Agenda item

To review the Committee’s recommendations tracker and work plan.

Witnesses:

Amelia Christopher, Committee Manager

Ade Oyerinde, Grant Thornton

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Chairman referred to Appendix 1 to the recommendations tracker, response to action A37/23 and noted the error in the table for 2022/23, third column second row which states that there are two Assistant Managers in the Adult Services Customer Relations Team; officers have clarified that there is only one.

2.    A Committee member referred to action A7/23 where the last update was provided on 9 January 2024 that the Customer Relations Team Manager and the team are working on an update and asked whether that would be received in March as part of the item; the Committee Manager confirmed that was the case.

3.    A Committee member referred to action A8/23 where the last update was provided by the Audit Manager - Counter Fraud on 2 January 2024, he sought clarity on what that means going forward and whether the Committee would receive an update and when would that further work be picked up. The Committee Manager would liaise with the Audit Manager - Counter Fraud. Another Committee member stressed that there were serious issues that had not been resolved, he had received a recent letter from a school in his division that several staff members still had payments outstanding. He hoped that concern could be taken seriously and would provide details of that complaint to the Committee Manager to follow up with officers.

4.    A Committee member referred to action A10/23 whereby the target date for completion was the next few months and asked for that to be more specific, regarding the link to be circulated to members as soon as it is set up. The Committee Manager would follow that up with officers.

5.    A Committee member referred to the action A15/23 whereby the Value for Money assessment was nearing completion and would be included in the Audit Findings Report for 2022/23 to the Committee in January. The Chairman confirmed that was included under item 7. 

6.    A Committee member referred to action A16/23 whereby the target date for completion was to be confirmed and asked for that date to be more specific. Another Committee member noted that Grant Thornton was to provide an update at January’s Committee and asked for that update. The Grant Thornton representative noted that they were still waiting for Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) to approve the proposed 2022/23 audit fee, that was done on a quarterly cycle.

7.    The Grant Thornton representative referred to the work plan noting corrections on pages 34 (June) and 36 (November) that going forward the external auditors would not be Grant Thornton. The Committee Manager would make that change.

RESOLVED:

1.    Monitored progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings (Annex A).

2.    Noted the work plan and the changes to it (Annex B).

Actions/further information to be provided:

1.    A1/24 - The Committee Manager will provide to officers the letter/details of the complaint from the school in the Committee Member’s division where serious issues had not been resolved such as several staff members with payments still outstanding.