Meeting documents

To be presented by Ian Dyson.

Ian Dyson presented this report.

·         There had been four audits completed since the last report and two that were currently at draft report stage as detailed in the progress report.

·         A Summary of the Bucks Learning Trust Governance Audit was also attached in Appendix 2.

Counter-Fraud Update - Investigations

·         Ian Dyson advised that unfortunately there had been a small number of irregularities reported within the internal audit in accordance with the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy, which had required investigation and management review.

·         One case in particular as outlined in the report had proven to be a substantial issue and would continue to undergo investigation. Once the investigation had concluded Ian Dyson confirmed further information would be provided to this Committee. Currently the organisation was exercising the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy as well as well as involving the Police. 

ACTION: Ian Dyson

Member Questions

Question 1

·         A Member queried to what extent the issue was substantial, had Council money been involved and if so, had pressure been placed on the Council budget?

·         Ian Dyson advised that Council money had been involved however pressure had not been placed on the budget. It was also advised that the matter had been brought to light due to a strong manager within the service maintaining vigilance and reporting unusual activity.

Business Assurance Update

·         Ian Dyson advised that the Business Assurance Manager had been working with the One Council Board (OCB) to review and refresh the Strategic Risk Register. The reviewed report and action plans were to be presented at the next Risk Management Group for comment.

·         The HQ Risk Register would also be presented at the next Risk Management Group.

·         The 3 lines of assurance model was currently being developed. The first draft of this report was to be presented to the Director of Assurance in October and an update would subsequently be brought to this Committee in due course.  

ACTION: Ian Dyson

Member Questions

Question 1

·         A Member queried whether the resourcing issues within the Internal Audit team had been resolved.

·         Ian Dyson confirmed that the team were now at full compliment. The Audit Manager had been appointed on 01 September 2015 and a Senior Risk Officer would be starting on 01 October 2015.

·         It was also confirmed that there would be a small amount of capacity to bring in specialist consultants if required.

Buckinghamshire Learning Trust (BLT) Governance Update 

Ian Dyson provided an overview to this item.

·         The Chief Executive commissioned Internal Audit to undertake an audit of the governance over the agreement with the BLT, following concerns regarding the level of information available in relation to BLT, as well as receiving a complaint from a member of the public regarding BCC and the management of BLT and its overall Governance.

·         It was confirmed that the audit covered BCC internal governance  arrangements only; it was not an audit of BLT.  

·         The overall conclusion from the audit was Limited Assurance. The key issues raised in the audit are set out in appendix 2 (page 209).  

Member Questions

Question 1

·         A Member queried whether BCC had a financial interest in BLT?

·         Ian Dyson advised that BCC had provided a grant to the BLT for the provision of agreed services set out in the funding agreement. The Council were able to look into financial records maintained by the BLT in relation to activity for BCC, although this was limited due to the amount of access managers had to these records.

Question 2

·         A Member asked whether BLT would be carrying out an Internal Audit and if so who would they be reporting this to?

·         Ian Dyson confirmed that due to BLT being a charitable organisation they were under no obligation to do so. They are required to have an external audit of their accounts, the results of which were available to BCC.

Question 3

·         A Member questioned whether BCC had appointed Trustees to the BLT Trustee Board and if so, what was their role and responsibility to BCC?

·         Ian Dyson advised that when BLT was created the Committee agreed to have 20 trustees, 4 of which would be BCC appointed. However, initially only 1 BCC Member, the Cabinet Member, was appointed from the outset and a second was subsequently brought in.

·         A Member questioned the reasoning behind this decision; Ian Dyson advised that it was not a question he could answer.

·         Ian Dyson commented that not having a full quota of trustees, could have reduced the level of influence BCC had in the decision making within the BLT; however, it should be noted that for any trustee their role should be with regard to the management and operations of the BLT and the interests of the BLT.

Question 4

·         A Member questioned whether having a Cabinet Member on the Board of Trustees for BLT was a conflict of interest.

·         Ian Dyson confirmed that although no laws had been broken in doing so, it had been recognised that this would not be best practice going forward.

·         It was also advised that there had been some concerns regarding the governance structure as well as the skills and knowledge of the Trustees of BLT. It was clear that there had been no personal specification developed to meet the requirements of a Trustee, within BLT or BCC appointments.

·         Ian Dyson advised that it was the responsibility of BCC to have due diligence over the organisation. As the first Alternative Delivery Vehicle implemented, learning points had arisen and subsequently resulted in Limited Assurance.

·         Going forward it was advised that work was being done regarding the knowledge base of the Trustees, including development of a personal specification.

Member Comments

·         The Committee advised that the situation was unsettling due to large sums of money that had been given to BLT.

·         It was suggested that the summary provided in the report could have been more detailed.

·         Ian Dyson advised that the summary report had followed the usual layout of all such reports within this Committee, presenting an executive summary of the issues and concerns. Operational issues were highlighted where there had been a lack of information being provided from the Trust itself upon request, along with BCC ability to hold effective sanctions to get BLT to improve on this.

The Chairman thanked Ian Dyson for the overview report and introduced the Cabinet Member and Officer for further discussion.