Agenda item

2:10

 

There are eleven ‘Corporate Leads’ that provide assurance on an issue for governance purposes. The Audit & Governance Committee has asked to be given presentations from each Corporate Lead during the year so that they can better understand each area, particularly focusing on the assurance process:

 

• How Corporate Leads assure themselves (and then directors) that things are well within their areas; and
• How Leads decide that issues need to be mentioned for ‘Action’; and
• How leads ensure that their area complies with regulations and the law.

 

The Committee will receive the remaining Corporate Leads presentations, as set out in the box below:

 

The Chairman has requested that the remaining Corporate Leads presentations, in the box below, go to this Committee meeting.

 

	Performance Management	Maggie Scott	-
	Procurement	Lorna Baxter	Graham Collins
	Project and Programme Management   Legislation	Alexandra Bailey Peter Clark	-

 

The Audit & Governance Committee had asked to be given presentations from each of the eleven Corporate Leads that provided assurance on an issue for governance purposes during the year so that they could better understand each area, particularly focusing of the assurance process of:

 

·         How Corporate Leads assure themselves (and then directors) that things are well within their areas; and

·         How Leads decide that issues need to be mentioned for ‘Action’; and

·         How leads ensure that their area complies with regulations and the law.

 

The Committee received presentations from Maggie Scott, Head of Policy on Performance Management, Graham Collins on Procurement and from Glenn Watson, Principal Governance Officer on Legislation (copies of which are attached to the minutes).

 

Mrs Scott outlined the Performance Management Framework that was in place to ensure the Council achieved progress towards it’s predetermined objectives, including the council’s corporate plans and strategies and performance reporting principals including: quarterly discussion; opportunities for deeper analysis and review; directorate ownership; exception reporting at a corporate level; emphasis on performance trends; relationship between performance and risk; focus on resolutions and mitigating actions and maintaining transparency and accountability.  She further went to outline the areas of performance scrutiny as outlined on page 5 of the presentation and future challenges and next steps including:

 

•          Developing need for more comprehensive reporting framework with a broader range of business information used to inform decision making

•          Articulating clearer links between the performance of service delivery activity and the achievement of strategic objectives

•          Refining measures used to ensure continued relevance in a changing local authority landscape

•          Setting and agreeing realistic targets based on limitations of available resources

 

In response to questions from members regarding what steps were in place to monitor the effects of cuts on performance and the ever decreasing workforce, Ms Scott explained that it was important for managers to identify the level of performance they wanted to achieve against the resources they had. 

 

Members further queried the ability of the Performance Scrutiny Committee of cover performance across the whole Authority.  In response, Ms Scott agreed that the Committee needed to focus on specific areas and then look across the board, with a need to give directorates the job of managing its own business.  Quarterly meetings were also held with the Chairman of Scrutiny Committees to ensure issues were being picked up, together with constant scrutiny to identify consistent trends in underperformance.

 

Mr Collins then went on to give a presentation on Commercial and Procurement Assurance process setting out the systems, mechanisms and responsibilities in place to ensure internal control, including providing an annual statement of opinion on the effectiveness of those systems and mechanisms; identifying any actions to address weaknesses based on those opinions, or improvements required based on the current organisational position and the monitoring and review of any actions identified. Assurance Mechanisms in place were as follows:

Commercial Services Board (CSB)

•      Oversight of commercial activity

•      Visibility of new projects

•      Scrutiny of business cases (service design)

•      Contract management

•      Purchase to Pay

•      Non compliance events

Specialist Procurement Teams

•      Support for procurement projects over £25k

•      Project reporting to CSB via RAG status and escalation within service area

•      Comprehensive internal guidance (including Contract Procedure Rules)

•      Larger procurements subject to EU Regulations

Contract Management

•      Contract Management Framework

•      Risk based segmentation of contracts (Platinum/Gold/Silver and Bronze)

•      Best practice baselining (NAO derived)

•      Quarterly performance reporting for platinum contracts

•      Accreditation scheme for contract managers (“Passport to practice” + extensive training and guidance

•      Issue escalation to contract managers and CSB

Purchase to Pay

•      Central Buying Team (CBT) oversight of compliance with CPRs and correct use of corporate contracts

•      Oversight of new Vendor creation

•      Management of the central contract register

•      Reporting compliance issues to specialist procurement teams and CSB

 

Mr Collins furthered identified Issues for the future as follows:

•      Embedding and communicating the role of the Commercial Services Board

•      Implementation of the Contract Management Framework

•      Development of the County Procurement Team including resources to support the on-going work of the Commercial Services Board and implementation of the contract management framework

•      Tackling instability arising out of the externalization agenda and the effect on SAP governance and control mechanisms

 

Mr Watson then gave a brief presentation outlining how the Monitoring Officer of the Council assured himself that the Council was legally compliant, that the Council complied with regulations and the law and what issues should be flagged for the future.  Mr Watson outlined the Assurance Framework for the Council which set out the Council’s approach to corporate governance, together with the roles and responsibilities of other committees and groups within the council that insured compliance as follows:

 

MO and Deputy MO – legal advice:

•    Service level agreements

•    Meetings with Directors and Deputy Directors

•    Lawyers providing advice on cases

•    Briefings on new legislation

•    Legal (lawyer) training

•    Client satisfaction feedback

Corporate Legal Strategy:

•      All legal staff to raise issues of concern with MO and Assistant

Procurement and contracts:

•      Contract Procedure Rules – annual review + as needed

•      Commercial Services Board – oversees procurement process

•      MO controls contract exemption requests + legal appraisals

•      Internal audit reviews

•      Contract compliance register – Central Buying Team

Protocol for implementing new legislation

•      Process for raising awareness of…

•      New legislation, statutory guidance and best practice

•      Forward planning to allow for government policy developments

•      Key contacts in directorates – reviewed annually

•      Protocol reviewed – biannually

Support to lawyers

•      MO briefing to service on protocol and compliance

•      Principal solicitors – importance of updates

•      E-updates, training

•      Closer liaison with policy team

Partnerships

•      Added as separate Corporate Lead Statement – visibility

•      Scrutiny by CGAG and Audit & Governance Committee

 

Data Protection & information technology

•      Data Controller co-ordinates Information Governance Group

•      Reviews data security; learns from breaches

•      Identifies areas for improvement

•      Mandatory requirement for staff training

 

The Committee thanked the officers for all 3 informative presentations and AGREED to have take final presentation on Project and Programme Management at their meeting in July.