The Audit & Scrutiny Committee of Tandridge Council were scheduled to meet on 30 September 2025. The agenda included updates on complaints, freedom of information requests, key performance indicators, and risk registers. Councillors were also expected to review the council's draft annual governance statement for 2024/25.

Quarter 1 2025/2026 Key Performance Indicators and Risk Registers

The committee was scheduled to review the policy committees' performance exceptions for Quarter 1 2025-2026, as well as the policy committees and corporate risks, as detailed in the Quarter 1 2025/25 Key Performance Indicators Exceptions and Risk Registers - Audit Scrutiny Commit report. The report noted that performance information has been included on the basis that indicator targets have not been met.

The report stated that within Community Services, Environmental Health service requests actioned within 5 working days was off target at 89.1%, against a target of 97%. The percentage of Environmental Permitting Regulation inspections due was off target at 85.7%, against a target of 100%, and the performance indicator for street cleaning was off target at 92%, against a target of 95%.

Within Planning Policy all targets for nationally set planning indicators were reportedly met.

A review of Housing Key Performance Indicators was scheduled to take place, with a revised set of indicators to be reported to the November Housing Committee.

Within Strategy and Resources all targets were reportedly met.

The Benchmarking Data September 2025 appendix provided a range of benchmarking data from 2023-2025 and 2024-2025, taken from the Local Government Association's LGInform¹. The Policy Committee Risk Registers appendix and the Corporate Risk Register appendix detailed the actions taken and being taken to mitigate against risk. There was one red risk on the Strategy and Resources Committee risk register, SR18: Ensuring audit fees are minimised through legal advice and discussions with Public Sector Audit Appointments, and one red risk on the Housing Committee risk register, H5: Ensure compliance with the Consumer Standards as set by the Regulator of Social Housing. Both of these have been escalated to the Corporate Risk Register.

Complaints and Freedom of Information Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the council's approach to managing complaints and Freedom of Information requests, as detailed in the Complaints and Freedom of Information update September 2025 report. The report included details about what has changed as a result of a complaint, details about any compensation paid, as well as Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and Housing Ombudsman (HO) cases. The report also included information about the LGSCO annual letter.

The report stated that in the last quarter Q1 (1 April to 30 June 2025) there were 22 new complaints and 6 Stage 2 complaints. The largest number of complaints were reportedly for housing and community surveyors.

One complaint was submitted to the LGSCO and three to the Housing Ombudsman. Investigations are reportedly ongoing into two complaints received by the Housing Ombudsman, and no fault was found with the third complaint.

In 2024-2025 the LGSCO reportedly received 13 complaints about the Council. Of these, 5 were not for the Ombudsman or not ready to be investigated, 7 were assessed and closed and 1 was investigated.

In this quarter there was reportedly one compensation payment for £50 in relation to a council tax complaint. There were reportedly no housing related compensation payments.

In the last quarter 13% of FOI responses did not meet the 20 day target and 67% of SARs did not meet the one month target. There were nine SAR requests. In the last quarter (1 April -30 June) the council reportedly received 171 FOIs.

Review of the Council's Draft Annual Governance Statement 2024/25

The committee was scheduled to review the council's draft annual governance statement for 2024/25. The annual governance statement is a document that provides an overview of the council's governance arrangements, including its systems of internal control².