Issue - meetings

To update the Audit & Governance Committee on activity of the Statutory Responsibilities Network.

The agenda was reordered to take Item 13 next as the Chief Executive had arrived.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

David McNulty, Chief Executive

Sue Lewry-Jones, Chief Internal Auditor

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    In response to a question about attendance at the fortnightly Network meetings, The Chief Executive informed the committee that there were no substitutes allowed and people attend unless they have good reason not to.  There had been good attendance so far.  The Network had developed from an original core group of the Chief Executive, Director of Finance, Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Chief Internal Auditor.  It would be unusual for that original core group not to attend. 

2.    A Member queried how, with the governance and risk arrangements, the council had missed the issues in Children’s Services identified by Ofsted.  The Chief Executive highlighted the complexity of the services that the council has responsibility for.  There had been concerns about aspects of performance in Children’s Services and Ofsted had been invited in to assess whether those concerns were correct.  It was important to note that some risks would remain red even after proper mitigations have been put in place.

3.    A Member queried whether confidentiality can be a bar to getting good information from Children’s Services.  The Chief Executive stressed that some information held by Children’s Services was confidential eg information that could be used to disrupt the activity of predators.  Questions that Members could ask include: has the service got disruptive interventions; has the service got sufficient resources to disrupt predators; and is the service working effectively with the police?

4.    The Chief Executive explained procedures for dealing with a child who has gone missing overnight from a Residential Home.  He went on to highlight the good Ofsted reports of Children’s Homes in Surrey.

5.    Given the Network have some expectation of the results of an Ofsted inspection, the Chairman queried whether the Network was discussing any issues at present which may result in a similar situation.  The Chief Executive stressed that the two priority areas for the Network were Children’s Service and Adult Social Care because of the nature of the work they do.  However, at different times attention is drawn to different issues, eg the number of fire incidents involving older people.  An example over the past few weeks was an attempt to defraud the council using sophisticated techniques.  Nothing had been lost but the attempt had appeared very credible.  The council would learn from this and share information with partners. 

6.    The Chief Executive said that he had met with the Chairman of the committee to discuss the work of the Network and would continue to do this. 

Action/Further information to note:

None

RESOLVED:

That the committee NOTES the report and the Chairman continue to have regular meetings with the Chief Executive to go through Minutes and keep up-to-date with network activity.

Committee next steps:

None.

The Audit & Governance Committee Effectiveness Review recommended that the committee develops a protocol for working with the newly established Statutory Responsibilities Network.

It was agreed to bring this item forward as the Chief Executive had arrived to introduce the report.

Declarations of interest:

None.

Witnesses:

David McNulty, Chief Executive

Sheila Little, Director of Finance

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Chief Executive introduced the report.

2.    The Chairman asked the Chief Executive for the top three issues being considered by the Statutory Responsibilities Network.  The Chief Executive explained that the Network takes an overview of the council’s regulatory framework and also considers changing national expectations.  His personal view was that safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults was the number one priority; a sustainable financial strategy linked to all regulatory responsibilities; and employee wellbeing, as council’s services are provided by employees and so it was essential that they felt supported.

3.    The Chairman asked how issues were being addressed.  The Chairman explained that the Network met fortnightly.  Members of the network provided updates, then there would be detailed conversations around planned agenda items.  Officers could raise issues such as changes in the national or local security regime.  However, informal connections were also crucial and conversations continued informally outside of the Network meetings.

4.    Members queried how the outcomes of the meetings between the Chairman of the committee and the Chief Executive would be fed back to the committee.

5.    The Chief Internal Auditor informed the committee that she felt that the Network was very effective and included the right people.  The Chief Executive stressed that this group of people had not previously had these discussions in this combination.  The Network also allowed for a greater focus at the corporate level on the Leadership Risk Register.

6.    The Chief Executive felt that whistleblowing was important feedback and took comments from Members very seriously.  He had in the past taken up issues raised with him with the Monitoring Officer and with the Chief Internal Auditor.  Members informed the Chief Executive that it felt that it was now necessary to go higher up for action to be taken on an issue.  The Chief Executive agreed that he was being asked to take action on issues which should have been dealt with at a lower level and that this was being addressed.

Actions/Further information to be provided:

None.

RESOLVED:

      i.        That the Committee receives twice yearly reports on progress (Recommendations Tracker ref: A9/15).

     ii.        That the Audit & Governance Committee Chairman has regular meetings with the Network chairman, the Chief Executive, in order to go through minutes and keep up-to-date with network activity.

Committee next steps:

None.