00:00Running a council means making decisions worth billions of pounds and public confidence depends
00:07on strong financial controls and effective oversight.
00:11Birmingham City Council has again been warned that despite progress since its financial
00:16crisis important improvements are still needed.
00:20An independent report presented to councillors concluded it could not provide reasonable
00:25assurance that fully effective governance, risk management and internal control arrangements
00:31are yet in place. Government commissioners overseeing the authorities' recovery agreed
00:36that progress had been made but said further improvements must continue. Opposition councillors
00:41described the findings as deeply concerning, arguing residents are still paying the price
00:47for weak controls, delayed systems and poor information. Questions were also raised about
00:52the troubled Oracle Information Technology project which has previously been identified as a major
00:58factor behind the council's financial problems. Birmingham's new cabinet minister for finance,
01:05Green councillor Chris Gargan, accepted the concerns raised during the debate. He said he'd been
01:12surprised and in some cases horrified by what he'd learned since taking on the role. He told councillors
01:18the authority must learn from past mistakes and said effective scrutiny alongside difficult questions would
01:25be essential if confidence in the council's governments is to be rebuilt.
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