Meeting documents

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Ray Bryan, Clare Sutton and Bill Trite.

Councillors are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 regarding disclosable pecuniary interests.

§    Check if there is an item of business on this agenda in which the member or other relevant person has a disclosable pecuniary interest.

§    Check that the interest has been notified to the Monitoring Officer (in writing) and entered in the Register (if not this must be done on the form available from the clerk within 28 days).

§    Disclose the interest at the meeting (in accordance with the County Council’s Code of Conduct) and in the absence of a dispensation to speak and/or vote, withdraw from any consideration of the item.

The Register of Interests is available on Dorsetforyou.com and the list of disclosable pecuniary interests is set out on the reverse of the form.

There were no declarations by members of any disclosable pecuniary interests under the Code of Conduct.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2019 were confirmed and signed.

(a)        Public Speaking

(b)        Petitions

Public speaking

There were no public questions received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(1).

There were no public statements received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(2).

Petitions

There were no petitions received in accordance with the County Council’s petition scheme at this meeting.

To receive a verbal update by the Chairman of the Committee.

The Chairman reported that recommendations in a report developed by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) in relation to Children's Services, following an Inquiry Day led by the Audit and Governance Committee, had been considered and accepted by Cabinet.  It was also due to be considered by the Shadow Executive that afternoon.  The recommendations had implications for the way in which the Dorset Council operated and hoped to be of value to those working in the unitary council in future.

To consider a report outlining the outstanding actions identified from previous meetings and updates against those actions (attached).

The Committee considered a report containing outstanding actions identified from previous meetings that incorporated areas to be highlighted to the new Dorset Council for consideration in preparation of draft forward work plans. 

The report also included the Interim External Audit Report which had been notified and received following publication of the agenda.  This report drew attention to new accounting standards IFRS 9 (Financial Instruments) and 15 (Income Recognition) and requested information on the impact of the valuation of assets on the accounts as well as the implications arising from Brexit. There had been no changes to the significant risks and a reduction in materiality based on the Audit Partner's professional judgement which had been outlined in the report.

Noted

To consider a report by the Joint Director for Children, Adults & Communities (to follow).

The Committee considered an information report on the progress of the Modernising Fostering Programme which covered the background of the original proposals, the activity and impact of the changes.

The report was outlined by the Director for Children's Services and began with an investment in the Council's fostering service approved by Cabinet on 27 September 2017 to increase the number of approved foster carers and reduce reliance on independent foster carers (IFCs).  A Modernising Fostering Plan followed this approval and a new Foster Carer Fees and Allowances Policy was introduced in April 2018 as the allowances paid to foster carers had been lower than those of other local authorities in the South West.

An external agency "WREC" was appointed at this time to undertake the publicity and recruitment elements of the programme and deliver foster carer recruitment prospects (from May 18 onwards) for assessment by the pre-approval team of the fostering service.  The timescale for assessment of carers had been shortened from 24 to 18 weeks.

The Director highlighted that historically, 17 new foster carers had been recruited each year and the overall aim of the Plan was to recruit 70 foster carers in 2018/19 and reduce the requirement for IFCs.  Funding had been built into the budget to support this, the detail of which had been included in the report.  The initial proposals were ambitious and subsequently revised to 25 new mainstream foster carers and 23 connected persons for the year ending 31 March 2019.

Independent auditors, Ingson Ltd, were commissioned following the first quarter of activity and this audit identified new enquiries that had not been followed up within the 18 week timescale.  An improved monitoring and tracking system was subsequently implemented and 51 mainstream carers and 23 connected persons were expected to be achieved in 2019/20 as the first full year of delivery.

In response to questions by members it was confirmed that

·   the contract with "WREC" was results based with incentivised payments based on the delivery of new suitably qualified prospects.  Commissioning & Partnership officers were managing the contract and there were monthly contract monitoring meetings with the contractor.  Foster carer retention was recorded elsewhere in the service.

·   the process was reliant on follow up of prospects in accordance with the 18 week timescale and there was a continuous system of monitoring in place to track progress.  The original assumption of 70 foster carers had been overly optimistic and was now set at a more realistic level. 

