Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr A Stevens.

There were no declarations of interest.

of the meeting held on 28^th July 2016 to be confirmed as a correct record

The minutes of the meeting held on 28^th July 2016 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

To be presented by Richard Schmidt, Head of Strategic Finance.

The Chairman welcomed Richard Schmidt, Head of Strategic Finance who provided Members with an update on the establishment of a Sector Led Body for the appointment of external auditors for local government bodies.

The following main points were made:-

·         Members were informed that the Council had expressed an interest in the Sector Led Body (SLB) without giving any firm commitment.  Similar expressions of interest were received by 270 local authorities demonstrating widespread support across the sector.

·         The Local Government Association (LGA) had proposed that Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) be established as the SLB and had made them the "appointed person".  This did not prevent local authorities appointing their own external auditors.

·         PSAA would formally invite individual councils to sign up to its arrangements in October 2016 (with a deadline around December2016/January 2017).  The Council would, at this point, need to decide whether it wished to go down this route or make its own arrangements.

·         A Member suggested speaking to the LGA about exit costs and whether these would be reflected if the Council decided to make its own arrangements.

·         Members asked for further information on the cost savings associated with making its own arrangements before making a final decision.

RESOLVED

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report and AGREED to discuss this at its November meeting when further costs would be made available.

To be presented by Caroline High, Corporate Training Advisor

The Chairman welcomed Ms C High, Corporate Training Adviser to the meeting.

The following main points were made during the presentation:-

• One Council Board had approved a refresher e-Learning programme to be assigned to all staff for completion by June 2016.
• The programme packaged together the four mandatory e-Learning modules contained with induction training (Data Protection Awareness, Equality & Diversity Essentials, Introduction to Health and Safety and Agile Working).
• The purpose of the refresher programme had been to ensure all existing staff across the organisation had achieved the basic level of compliance training.
• There had been a steep rise in the rate of course completions throughout the duration of the programme, spiking in the last week of June 2016.
• Data Protection training showed the highest level of compliance amongst Council staff with 83.7% of all staff completing the e-Learning module.
• In response to a question about whether the Council should be aiming for 100% compliance, the Officer explained that it was not possible to achieve 100% due to people leaving and joining the organisation but that the Council should be looking for around 90% compliance.
• A follow-up report would be presented to One Council Board to show compliance levels in each Business Unit.
• Detailed reports would be sent to Service Managers highlighting staff who had not yet completed the programme and feedback sought on the reasons for non-compliance.
• Automatic responses and overdue messages would continue to be sent out to staff.
• Mandatory training would be automated for all new starters from September onwards – a message would be sent to their Outlook alerting them to the requirement to complete the modules as part of their corporate induction training.
• A Member commented that it would be useful to see the take-up of training by Business Unit.  It was agreed to invite the Officer to a future meeting (around April 2017) to present a progress report and to review how effective the automated reminders had been.

ACTION

• Committee & Governance Adviser to invite Ms High to a Committee meeting in April 2017 to provide an update on progress.

RESOLVED

Members NOTED the report and supported the stepped approach to increase compliance for all staff.

To be presented by Maggie Gibb, Chief Internal Auditor.

Due to the nature of the information contained in the report, the Chairman advised the Committee that this item had been moved so that it could be discussed once the press and public had been excluded.

To be presented by Maggie Gibb, Chief Internal Auditor.

The Chairman welcomed Ms M Gibb, Head of Business Assurance and Chief Internal Auditor. 

Ms Gibb updated Members on the two reports and made the following main points:-

·         The Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy had been updated with minor changes to reflect current structures/job titles.

·         The Anti-Money Laundering Policy had been updated to reflect changes in structures/job titles and other minor changes to the content.

There had been no changes in legislation since these documents were last updated.

RESOLVED

The Committee APPROVED the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy and the Money Laundering Policy.

Standing item. To be presented by Maggie Gibb, Chief Internal Auditor.

Members noted the forward plan.

09 November 2016, 09:00, Mezzanine Room 2, New County Offices, Aylesbury

The next meeting will take place on 9 November 2016 at 9am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

This item has been moved to private session

To be presented by Maggie Gibb, Chief Internal Auditor

The Committee discussed and noted the Business Assurance team update.

An update from the Service Director

The Committee discussed the results of the Special Educational Needs Audit.

An update from the Service Director

The Committee considered the Bucks Learning Trust and Schools Audits.

To be presented by Mark Averill, Head of Highways.

The Committee discussed and commented on the Transport for Bucks Street Lantern Replacement Audit.

For Committee Members to agree the confidential minutes of the closed session with Grant Thornton Auditors at the 28^th July 2016 meeting

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2016 were agreed and signed as a correct record.