Agenda item

Report by the Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (AG7)

Audit & Governance Committee approved the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2014/15 in July 2015.  This included six actions to be followed up by the relevant corporate lead and/or directorates in 2015/16.  This is the final progress report on the actions and will be reflected in the 2015/16 Annual Governance Statement.

The Audit & Governance Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the progress on the actions.

Audit & Governance Committee had approved the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2014/15 in July 2015.  This included six actions to be followed up by the relevant corporate lead and/or directorates in 2015/16.  The Committee had before them the final progress report (AG7) on the actions and will be reflected in the 2015/16 Annual Governance Statement.

Mrs Wilcox in introducing the report highlighted the progress against each of the six actions as set out in Annex 1 of the report.  Four of the actions were now complete or would continue to be monitored as part of business as usual. The following two actions needed further follow up in 2016/17:

Action 2: While progress had been made against the actions for 2015/16 the role of the Commercial Services Board (CSB) needed to be broadened and further enhanced with a strong support mechanism to help drive robust and cross-cutting commercial behaviour and embed commercial practice and capability. 

Action 4: While there had been significant progress to date the on-going action related to Hampshire Partnership, through the stabilisation period it has been identified that the business readiness had not been as effective as expected and there were areas of financial control that require improvement, including management reporting and oversight. This would be reflected in the 2015/16 Annual Governance Statement.

In relation to action 4 (Externalisation of Human Resources and Finance Services) Councillor Hards queried whether the externalisation of Human Resources was on track.  In response, Lorna Baxter reported that there would be a full update on this issue at the next meeting of the Committee specifically around HR.  However, In brief, there were still a number of issues around backdated contracts, recording flexi, pensions and honorarium payments but that the amount that had been processed on time and accurate was high.

The update on Action 5 was unchanged from the February update and set out that the corporate risk register had been reviewed by CCMT and updated accordingly.  AWG considered the risk register on 4 February 2016. 

Action 6 related to Supported Transport for Children.  Further actions were being progressed as part of the project which was continuing in 2016/17.

The update on the six actions would be reflected in the 2015/16 Annual Governance Statement.

In response to queries on Action 1(Data Quality) and whether the actions would be completed on time, Mr Ward confirmed that 15 of the 30 Priority 1 systems had now been completed including Adult Social Care and Children’s Social Care.

In relation to Action 6 (Supported Transport for Children), Committee members expressed the importance of ensuring that taxis and drivers had been trained and had a full risk assessment.  In response, Mr Dyson confirmed that all drivers now had to undergo a risk assessment and passengers were required to have a passenger passport.  Significant progress had been made in this area, quicker than expected with over 400 out of the 800 assessments being completed.  He further explained that those drivers who did not complete mandatory training had their badges revoked.

RESOLVED:  to note the progress on the actions.