North unitary scrutiny commission uncovers data issues hampering authority

Data has been transferred over incorrectly in the creation process of the new council leading to uncertainty on staffing levels and budgets

By Sarah Ward

The council’s headquarters

Incorrect data transfers in the set up of the new unitary council for North Northamptonshire are hampering the way the new council is operating, it has been revealed.

Issues of how the Future Northants programme aligned departments during the amalgamation of the county’s eight former councils into two new unitaries has caused problems with the North authority unsure of how many staff it has within each directorate, leading to an impact on budget assessments.

The authority is also unable to accurately say how many vacancies it currently has, an issue which has been causing concern among both the Conservative ruling party and opposition groups.

Coming under examination at North Northamptonshire Council’s scrutiny commission meeting on Wednesday, assistant director of growth and regeneration Rob Harbour said ahead of the new unitaries being created there had been mistakes made in the way information had been transferred over to the ERP Gold system, th…