·   the number of high cost placements had stabilised at 440.  Although the number had not reduced overall during the past 12 months, this was a significant achievement at a time as demand was rising in other local authority areas.

·   high cost placements were the greatest challenge due to the smaller number of foster carers with the necessary skills to deal with disregulated adolescents.

·   each in-house foster carer cost £30k less than an IFC.  The recruitment of 70 foster carers would generate a saving of £2.1m.

·   the number of IFCs had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To consider a report by the Acting Chief Finance Officer (attached).

The Committee considered an update on budget management and financial performance in 2018-19 that also included debt management and supplier payments for the year to date.

The latest February forecast overspend had reduced to £1.6m with the expectation that this would reduce further by the year end.  The overspend in relation to the High Needs Block was expected to increase to £5m.

Whilst recognising that it would be necessary to balance the budget in 2019/20 in readiness for the new council, members stressed the need to deliver effective services through transformation rather than the loss of services due to budgets cuts.  Officers confirmed that an assessment of the impact on services would form part of the planned base budget review for the new Council in 2019/20.

The Chairman wished it to be noted that one of the reasons a balanced budget would be achieved had been due to not replacing staff over the past 6 months leading to gaps in service provision. He also highlighted that the admissions policy of the special needs school at Bovington may not benefit Dorset as much as anticipated meaning that the favourable budget assumption might not be valid.

Turning to the debt information, it was confirmed that peaks in the flow of debt would be normal due to timing of the invoicing process, and debts with other local authorities and government bodies were expected to be settled by the end of the financial year.

Noted

To consider a report by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) (attached).

The Committee considered a report by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).  A significant outstanding risk remained in relation to the High Needs Block, however, there were no new risks.  Follow-up work had recently commenced after a delay due to an Ofsted inspection and would be concluded by the end of March 2019.

Members reiterated concerns that the Children's Services audits had not been carried out in 2018/19.  Information provided in response to questions raised earlier in the meeting had provided some additional context. They were informed that the deferred audits had been discussed with the Executive Director of People and would now be undertaken as part of the 2019/20 audit plan. 

The Chairman commented that information which might have been available to assist with these audits in 2018/19 had been diverted to the Service Improvement Board and he asked SWAP to have regard to these types of forums in future as a way of gathering information.

The Group Manager - Governance and Assurance advised that these issues related to elected member oversight and that there was sometimes crossover between performance and budgets and the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) played a role in managing items to avoid duplication of effort across the committees.  The prioritisation of services based on the Corporate Plan and monitoring of performance and outcomes as a result of investment would need to continue to be considered by the appropriate member forums going forward.

Noted

To consider a report by the Chief Executive (attached).

The Committee considered a report that included the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) and associated "Review of Effectiveness" that was informed by the Council's Local Code of Corporate Governance Compliance Assessment 2018/19.

The report was introduced by the Risk, Emergency Planning and Resilience Manager who explained that due to the unique circumstances each sovereign council would produce a draft AGS and that the final statement would be signed by the Leader of the Dorset Council and the Chief Executive.  However, the Dorset County Council Chief Executive would also sign off the statement as a true reflection of the authority's systems of internal control. 

There were no significant gaps in governance arrangements, however, the draft AGS identified a number of areas of action.  These related to ensuring that key risks and mitigation were transferred to the new Dorset Council and for a continued focus on value for money with better alignment between performance and finance.

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The Chairman reflected on how the principles outlined in the Local Code of Corporate Governance might be scrutinised within the new committee system so that members could assess whether these were being met and used to informscrutiny workplans.

The Group Manager stated that the overview and scrutiny committees covered specific areas of responsibility and it was important that these forums evaluate and test the links to value for money and outcomes as a result of investment and then assess the results and outcomes achieved against that investment and performance.

Noted

To consider a report by the Chief Executive (attached).

The Committee considered a report containing a summary of the approaches taken by the overview & scrutiny committees to address issues relating to delivery of the Corporate Plan.

A member highlighted a particular issue in relation to baseline health inspections for children coming into care that should be investigated and was advised that both officers and members had a responsibility to ensure that the correct information was available to the right committee and for ensuring a framework of measures to assess whether elements of the Corporate Plan were on target.

Noted

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on 6 March 2019.

No questions were asked by members under Standing Order 20 (2).