Fix error in chore creation returning nonetype instead of str

Background

There is an error occurring in some repos that is causing chore tickets to not be created. This is error is due to novel_recommendations being returned as a nonetype instead of a str as expected by the code.

Error: https://repo1.dso.mil/dsop/cloudbees/core/core-oc/-/jobs/38385656#L49

Acceptance Criteria

• Chore ticket gets created in this repo

Definition of Done

• Project pipeline runs successfully
• Ran pipeline in staging, chore ticket gets created
• Solution is captured as code and/or documentation and merge requests have been submitted
• Code review completed and merge request approved/merged
• All Acceptance Criteria have been completed