Decision details

The Mayor and Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

The report set out the content of the ‘Best Value Notice’ issued on 30 January 2024, following the expiry of the existing Notice which had been issued for a period of 12 months in January 2023.

A Corporate Improvement Plan was put in place in response to corporate governance concerns identified in 2022, which were also formally raised by the Council’s External Auditors in a Section 24 report issued in August 2022. 

Since September 2022, the Council had both a Corporate Governance Improvement Plan and a Section 24 action plan in place to address the range of governance issues identified in both plans. In January 2023 the government issued a ‘Best Value Notice’ on a non-statutory footing, which set out the government’s concerns in relation to the Council’s governance. The notice was in place for 12 months, with clear expectations that should the Council fail to respond positively to it, intervention would be moved to a statutory footing.

The Mayor commented he welcomed the updated Best Value Notice as it was a clear sign the Government had faith in the Council’s ability to shape its own destiny. The Best Value Notice was also an endorsement of the Council’s hard work in achieving its objectives.

The Chief Executive commented the Council was heading in the right direction. However, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had made it clear that the pace of improvements needed to be maintained and that hard work to implement improvements was essential. The Council would be reviewed again in July 2024 and there was a good chance the Council would not require further intervention.

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance stated the latest Best Value Notice was the second consecutive report considered by Executive that showed the Council in a positive light on its improvement journey. There was, however, a need to concentrate on the pace of work being undertaken.

The Mayor thanked all staff for their work in this process.

AGREED that Executive note the revised ‘Best Value Notice’ that had been issued by government, following the expiration of the previous notice that was issued in January 2023.