The Audit and Standards Committee of Staffordshire Council met on Tuesday, 9 December 2025, to review the Health and Safety and Wellbeing Annual Performance Report for 2024-25, discuss the Internal Audit Plan for 2025-26, and consider proposed additions to the council's scheme of delegation. Key decisions included the approval of the Annual Governance Statement for 2024/2025 and the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts.

Health and Safety and Wellbeing Annual Performance Report 2024-25

Becky Lee, Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Health and Safety and Wellbeing Annual Performance Report for 2024-25. The report highlighted several successes, including the provision of extensive support to household waste recycling centres and children's residential services, and the launch of a new healthcare cash plan through the Vivout platform, offering employees access to 24/7 GP consultations and private prescription delivery. The council also revised its asbestos management guidance, drawing on learning from the Health and Safety Executive's inspections in schools. A new digital risk assessment module was launched, and a working group was established to manage occupational road risks.

The Vivout platform remains popular, with 3,461 employees registered and 1,173 actively using it within a three-month period. Financial well-being products were also well-received, with 1,720 employees accessing the Money Insights platform and 62 taking out salary-repayable loans. The salary advance scheme was the most popular product, with 2,569 advances taken.

The report detailed a pilot scheme called Safe and Well within health and care, which aimed to reduce short-term absence through early referrals. This pilot resulted in a 16% reduction in overall absence and a 46% reduction in psychological absence within the health and care directorate, leading to a saving of £181,000. This pilot has since been extended across the organisation.

Despite these successes, overall absence within the workforce increased to 11.83 days per employee by March 2025. Psychological absence and musculoskeletal conditions remained the highest categories of absence, with a slight increase in both. However, the council's occupational health service received 1,668 referrals, an increase from previous years, and the Think Well counselling service saw 489 employees access support.

The report also noted an increase in accidents and violent incidents, particularly within children's residential services and at household waste recycling centres, attributed to challenging behaviours and public actions respectively. Reportable incidents to the Health and Safety Executive decreased slightly.

Looking ahead to 2025-26, key actions include improving digital health and safety solutions, revising terrorism guidance, embedding changes to asbestos management, and extending the Safe and Well project across all directorates.

Councillor Honfrey raised concerns about the significant increase in violence and aggression at schools, particularly at one special school setting. It was explained that the school was over capacity, making behaviour management difficult, and that additional mobile classrooms and an expansion project were underway. Councillor Clissett inquired about the impact of the Safe and Well pilot on long-term absence and the cost-effectiveness of the occupational health service. It was clarified that the occupational health service is a traded service that offsets its costs through income.

Councillor Pert commended the report's detail but suggested earlier presentation in future and more context on workforce demographics. He also questioned the drivers behind increased absence in directorates outside of health and care and the success factors in the Safe and Well pilot. The Director of Finance and Resources explained that the pilot's success was due to focused efforts on one directorate and effective manager engagement. She also highlighted the pressures on children and families teams as a contributing factor to absence.

Internal Audit Plan 2025-26 Progress Report

The committee received an update on the 2025-26 Internal Audit Plan. The report detailed progress on audits, including those related to budgetary control, procure-to-pay, and e-payments. Project support was also provided for transformational projects such as the Connect to Work scheme. Five additional audit tasks were requested, leading to the cancellation of six others to balance resources. The report noted that all auditors were in post, but two departures were anticipated in early 2026.

Performance measures indicated that 53% of the audit plan had commenced, with systems assurance work at 53% and compliance work at 51%. Proactive fraud activities included continuous controls monitoring and a corporate fraud survey. Reactive fraud activities had resulted in 17 referrals to date. The council also generated approximately £250,000 in income from external client work, providing internal audit services to South Staffordshire Council and Newcastle Underline Council.

Progress on implementing audit recommendations showed that 2,363 recommendations were being tracked, with 86% implemented and 38 overdue, none of which were high priority. Councillor Pert commended the Head of Internal Audit for the consistent reduction in outstanding issues. Councillor Pendleton inquired about the cost-effectiveness of the external work, which was confirmed to cover its costs and provide benefits. Councillor Wallens asked about resource planning for upcoming staff departures, and Councillor Wellens sought assurance on completion dates for ongoing fraud investigations.

Proposed Addition to the Scheme of Delegation: Confidentiality Agreements and Non-Disclosure Agreements

Paula Dalton, Legal Services Manager and Deputy Monitoring Officer, presented a proposal to add a delegation to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to make decisions on entering into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality agreements, following advice from the county solicitor. This delegation would apply to bands A to C for authorised signatories. The proposal aimed to formalise a process that had previously relied on generic approvals.

Councillor Pert raised concerns about safeguards, transparency, and the potential for NDAs to undermine FOI, ERR duties, member oversight, or protected disclosures. Ms. Dalton assured that all agreements would be recorded and authorised, and that the council would aim to use its own standard NDA template, with legal oversight of any third-party agreements. She confirmed that the delegation would not apply to employment contracts. Councillor Wallens questioned the volume of NDAs processed annually and whether delegation would reduce member oversight. Ms. Dalton stated that NDAs were rare and that the proposed delegation would not alter what decisions were considered key or required member approval.

Proposed Addition to the Scheme of Delegation: Appointment of Board Members of Nexus Care Latko

Kate, presenting on behalf of the legal services department, outlined a proposal to amend the scheme of delegation regarding the appointment of board members to Nexus Care Latko. This change was to align the council's constitution with an amended shareholder agreement for Nexus, which had already been approved by cabinet and the Nexus board. The proposed addition would remove ambiguity regarding the authority to approve, appoint, or remove directors to the Latko's board.

A question was raised regarding safeguards and transparency measures to ensure appointments were based on merit and avoided political patronage or conflicts of interest. It was explained that the constitutional change and shareholder agreement aimed to embed visibility in the appointment process, supported by a skills audit and checklist developed with the audit team. A further question was asked about annual performance appraisals for board members, to which it was clarified that board member appointments operate under the Companies Act, with separate duties and obligations. Nexus is obligated to provide bi-annual performance reports to Cabinet. The committee was asked to endorse the proposed measures and refer them to full council for approval.

Forward Plan for the Audit and Standards Committee

The committee reviewed the Forward Plan for upcoming meetings, with the next scheduled for 17 March 2026. The Chairperson requested that officers and KPMG identify the top three cross-cutting governance or control risks for 2024-2026, including named risk owners and milestones for assurance. This information would be incorporated into the plan. Feedback was also provided on the format of the forward plan, with suggestions for improving the utilisation of columns.

Other Business

The committee also received and noted the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2025, and the minutes of the Standards Panel held on 10 November 2025. The committee also approved the Annual Governance Statement 2024/25 and the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts, including management representation letters for the County Council and the Pension Fund. The committee also noted the ISA 260 reports for Staffordshire County Council and the Staffordshire Pension Fund, and the Auditor's Annual Report for Staffordshire County Council. Finally, the committee resolved to exclude the public from the meeting for subsequent items, which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information.