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ITEM BV3

BEST VALUE & AUDIT COMMITTEE –
19 JANUARY 2005

Minutes of the Meeting commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 2.50 pm

Present:

The Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda and reports, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.

01/05. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS

Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:

Apology from	Temporary Appointments
Councillor Jelf	Councillor Shouler
Councillor Legge	Councillor Fooks

02/05. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Bryden declared a personal interest in item 5 as a Governor of Fitzharry’s School Abingdon.

03/05. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 November 2004 were approved and signed subject at 95/04(a) to the deletion of ‘Hodgson’ and the substitution of ‘Hudson’.

04/05. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2003/04 AND SIGNED AUDIT CERTIFICATE

(Agenda Item 5)

The Statement of Accounts 2003/04 had been presented to the Committee on 25 November 2004. At that meeting the External Auditor indicated that he would be signing off the accounts with an unqualified opinion and drew Members’ attention to some issues which were subsequently formalised in a Communication to the Council.

The Committee considered the Communication (BV5(a)), the response by the Head of Finance & Procurement’s (BV5(b)) and the finalised copy of the signed Accounts (CG5(c)).

RESOLVED: to note that the Statement of Accounts for 2003/04 had been finalised and published.

05/05. AUDIT PLAN 2004/05

(Agenda Item 6)

The Head of Finance & Procurement reported that the Council’s External Auditors KPMG were reassessing the risks following the work undertaken so far and reworking the Audit Plan 2004/05.

RESOLVED: to note that KPMG would bring the proposed Plan to the Committee’s meeting on 9 March 2005.

06/05. STATEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROL

(Agenda Item 7)

The Committee considered a report (BV7) which updated the progress in achieving the actions identified in the 2003/04 Interim Statement on Internal Control and the assurance process for 2004/05.

RESOLVED: to:

1. receive the report;
2. note the progress made in achieving actions identified in the 2003/04 Interim Statement on Internal Control; and
3. note the progress in the assurance process for 2004/05;
   
   

07/05. CLIENT FINANCE RECOVERY PROJECT

(Agenda Item 8)

The Committee considered a report (BV8) on the work which had been completed since September 2004 to address issues within Client Finances. It gave a brief background to those issues, detailed the work undertaken in order to estimate accurately the amount of provision for any under or overcharge of clients in the accounts, summarised the procedure for addressing incorrect charges and clarified the position in this area moving forward.

RESOLVED: to:-

1. approve the report;
2. agree the actions laid out in the report affecting clients who had been mis-charged as set out in paragraphs 21 to 33;
3. agree the forward plan to ensure that charges were made correctly in the future (Annex 5);
4. suggest a review into the service for money managed clients and initially consult the Chair and Deputy Chairman of the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee; and
5. ask the Director for Social & Health Care for a further report in October 2005 addressing the key points raised and the position current at that time.
   
   

08/05. EFFICIENCY SAVINGS – INCOME GENERATION

(Agenda Item 9)

In October 2004 the Committee asked all Heads of Service to prepare full responses to a short questionnaire which was designed to identify further opportunities for income generation.

The Committee considered a report (BV9) which presented the outcome of the request to Heads of Service, the corresponding proposals for charges for 2005/06 and proposed next steps to allow a more rigorous approach to the review of charges during 2005/06.

RESOLVED: to:

1. note the outcomes of the process for charges for 2005/06;
2. endorse the process set out for 2006/07; and
3. ask the Director for Resources to report further to the Committee in September 2005 in the light of the outcomes of Directorates’ responses to the questionnaire.
   
   

09/05. AUDIT WORKING GROUP

(Agenda Item 10)

The Committee considered a report (BV10) on matters which had been considered by the Audit Working Group on 7 December 2004.

The Director for Resources drew to the attention of the Committee the need to bring forward both phases of the SAP revitalisation project, on the basis that it would improve the control environment.

RESOLVED: to

1. adopt the report; and
2. note that the Director for Resources would update the Committee in April 2005 through a report/presentation on SAP revitalisation, including a breakdown of the £2m in the draft budget.
   
   

10/05. RECOMMENDED BEST VALUE REVIEW / VALUE FOR MONEY PROGRAMME FOR 2005 AND BEYOND

1. County Facilities Management – to note that the Review was ongoing;

Transport – to approve the BVR for inclusion in the Programme and appoint Councillor Hudson as Designated Member;

Time to Change – Social & Health Care - not to approve a BVR for inclusion in the Programme but request officers to arrange a briefing/ presentation for all members following the 2005 County Council elections;

Approach to Business Re-engineering – to request officers to report to a future meeting of the Committee;

ICT Steering Group – to request officers to submit regular reports as appropriate to the Committee on the Group’s work;

2. to approve the areas for reconsideration for review in six months in paragraph 6 except for Use of Technology in Adult Care Packages which should proceed as part of officers’ work; and
3. to consider the role and purpose of BV reviews, including relationship with scrutiny and the member/officer leadership of BV reviews, following the 2005 County Council elections.

11/05. ACHIEVEMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS – SECOND UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS

(Agenda Item 12)

The Committee considered a report (BV12) on the implementation of the Achievement in Secondary Schools Best Value Review. Mr Howard introduced the report and commented on examination results 2004 and the progress being made in the two Action Areas, Leadership & Management and Support for School Improvement. He responded to members’ questions and comments which focused on the 2004 examination results, which were generally disappointing, and strategies to raise performance. The recent OFSTED Inspection of the local authority had indicated high gradings for the school improvement strategy and for access and inclusion.

RESOLVED: to:

1. ask officers to report to the Committee on further progress in one year;
2. thank Mr Howard for his work and wish him a happy retirement;
3. note that there were no specific matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member for Schools who was present for the Committee’s consideration of the three significant areas of current interest; and
4. ask the Chair of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chairman on scrutiny committee consideration.
   
   

12/05. COUNTY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT - BVR SPECIFICATION: ISSUES AND AREAS WHICH THE REVIEW WILL CONSIDER

(Agenda Item 13)

RESOLVED: to approve the Review Specification (BV13) and to receive an interim report at the Committee’s April meeting to inform the Review options.

13/05. PROMOTING INDEPENDENCE IN OLDER PEOPLE – BVR IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

(Agenda Item 14)

The Committee considered a report by Director for Social & Health Care (BV14) on the implementation of the promoting Independence in Older People Best Value Review. Ms Brown introduced the report whose actions were complete apart from focused performance targets relating to promoting independence, for which a way forward was proposed.

RESOLVED:

1. that no report back to this Committee was required;
2. to draw to the attention of the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee the outstanding action around focused performance targets relating to promoting independence;
3. to note that there were no specific matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member;
4. to ask the Chair of the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chairman on scrutiny committee consideration; and
5. to draw the report to the attention of the Older People’s Champion, Councillor Dr Peter Skolar.
   
   

14/05. LEARNING DISABILITY SERVICES (ADULT) - BVR PROGRESS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION

1. ask officers to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. note that there were no matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chairman on scrutiny committee consideration.

in the Chair

Date of signing 2005

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