Social Value Ideas for Dover District Council

Regaining assurance roadmap

Grant Thornton presented a regaining assurance strategy to rebuild audit confidence after five years of disclaimed opinions. The plan includes a phased return to a qualified opinion by 2027-28, comple…

“"So I have the um regaining assurance strategy to share with you. It sets out our plan to rebuild assurance at the council following the 5 years of di…”

Tech One finance controls

The committee discussed the stability and use of the Tech One finance system, particularly around budget preparation, reconciliations and financial procedure rules. Officers confirmed the system is no…

“"In terms of the other questions I think we're going to hand over to Helen. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so yeah adding to the tech one um the budgets we…”

CIS tax compliance follow-up

The committee raised concerns about the Construction Industry Scheme follow-up and potential HMRC penalties. Officers confirmed the historical declaration has been submitted to HMRC, advisers have res…

“"Um the construction industry scheme. If we look um at the table in the of the 23 that were escalated during the year that have been followed up subse…”

Bank reconciliation follow-up

Bank reconciliation follow-up to ensure up-to-date processes; follow-up to be completed by 2026-01-08 to facilitate reporting at 2026-02-12 governance meeting.

“we will be concluding the bank wreck follow-up by Friday the 8th of January to facilitate that. We will be reporting the results to you on the 12th of…”

Sandwich boatyard scheme refused

The committee refused a scheme for three dwellings and four flats at the former boatyard in Strand Street, Sandwich. Reasons included overdevelopment, harm to the conservation area and listed setting,…

“The application before you is for the erection of three dwellings and four flats with associated access and landscaping. Uh just a couple of points. U…”

Finglesham dwelling approved with tree retention

A new dwelling at The Street, Finglesham was approved as policy-compliant, with members accepting an amendment to explicitly retain existing trees/planting. The discussion highlighted concerns about t…

“So with this boundary planting and the distance, we consider appropriate um screening for that property. The proposals generally are policy compliant.…”

Deal conservation-area house approved

The committee approved a new dwelling on Clan William Road/Stanley Road in Deal within the conservation area after amendments to replace uPVC with timber windows and lower the roof height. Members acc…

“So there's been concerns um set as set out in the report relating to so materials but the windows are amended from UPVC to timber because it's within …”

Annual governance statement approved

The annual governance statement was presented for approval under the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government framework, with updated wording and a more accessible format. Members approved the s…

“"The council is required to conduct an annual review of effectiveness of its inter system of internal control and also report on the extent to which i…”

Internal audit follow-up backlog

The audit partnership reported several areas needing follow-up or continuing improvement, including performance management, grounds maintenance, fraud resilience, housing repairs and maintenance, and …

“"There is a small saving to the partners um been been delivered um net of engaging external um consultants to do some of the work for us as well. Um s…”

Local government reorganisation risk

Audit and external audit commentary identified local government reorganisation as the biggest external risk facing the council, with no government decision yet on Kent and Medway’s future structure. T…

“"In terms of local government reorganization, there's no update really. Um, we await confirmation from government as to what option they're going to t…”