every single day.
“Through my experiences as a patient and in the conversations, I had in preparation to apply for this role, I know we have talented people working incredibly hard to deliver safe and efficient services to local people every day. My job will be to enable our brilliant people to keep delivering these services and make sure we have a sustainable plan to meet the needs of our local communities now and in the future.”
The panel, hearing suspended chief constable Nick Adderley’s gross misconduct case,
have ruled against his application for the chair Callum Cowx to recuse himself. The hearing will begin again on June 20 in Northampton.
West unitary cabinet member Phil Larratt has returned to duties after an internal Conservative group investigation concluded that no further action was needed.
Cllr Larratt, who is the portfolio holder for highways, was suspended last month from the ruling Tory group.
NN Journal understands the investigation concerned allegations that Cllr Larratt had made derogatory comments about some women following the decision by his long term colleague Jonathan Nunn to stand down as leader amid new domestic abuse accusations.
Leader Adam Brown told other Conservative members in an email this week that the matter had been thoroughly investigated and he had concluded that on the balance of probabilities the allegation was ‘malicious and false in nature’.
Plans to deliver new SEND and mainstream school places in Northamptonshire to address a “significant deficit” in provision are set to go ahead.
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) leader Jason Smithers published a ‘case of special urgency’ notice for the school places, some of which are due to be delivered this September, to accelerate the process. The proposals will go to the executive next week to endorse the scheme.
The notice states that there is an ‘urgent need’ to begin procurement and failure to do so could ‘jeopardise’ the council’s ability to deliver the necessary places.
The need for additional SEND units at Greenfields Primary School and Southfield School for Girls, both in Kettering, has been flagged. The council has identified a cohort of 1,062 girls who have education health care plans (EHCP) and need greater support and adjustments for learning.
The report says the proposed SEND unit at the all-girls secondary school will provide a further 16 places for pupils with, or being assessed for, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH).
Students will be able to join at the start of the next academic year in September 2024. The teaching space will include the refurbishment of existing mobile classrooms and the installation of a two-classroom modular teaching block.
The proposed SEND unit at Greenfields Primary School will address the needs of speech, language & communication. The intake of 32 pupils will be staggered over two years, with 12 due to start school in September 2025.
The expansions will be funded by the Department of Education (DfE) higher needs allocation and is estimated to cost £3.1 million.
The plans will go to the NNC executive next Thursday (June 13). They come after a damning Ofsted inspection which found many children with special educational needs were being failed.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
The inquest of Harry Dunn, the teenager killed after his motorbike was hit by an American woman driving on the wrong side of the road, will take place on Monday in Northampton. It is scheduled for three days.
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Great Job!
On the balance of probabilities the claim is probably malicious...... They haven't seen the screenshot circulating on a certain ex leaders's ex wife FB page then? 🤷