Barnet Council Annual Audit - Official - Commercial Waste and water safety is being mismanaged

External Auditors Assurance Report

If you are reading this and you are a Barnet Resident, you really should be worried. The annual Barnet Council audit papers have been issued and they could not be more worrying.

The auditors have downgraded the audit from "reasonable assurrance" last year to "Limited Assurrance" this year. That means things have got considerably worse. There are many aspect of the report that worry me, but given the limited time to respond and the excellent job John Dix (AKA Mr Reasonable) has made of dealing with many issues, I decided to concentrate on the issues which John did not cover in detail.

In Mill Hill Broadway, we've seen major issues with commercial waste this year. It now appears that Barnet Council were not properly monitoring and enforcing commercial waste in the Borough. Even more worrying, there are major issues around water safety in the Borough.

Here are a few key extracts.


1 - Commercial Waste - the report states "achieving income target - There was no evidence of a periodic reconciliation of expected balances of commercial waste bags (purchases less
deliveries) to actual stock on hand (confirmed by count), a control generally required in stock systems."

2. Commercial Waste - the report states "achieving income target - The customer access database was not consistently updated with the details of excess waste noted on the crew sheets that
were completed by collection crews during their rounds"

3. Commercial Waste - The report states "achieving income target - Formal notices had not been provided to companies requiring them to use commercial waste sacks, meaning that it is
difficult to undertake enforcement activity relating to non-compliance. We noted enforcement processes involving the issuing of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) where businesses
were unable to provide their commercial trade waste agreement. However, intended enhancements to the enforcement process, involving the review and decision making of customer cases following the FPN enforcement process had not yet been fully introduced. Vehicle tracker monitoring and vehicle inspections were not carried out in accordance with the frequency laid out in procedure documents. Performance monitoring had not identified this issue."

4. Water safety -The report states  "Performance of water safety testing did not consistently happen in line with required timescales. In one instance annual water sampling testing was over five  months overdue at the date of testing. Documentation was not consistently uploaded to Info Exchange to demonstrate that testing or remedial action had taken place."

5. Water Safety - The report states "A lack of formal training for premises coordinators around legionella testing was noted"

The reports do not go into any greater detail, but it is 100% clear that there are major problems with both of these highly important issues which have huge implications for the health and wellbeing of residents. Commercial waste can be a breeding ground for disease bearing rats and other vermin. The council has seen several cases (worryingly some in care homes) of problems with Legionella.

The Barnet Eye has submitted the following questions to the committee, which is meeting next Tuesday. If you get a chance, have a look at the meeting reports. Questions have to be submitted by 10am tomorrow. We will keep you informed of any answers.


1 - Commercial Waste - the report states "achieving income target - There was no evidence of a periodic reconciliation of expected balances of commercial waste bags (purchases less
deliveries) to actual stock on hand (confirmed by count), a control generally required in stock systems." - Why were there no effective management controls in place? Is this a one off isolated instance of mismanagement of stock , are their other instances, or does the council not actually know as this was a one off sample? What management changes have been enacted to ensure basic, industry standard controls are in place? Were controls previously in place that were ignored or was the operation simply "left to its own devices"?

2. Commercial Waste - the report states "achieving income target - The customer access database was not consistently updated with the details of excess waste noted on the crew sheets that
were completed by collection crews during their rounds - As a user of the councils commercial waste service who does not over produce waste, does this mean that I've been subsidising other businesses producing excess waste, due to the inability of the council to manage its own systems.

3. Commercial Waste - The report states "achieving income target - Formal notices had not been provided to companies requiring them to use commercial waste sacks, meaning that it is
difficult to undertake enforcement activity relating to non-compliance. We noted enforcement processes involving the issuing of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) where businesses
were unable to provide their commercial trade waste agreement. However, intended enhancements to the enforcement process, involving the review and decision making of
customer cases following the FPN enforcement process had not yet been fully introduced. Vehicle tracker monitoring and vehicle inspections were not carried out in
accordance with the frequency laid out in procedure documents. Performance monitoring had not identified this issue." - This says that the council has not been running its enforcement operations properly. As commercial waste is a cause of much nuisance for residents, when will residents be reassured that enforcement activities are being managed properly. What measures have been enacted to resolve the "performance monitoring issues"

4. Water safety -The report states  "Performance of water safety testing did not consistently happen in line with required timescales. In one instance annual water sampling testing was over five  months overdue at the date of testing. Documentation was not consistently uploaded to Info Exchange to demonstrate that testing or remedial action had taken place." Given the issues Barnet Council has previously seen with Legionella, this is highly disturbing. What measures have been implemented to ensure that safety of residents is maintained and that the previoys slipshod approach has been resolved?

5. Water Safety - The report states "A lack of formal training for premises coordinators around legionella testing was noted" - This is highly worrying. It is clear that Barnet Council has not been taking public health seriously. What assurances can the Audit committee give that this appalling situation has been resolved.