Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Mary Baldwin, Paul Grady and Steve Kennell.

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

There were no declarations of interest.

of the meeting held on 30 January 2013

The Minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2013 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Matters arising

Page 8 – Review of Purchasing Cards – an update would be brought to the next meeting as part of Ian Dyson’s progress report – Action: ID

Page 10 – Report of the Local Government Ombudsman (re: SEN) – the Service Director would be covering this under agenda item 4.

Page 11 – Response from Senior Officers in regard to the e-portal – the Chairman had written to the three Service Directors, one of whom had not replied. This would be followed up.

Chris Munday, Service Director, Learning, Skills and Prevention

Chris Munday, Service Director for Learning, Skills and Prevention, was welcomed to the meeting.

Chris Munday updated members as follows.

Beaconsfield High School (BHS)

Once the sale of the land had gone through (over the next few months) BHS would pay back the Council in full the £1.6m it owed.

Home to School Transport

This had been managed through a consultation in the previous year and the new policy was being implemented.

11+ Exam

There would be an opt-out test with the same scoring system. There had been a debate at the Overview and Scrutiny Commissioning Committee about this and members had asked why they had not been better informed of the changes. There were no maintained grammar schools left in Buckinghamshire (unlike in Kent). The Council had been working closely with schools to ensure there was a single test and score, and had continued to maintain relationships with academies. Further reports will be made on developments.

Free Schools

Two free schools were likely to be in place in Buckinghamshire from September 2013.

One of these was the St Thomas Fremantle School in Winslow which would be located in the Adult Learning building under a two-year lease.

The other school was the Khalsa Secondary School in Stoke Poges, which would meet the needs of pupils in Slough and other areas. The Secretary of State had written to Slough Council about using Council land for the School.

The Council remained concerned about a secondary school with two forms of entry, and the Council advised there should be four or five forms, for curriculum. However the Council was not opposed to the concept of Free Schools and would work with them as much as possible.

Academies

There had been an Overview and Scrutiny Review ‘Learning New Ways: Academies and the local authority in Buckinghamshire,’ and the Council was working on completing the actions in the action plan.

A member asked if academies and free schools were free to ignore advice from the Council. Anne Davies said that they were. The member said that they did not think that the public were aware of this.

Chris Munday said that academies and free schools had to work within the Department for Education’s rules, rather than the Council’s rules. However this was not significantly different to County Council maintained schools in which the Governing Body had been in charge of running the school. Academies and free schools did not have to use the National Curriculum or follow National Teachers’ Pay and Conditions.

Members of the public approached the Council when they had an issue regarding an Academy, when in fact they should be approaching the Academy directly, and then the Secretary of State. Letters from MPs which were received by the Council were referred back to the school involved.

Ian Dyson said that this was an issue for local members to understand. Chris Munday noted that the Council had responsibility for the co-ordinated admissions arrangements. The Schools Adjudicator had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Trish Robertson, Acting Service Manager, Adults and Family Wellbeing - Service Provision (Complex Teams, Hospital Teams & Adult Safeguarding)

Harvey Burroughs, Business Manager, Safeguarding Team (Adults), Adults and Family Wellbeing - Service Provision

Trish Robertson, Acting Service Manager, Service Provision, Adults and Family Wellbeing, and Harvey Burroughs, Business Manager, were welcomed to the meeting.

An Internal Audit Review of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SVA) auditing arrangements had recently been completed. The Review had found that there was limited assurance that relevant risks were effectively identified, managed and controlled. The audit had been undertaken at the request of the Service Director for Service Provision, to support the changes being made within the Directorate. Members had asked for this matter to come to the Regulatory and Audit Committee.

The paper set out an Action Plan based on the Internal Audit Review recommendations.

The main findings were to restart the audits which had been suspended.

There were also recommendations to:

·         Have a forward plan of audits

·         Review assurance levels

·         Establish a clear process for management, review and sign off

·         Ensure reporting to a relevant management level

·         Develop a model of trend analysis (this was an ongoing issue which was being worked on)

A member asked who was carrying out the auditing. Trish Robertson said that in the past this had been carried out by a Quality Assurance Officer. The new model would involve managers and there would also be peer audits. Harvey Burroughs said that about 15 people carried out the audits and that they were all internal.

A member said that the auditing in this area had been historically weak, and asked if the new arrangements would address this. Trish Robertson said that they should do, and that they had broadened out who would take the audits. They were also looking at the audit tools being used ad updating these. There was a focus on immediate protection and on any learning.

A member asked if outsourced care was audited in the same way. Harvey Burroughs said that this was a broader issue, for contract management monitoring.

A member asked if an outsourced team would make the same alerts regarding safeguarding. Trish Robertson said that they should do and that there was widespread understanding and a commitment to follow the safeguarding policies and procedures. The Council was also working with the Care Quality Commission on this.

Ian Dyson said that the risks were managed in external contracts via contract management arrangements. The contract management framework had come to the Regulatory and Audit Committee previously that year. Improvements in contract management were being put in place.

Trish Robertson said that they were able to suspend new placements and packages from outside firms if necessary. There was also a Care Home Team who worked with providers positively to improve standards.

A member said that they had private experience of missed calls from providers. Trish Robertson said that if there was a pattern, this would be a safeguarding issue.

A member asked about the 15 people carrying out audits. Trish Robertson said that there were a number of people doing audits across the teams. They all did the same job but with different client groups. There were three people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Anne Davies, Service Director, Legal and Democratic Services / Monitoring Officer

See separate pack for full document, showing changes

The Committee received the report of the Monitoring Officer.

