Meeting documents

Tim Butcher nominated Richard Scott to be Chairman for the ensuing year, seconded by David Martin. Alan Stevens and the rest of the committee agreed.

Richard Scott appointed Tim Butcher to continue as Vice Chairman.

Apologies were received from Peter Hardy.

The Chairman confirmed that the new membership details for the committee could be found at the end of the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest for this meeting.

of the meeting held on to 15 April 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15^th April 2015 were agreed as a correct

record.

Comments were made as follows:

·         Page 3 – Richard Schmidt advised that he had been present at this meeting, but this was not recorded under the attendee list.

·         Page 4, Item 6 – Action for Ian Dyson to present a paper to the next meeting in June. Ian Dyson confirmed that this item will no longer be an item for the June meeting and instead will rollover to the September meeting.

·         Page 5, Item 8 – Action for Richard Schmidt to respond to Mr Whyte regarding the Transport for Buckinghamshire Issue – Richard Schmidt advised had not supplied an update to Mr Warren Whyte but is happy to verbally following this meeting. A verbal update was also supplied to the committee. It was advised that following the incident of TUPE transferred bodies being omitted from the pension fund, lessons have been learnt. It is difficult to say that this will never happen again, as the initial error occurred due to human error rather than an issue with the system. There are now a number of arrangements in place to support such staff transfers, as under TUPE Regulations staff have to have an equivalent scheme when transferring over and if they do not they are considered for admission onto our pension scheme. Variations will be made on a case by case basis.

·         Page 6, Item 14 – Action – the action plan from the Payments to Providers report to be reported at the 10^th June Meeting – is on the agenda for today’s meeting. 

·         Page 7, Item 15 – Action – Lee Fermandel to provide the Chairman with the results of the peer review once available – the review is expected to commence in September 2015.

Verbal update, Sarah Ashmead. (Report will be presented at the next meeting on 24^th June)

Sarah Ashmead attended the meeting to advise that a report will presented at the 24th of June meeting advising the amendments to the constitution.

·         These changes have come about following the recent changes in legislation, as well as retrospectively following the 2011 Localism Act.

·         David Martin requested that the report be circulated a week or two if possible prior to the next meeting to ensure that all members are able to read in time for the meeting.

·         Sarah Ashmead confirmed the paper would be circulated in advance.

Update to be provided by Michelle Granat.

Michelle Granat attended the meeting to provide an update to the Contract Management Application (CMA).

·         From 1^st April 2015 accountability for the CMA transferred to the Innovation and Commercialisation Team.

·         The current status has highlighted significant gaps which need action, in particular regarding compliance and managing of information.

·         The team are establishing a work programme for the SRM Lead to follow (Supplier Relationship Manager).

·         In May 2015 the technical review was completed for the CMA to determine whether CMA was fit for purpose from an organisation perspective- it was recognised that work needs to be done to improve compliance. 

·         Although there has been some negativity around the audit findings, contract managers are still actively using the CMA to record contract details. To date: :

                              I.        A total of 1650 "Live" contracts have been entered onto the CMA

                            II.        The total annual contract value of the remaining 1328 contracts is £289,908,172.

                           III.        There are 56 suppliers with an annual contract value of £750,000 or more.

                                        IV.            Platinum providers, an estimated 60% have been uploaded on the CMA.

·         Michelle confirmed that the intention today was to report back on the progress of the CMF and CMA.

·         There is a plan in place.

·         Historically the SRM Lead has been a challenge to recruit. A workshop is being held today with the Business Unit Leads to identify the needs of the SRM post. The plan is to have this embedded by October 2015.

Members Questions / Comments

Question 1

·         A member thanked Michelle for the detailed report.

·         On page 11 of the agenda pack (page 3 of the report), regarding the SRM, reference is made to there being "Member involvement in contract and supplier relationships to enable effective knowledge share, support and challenge". How do the team plan to achieve this?

·         Michelle advised that the team have not identified a way how this will be achieved at present, but this is part of the review. Michelle confirmed that the team want to ensure that members are involved but also that they are protected against any commercially sensitive details. This will be a work in progress following the review. The review will be completed by the end of this year and the team will engage with the members throughout the process.

Question 2

·         A member asked for clarification on what exactly the "Technical Review" entailed?

·         Michelle confirmed that the technical review had been undertaken by James Mansfield Sturgess, Technical Architect within the team. The review has confirmed that functionality is there within the system, however it is not at present being used to its full potential. The review has highlighted significant issues to be rectified to enable better usage of the system;

                      I.        Criticality Matrix (outlining suppliers and where they fall in terms of risk and value)

                    II.        At present some business units are overriding this matrix with suppliers being moved into incorrect areas within this matrix – which is potentially presenting an incorrect overall picture.

·         Ian Dyson advised members that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Reports to be presented by Richard Schmidt, Elspeth O’Neil and Julie Edwards.  

Members of the finance team attended to present the draft statement of accounts, including the Pension Fund.

·         Richard Schmidt passed on the apologies of Richard Ambrose for this meeting.

·         Richard Schmidt confirmed that this will have been the earliest point in the year that these reports have even been made available. They had been brought forward in line with changes in the national timetable. By the end of June 2015 Richard Ambrose will have signed off the report in preparation for the report to be sent to the Auditors.  (Following the meeting RA signed off the report 10 June 2015.) .

