Agenda item

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The Senior Internal Auditor explained that a request was received by Internal Audit to undertake a review of the Towns Fund management and governance arrangements, in particular the Towns Deal Board (TDB).

The Panel’s attention was drawn to the following sections of the report:

·         Appendix A – Findings, Risk and Recommendations (1 – 10).

·         Appendix B – BCKLWN compliance with Towns Fund Guidance (June 2020) regarding the set-up of a Town Deal Board.

·         Appendix C – Management Response to Appendix A.

The Senior Internal Auditor outlined other factors that must be considered alongside the report:

1.         The only guidance available at the time the Towns Deal Board was created was via the Towns Fund Prospectus dated November 2019. (The TDB had to be set up by the end of January 2020 as per government funding requirements)

2.         The Towns Fund Guidance was not published until June 2020

3.         In terms of transparency requirements within the Prospectus there were no specific measurements for these in terms of time frames (these were introduced in the Towns Fund Guidance in June 2020) Such as page 63 of the June 2020 guidance which states “All Board papers to be published on the Lead Council’s website in advance of the meeting (within 5 clear working days)”

4.         As at the last check of the minutes of TDB meetings these were now all up to date and available on the Vision King’s Lynn website

5.         Towns Fund Guidance at 5.5 states - Take into account all the guidance in this document and the prospectus, including clean growth, community engagement, mitigating against Covid-19 related challenges, etc. You should set out how each aspect is relevant to your context rather than feel you have to take everything on board as a blueprint.

Members were advised that the Agendas and Minutes of the Town Deal Board could be viewed on Vision King’s Lynn website.

The key issues and options considered were outlined as set out in the report.

The Senior Internal Auditor/Chief Executive responded to questions and comments in relation to:

·         Why West Winch and North Runcton Parish Councils had not been included in the consultation exercise and potential links into future Town Deal projects.

·         Identifying future funding opportunities that aligned with the vision and priorities set out in the Town Investment Plan.

·         Frequency/Schedule of Town Deal Board meetings.

·         Number of recommendations which had already been completed.

In response to questions from the Chair, Councillor Moriarty on external funding set out at 3.28, page 14 of the Town Funds Guidance June 2020 and how the Town Deal Board was set up, the Senior Internal Auditor advised that there was work carried out by the Auditor who had written an exception report of the information looked at and included in the Agenda.  The guidance referred to initial engagement with businesses and the private sector, the Senor Internal Audit drew attention to the report circulated with the agenda - 4.8 of Appendix B and explained that a consultant company had been appointed to assist with the setting up of the Town Deal Board and added that a list of established businesses had been invited to attend an inaugural meeting and attendees identified who were willing to assist in establishing a Town Deal Board.

Councillor Nash expressed concern and commented that as all areas of local government should be involved in order to get a range of ideas and to ensure transparency and a fully functioning exercise.  In response, the Senior Internal Auditor advised that external consultants were commissioned to undertake that aspect of setting up the Town Investment Plan and that it would be a question now for the Town Deal Board’s consideration.

In response to questions from the Chair, Councillor Moriarty to Portfolio Holders on the terms of reference which identified the Leader as the Borough Council’s representative on the Town Deal Board, the Portfolio Holder for Business, Culture and Heritage explained that the original terms of reference specifically identified the Leader but when the portfolio responsibilities had been restructured as the bulk of the work fell within the Portfolio Holders for Business, Culture and Heritage and Regeneration the decision was taken to amend the terms of reference to include those two portfolios.

Following questions from Councillor de Whalley on the Town Funds Guidance and the consideration of changing the word ‘should’ to ‘must’ in the recommendations set out at Appendix A, the Monitoring Officer explained that there was less than adequate detail within the Government guidance and there were a number of inconsistencies in other areas of the guidance and the blueprint had indicated that each Town should work out what was the best fit for their own councils and feed back to local government.  It was noted that the management response had set out the reasoning why parish councils were not included and King’s Lynn was an unparished area and therefore a balance of both private and public sector were represented on the Town Deal Board.

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor Joyce address the Panel and referred to the points made by Councillor de Whalley and commented on redrawing boundaries to reflect the old Borough of King’s Lynn and added that there was King’s Lynn Consultative Committee which comprised Borough Councillors.

In conclusion, the Senior Auditor explained that an Internal Audit Report of the Towns Fund was scheduled for quarter 4 of the 2022/2023 Internal Audit Plan which would be fed through to the Audit Committee as part of the full year progress report for 2022/2023 towards the beginning of the next financial year.

The Chair thanked the Senior Internal Auditor for the report.

RESOLVED:  The Panel considered the attached report.  Should the Panel wish to pass comments, please refer these through to Internal Audit for consideration within the Internal Audit Report of the Towns Fund that is scheduled for quarter 4 of the 2022/23 Internal Audit Plan.  This will be fed through to Audit Committee as part of the full year progress report for 2022/23 towards the beginning of the next financial year.