Anne Davies, Monitoring Officer, and Ben Cahill, Overview and Scrutiny Team Leader, were welcomed to the meeting.

Anne Davies told members that the Constitution was updated at the end of every term of office. This review had been larger than previous reviews.

Overview and Scrutiny

The proposal would change the two committee model (Overview and Scrutiny Commissioning Committee and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee) to four select committees with remits to be agreed following the 2 May 2013 County Council elections (the health scrutiny committee function would continue and could look at health, social care, public health and GP responsibilities). The recommendations from the Francis Report had also been taken into account, that there should be robust challenges from Health Overview and Scrutiny. General terms of reference for the select committees would be included in the Constitution.

A member said that the proposal would allow the Leader to choose which areas were scrutinised, and that he could also decide not to scrutinise a certain area. Anne Davies said that the Scrutiny function was required by law, and that intervention in the way described would be an issue for the Monitoring Officer.

After some discussion, members agreed that Article 6 (and the corresponding reference in Part 1 of the Constitution) should be amended to state that the Chairman of the Council, rather than the Leader, would report annually to Council on the number of select committees.

Ben Cahill noted that many overview and scrutiny committees reported to Cabinet, but that some authorities had a system in which Overview and Scrutiny Committees reported to Council, so as to be more independent.

A member asked about political proportionality on the select committees. Anne Davies said that the select committees would be subject to political proportionality.

Appeals and Complaints Committee

Anne Davies said that due to the reduction in the number of members from 57 to 49, there were capacity issues regarding the number of committees. The proposal was to remove the Appeals and Complaints Committee. Officer complaints and complaints relating to the Code of Conduct would now go to SABPAC. School transport appeals would go to the Rights of Way Committee.

A member referred to Article 5 and said that this should include the right of the Chairman of the Council to call a Ceremonial Council. Anne Davies said that this was included in the Council standing orders.

A member referred to members’ access to information and said that pink confidential papers should be made available to all members of the Council. Anne Davies suggested that the wording in the Constitution be amended to say that papers would ‘normally be made available to all members of the Council.’ Members agreed this change.

The member noted that ‘normally’ would have to be defined.

Deputy Cabinet Members

Anne Davies said that the proposal was to appoint Deputy Cabinet Members who would be able to deputise for the Cabinet Member and who could take decisions jointly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Ian Dyson, Chief Internal Auditor

Ian Dyson, Chief Internal Auditor, referred members to his report.

The Internal Audit Strategy outlined how the resources of Audit and Risk Management Service would be applied, and the methodology that would be adopted to ensure that Internal Audit activity was effective and enabled the Chief Internal Auditor to provide an annual opinion on the Council’s Systems of Internal Control.

The Chief Internal Auditor drew members’ attention to the following points:

·         Details of staffing for the Internal Audit Team (page 21), including management of the conflict of interest for the Chief Internal Auditor.

·         Quarterly internal audit assurance plans would be produced, in consultation with the Risk and Insurance Manager and with consideration of the risk registers. This would be agreed with the Directors and their Leadership Teams during quarterly meetings. The Quarterly plans would then be presented to the Regulatory and Audit Committee for consideration, comment and challenge.

·         Counter-fraud would continue to be a significant part of the planned audit activity. The Senior Auditor leading on counter-fraud activity had recently completed training on using data interrogation software (Idea) which would be put into practice by undertaking a series of proactive reviews of fraud risks.

·         Draft performance Indicators had been listed on page 27.

·         The report highlighted the priority to carry out assurance-mapping, with a focus on critical services in Buckinghamshire. This would be carried out in conjunction with Grant Thornton.

A member asked about the Principal Auditor post. Ian Dyson said that a Senior Auditor from Deloittes had been seconded for six months, and that the post would be re-advertised.

A member asked about the cost of the secondment. Ian Dyson said that using Deloittes was more expensive than using internal resources but that they were able to manage the secondee directly.

A member asked where the post was being advertised.  Ian Dyson said that they were targeting professional websites. The post would be held by Oxfordshire County Council, and a competitive salary was being offered.  Oxfordshire County Council would then charge Buckinghamshire County Council for the number of chargeable days used. The Deloittes contract was also managed by Oxfordshire County Council.

Maggie Gibb, Risk and Insurance Manager

Maggie Gibb, Risk and Insurance Manager, referred members to her report.

A member asked if the risk register for the Energy from Waste project was updated. Maggie Gibb said that it was regularly under review and regularly updated.

The Chairman said that he had received letters from Dr Evershed, and that these had been thoroughly discussed at the Risk Management Group. The Chairman asked members to raise any further issues which might be necessary.  A response would be drafted and circulated to members. A member thanked Dr Evershed for his interest and for raising the issues.

Ian Dyson referred to the issues regarding the current financial performance of FCC. The overall risk on this had always been there and the risk was regularly reviewed. The Risk Management Group had received information about the mitigation of this risk. The necessary assurances had been obtained at the Risk Management Group meeting.

Members asked that Energy from Waste financial risks be discussed again at the September meeting of the Regulatory and Audit Committee.

Further dates for the Risk Management Group would be set.

Members noted the Forward Plan, and asked that changes discussed earlier in the meeting be incorporated.

21 May 2013, 9:30am, Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury

11 June 2013, 9:30am, Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury

AOB

Members thanked Zahir Mohammed for his work as Chairman of the Committee.

Timothy Butcher thanked Robert Woollard for his work on the Committee, as he was not standing in the upcoming election. The Chairman also thanked Robert Woollard, and said that his input had been valuable.

The Chairman also thanked the officers who supported the Committee.

Robert Woollard thanked Zahir Mohammed for his chairmanship and said that he had enjoyed working with him.