·         The Chairman thanked Richard and the finance team for providing the accounts to the committee at this time.

·         Richard Schmidt also confirmed that the government are intending on bringing forward the account deadline within the next 2 years, so we are now working ahead of this plan which is good practice.

A detailed discussion took place regarding the account papers presented. A further report outlining updated figures (balance sheet etc) was distributed at the meeting (these figures had not previously been available before today).

Schools Assets

·         There has been a recent change in guidance. Voluntary Controlled schools have been removed and Foundation schools have been added, which has had an implication on the accounts, as outlined on the balance sheet.

·         With regard to academy schools, those academy schools that are on council land, the land remains in our balance sheet but the buildings themselves do not.

Valuations of Property, Plant and Equipment

·         Not compliant with the 2014/15 code of practice

·         Rolling programme of asset valuations, under the Code should look at each class of asset in any given year

·         The rolling programme looks at 20% of all classes of assets each year over 5 years, which we believe gives a better reflection

·         CIPFA are about to change the 2015/16 code to reflect this practice

Outstanding Information

·         A further account information sheet relating to the third balance sheet was distributed, to include the previous year comparative table.

·         The assessment with foundation schools on the balance sheet, and voluntary controlled schools off the balance sheet was £2.6m less as at 1 April 2013 which is reflected in the reserves.

·         Changes impact on the income & expenditure statement  total.

·         Elspeth O’Neil advised the members that the finance team can circulate a fresh full set of accounts showing the adjustments if required.

·         Richard Schmidt advised that to reflect the adjustment there will be a technical restatement of the previous year, which the auditors are aware of as they have been included on the discussions throughout.

·         Paul Grady from Grant Thornton confirmed that they have been aware of this adjustment and agreed with the treatment. 

Financial results for the year

·         The Movement in Reserves statement, records a loss of £42m this year on an accounting basis.

·         A £47m credit, then reflects items charged to income & expenditure statement relating to capital items which are adjusted under statute to get to the surplus or deficit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report to be presented by Maggie Gibb.

Maggie Gibb attended to discuss the Draft Risk and Assurance Strategy

(the full report had been included in the papers circulated prior to the

meeting).

·         The draft strategy supports the new operating framework.

·         It focusses on a creating a robust assurance framework across the organisation.

·         Reports advising its effectiveness and compliance will be brought back to this committee regularly.

Members Questions/Comments

Question 1

·         The Chairman thanked Maggie for the very comprehensive report. He also queried whether there are major changes to the previous structure or does it work on the same principles?

·         Maggie confirmed that this assurance framework is a new element that is being built into the risk management framework .

·         Regular updates will be brought to this committee.

·         Risk Management Group will continue to be review and challenge key risks and report to this committee

Question 2

·         A member advised that the Risk Register throughout the previous year had been up for a lot of scrutiny. It appeared that some departments were putting items on the Risk Register under the Red RAG rating in error, at others were putting items as Green in error. The member asked what type of "triaging", if any, is done regarding the Risk Register?

·         Maggie advised that previous comments have been taken on board regarding this issue. It is difficult as there are so many complex services, and each feel that their risk is a major one.

·         A programme of training is carried out, and once this strategy is launched further training will be offered.

·         This will also continue to develop as we move forward.

·         The training will be rolled out to officers as well as members as there is a need for uniformity of knowledge.

·         Details of the strategy once launched will also be publicised online.

·         Ian Dyson also advised that the strategy will merely be the tool, and although as much training can be offered as possible, it is then up to each officer and member to take back to their area and implement. We are only able to provide the information and training.

Question 3

·         A member thanked Maggie for the comprehensive report, however wanted further assurance that this report was not just a very well written document and how would the principles be implemented?

·         Maggie advised that this will be part of the Business Assurance Team’s roll to ensure the document is implemented. Also there will be regular reviews of the process and Risk Registers, compliance monitoring and a more detailed procedure document written to support the implementation.

·         Ian Dyson also commended the report, as it brings alive the fundamental new way of monitoring assurance which BCC are keen to implement. Ian advised that this committee are ultimately responsible for holding to account Ian and the Director of Assurance to insure that the principles are being implemented.

·         Ian confirmed that the team have begun to meet with various business leads, including TEE to insure that the organisation is buying into this new way of monitoring assurance. Once the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The draft Forward Plan was presented to the committee by Ian Dyson.

·         18^th November 2015 Meeting – 1 item to be added following today’s meeting, Contract Management Application Performance Report to be supplied by Michelle Granat.

·         Dates for 2016 to be confirmed – Ian wanted to advise the committee that the timings of the meetings are likely to change. From 2017 the required dates for submitting accounts are being brought forward to 31^st May and 31^st July, which will require the dates for this meeting to change to approve the accounts in time for the deadlines. This has been discussed with Richard Ambrose and the plan is to bring forward all the dates from 2016.

·         Therefore there will be a meeting at the end of May 2016 for the submission of accounts and a meeting at the end of July 2016 to receive the final accounts and the Audit report.

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

of the meeting held on 15 April 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

Ian Dyson & Susie Yapp to provide an update.

24 June 2015, 09.00am – 11.00am. Mezzanine Room 2, NCO.

The details of the next meeting were confirmed and agreed, 24^th June 2015, 9am Mezzannine Room 2.