Council paid £10,000 for needle exchange risk report before councillors rejected its key finding

Kingston Council spent more than £10,000 commissioning a risk assessment for the needle exchange at Surbiton Health Centre, only for its councillors to go against one of its key recommendations.

The 69-page document, which cost about £140 per page, recommended that “Surbiton Health Centre and Lime Tree School continue unchanged for a period of six months”. But a top council director was tasked with finding alternative locations before the report, carried out by consultants RSM Tenon for £9,990 plus VAT, was presented to the council’s health overview and scrutiny panel last week.

According to RSM Tenon’s report, its scope included:

  • Completion of an on-site risk assessment to identify the risks
  • Completion of a control review to establish how effectively the risks are being managed, including by whom and when
  • Development of a risk management action plan to enhance risk mitigation, including what when and who
  • An assessment of assurances that can be relied up for assisting with keeping in check the risks and controls profile
  • Every six months the wellbeing service’s future should be assessed based on a log of incidents, the report added.

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