Agenda item

To review the Committee’s recommendations tracker.

Declarations of interest:

None.

Witnesses:

Kevin Kilburn, Deputy Chief Finance Officer

Sue Lewry-Jones, Chief Internal Auditor

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    In relation to A27/14 (Members’ Interests), the Chief Internal Auditor confirmed that the audit of Members’ Interests was ongoing and that co-opted Members were being included in testing.

2.    In relation to A32/14 (Communications Plan), the Chairman confirmed that the Plan had now been shared with members of the Committee. 

3.    In relation to A35/14 (Partnerships), the Chairman confirmed that a workshop had been set up for 27 February 2015.  At this the committee would consider the current partnership framework and agree how the committee should be involved in a relevant and proportionate way.

4.    In relation to A40/14 (major projects), the Chairman discussed a document he had seen outlining a large number of projects ongoing within the Council.  He would consider further how to develop the committee’s involvement in major projects and would share his thoughts with Members.

5.    In relation to A41/14 (Adult Social Care savings), it was confirmed that three Members from Audit & Governance Committee as well as the Chairman of Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee had attended the Adult Social Care Select Committee workshop on 27 November 2014.  Members stated that it had been useful to attend the workshop and, while progress was being made with the Family, Friends and Community initiative, they didn’t feel assured that robust arrangements were in place to make all the savings required.  Concerns were raised about the forecast overspend in the Adult Social Care budget and the lack of plans to achieve all the savings allocated to the directorate.  The Chairman agreed to write to the Leader of the Council expressing the committee’s concerns about the budget (Recommendations Tracker ref: A44/14).  He would also write to the Chairman of Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee to encourage that the issue is addressed through its performance and finance sub-group (Recommendations Tracker ref: A45/14).

6.    In relation to R4/14 (Operation Horizon), the Deputy Chief Finance Officer outlined the challenges associated with the Repair and Renewal Grant scheme.  Finance was working with Internal Audit and Trading Standards to prevent the scheme being abused.  The report by the Flooding Task Group (part of the Environment and Transport Select Committee) to Cabinet was praised and it was suggested that a review of Winter 2014/15 be held by the Flooding Task Group in Spring 2015.  The Chairman agreed to write to the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding Recovery and the Chairman of the Environment and Transport Select Committee/Flooding Task Group recommending a review (Recommendations Tracker ref: A46/14).

7.    In relation to A35/13 (data sharing), the Deputy Chief Finance Officer confirmed that all District and Boroughs were now returning data on Council Tax and Business Rates collection on a quarterly basis.  However, there was still concern about the quality of some of the data, particularly with regard to forecasting.  This was being addressed at an officer level.

8.    In relation to A24/14, Members requested information on the outcome of the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting where it considered the Agency Staffing Contract audit (Recommendations Tracker ref: A47/14).

9.    In relation to A22/14 (capital programme), the Deputy Chief Finance Officer informed the committee that it had been decided not to undertake a Rapid Improvement Event on the capital programme as the issues were not about process but about project management.  A different approach was being taken with facilitated workshops to identify a more realistic way to build in assumptions to the capital programme.  The Chairman requested that this action be retained in the tracker for now.

Actions/Further information to be provided:

      i.        Chairman to write to the Leader of the Council expressing the committee’s concerns about the Adult Social Care budget.

     ii.        Chairman to write to the Chairman of Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee to encourage that committee to address the Adult Social Care budget through its performance and finance sub-group.

    iii.        Chairman to write to the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding Recovery and the Chairman of the Environment and Transport Select Committee/Flooding Task Group recommending a review of flooding recovery activity during Winter 2014/15 in Spring 2015.

   iv.        Information to be circulated on the outcome of the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting where it considered the Agency Staffing Contract audit.

RESOLVED:

That the committee notes the report.

Committee next steps:

None.