Agenda item

To consider the Highlight Report – August 2018 which includes an Internal Audit report and follow up report produced by SWAP to provide a high-level review of the LGR programme governance.

This report for the Shadow Executive Committee will be considered at the meeting of the committee on 21 August 2018.

In response to a request by the committee at the last meeting, members received a copy of the Highlight Report – August 2018, considered by the Shadow Executive Committee at their meeting on 21 August 2018, which included a Programme Governance Report and follow up report produced by South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).  Sally White, representing SWAP, attended to provide an overview of the issues raised in the reports.

Detail of the ‘Headline Conclusions’ from the initial report was set out at page 21 of the agenda.  In response to these points raised, the Programme Director had provided a detailed report on progress made in the areas and this had led to SWAP producing a follow up report.  It was noted that the follow up report set out that the direction of travel was positive and identified key changes such as the formation of new themed boards and changes to previous task and finish groups.  The report also recommended a schedule of further detailed audit work.

Members considered the issues arising from the reports and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                Members were aware of the amount of work to be undertaken and the short time scale for undertaking the work required to meet the 1 April 2019 deadline

·                It was noted that support could be provided by the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the Local Government Association

·                Reference was made to comments made in the report with regard to Dorset County Council involvement and support in terms of their contribution to the Shaping Dorset Council programme and consideration was given to inviting representatives of Dorset County Council to the next meeting of the committee to discuss these issues with them

·                The Programme Director provided information on the level of staffing within the team which currently stood at 21 people with recruitment ongoing.  In addition nearly 200 people within the councils were engaged with the plans including an oversight of areas and work around service continuity.  He felt that significant progress had been made since the first SWAP report had been produced.  The SWAP report had been requested by the Programme Board to ensure that processes and capacity for the work was in place

·                Members recognised that improvements had been made but some issues had been carried forward to the update report

·                Further audit work was to be undertaken to look at the governance of the programme

·                An externally run Gateway review towards the end of September 2018 would involve SWAP and a transformation consultant and would set out to confirm whether the discovery phase had been satisfactorily completed in readiness for the main implementation phase.  A second Gateway review would take place towards the end of January 2019 and would confirm all work carried out along with any contingency plan for any areas not covered.  The ‘go live’ date for the new Council could not be moved but there could be consideration as to what would be in place by 1 April 2019 and what plans needed to be put in place

·                The Programme Team were working at full capacity to deliver the actions set out in the Programme Plan.  The milestones were updated every week and were reviewed along with the detail that sat below the plan

·                In response to a question, the Programme Director provided information on the composition of the Programme Board.  The membership of the Programme Board had been widened to include the interim officers and other managers and would be meeting on a more regular basis moving forward

·                A request was made for there to be a presentation in respect of the Gateway 2 process to the Shadow Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the appropriate time

·                A comment was made with regard to the Programme Milestone Plan in the Highlight Report and whether shapes could be used in addition to colours to assist in reading the chart.  The Programme Director noted that this could be considered

·                In response to a question, the Programme Director confirmed that notes of the Programme Board meetings were available to members on the Sharepoint site

·                Consideration was given to the resources available to the Programme Team to undertake the level of work that was required.  It was noted that recruitment was still underway.  There was a need for particular experience and skills in certain areas which may be about staff offering part of their time to the project rather than undertaking a wholesale secondment

·                173 members of existing council staff had been involved for a period of time in service continuity workshops.  Staff would also be involved in making the changes necessary to bring services together.  Other officers such as monitoring officers and finance officers had been formed into groups to undertake particular areas of work

·                Although there was some concern with regard to the amount of work to be undertaken to prepare for the new Council to come into life on 1 April 2019 and the resources available to carry out this work, members recognised that the recruitment process for the Programme Team was still ongoing

·                The Programme Director confirmed that he trusted that the team had the resources available in order to deliver the programme

Following consideration of all of the issues above it was proposed by C Brooks seconded by T Jones

Decision

That the Chief Executive and Leader of Dorset County Council be asked to attend the meeting of the Shadow Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 12 September 2018 to address the issues raised with regard to Dorset County Council in the Programme Governance Report produced by South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).  The committee wish to seek assurance that action is in place by the county council to address the comments made by SWAP.

Recommendation to the Shadow Executive Committee

That the Programme Milestone Plan contained within the Shaping Dorset Council Highlight Report be amended to include the use of shapes in addition to colours, in order to identify progress in the different areas.