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Contact: Susan Dallison Email: susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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Declarations of Interest To disclose any pecuniary,
other registrable or non-registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of
Conduct. In making their decision councillors
are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action
they propose to take as part of their declaration. If required, further advice
should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting. Minutes: No declarations of registrable or non-registrable interests were made at the meeting. |
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Public Participation To
receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and
parish councils and members of the public. When submitting a question
please include your name, address and contact details. Questions and
statements received in line with the council’s revised rules for public
participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. The deadline for submission
of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am on Wednesday 22 September
2021. Minutes: There were no public questions. |
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Internal Audit Progress Report PDF 691 KB To consider a report by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP). Minutes: Rupert Bamberger
announced that Sally White would be taking on a new role as the new Assistant
Director for SWAP. The Chairman of the
committee took the opportunity to thank Rupert for all his work and wished him
good luck in his new role. On behalf of
the committee the Chairman congratulated Sally on her successful appointment. Sally White
presented the report which was the second formal update for the current
financial year and reminded the committee that live progress on the audits
could be accessed at any time. The audit opinion was that there were reasonable
levels of confidence that the agreed actions would be implemented and as such the
interim finding was reasonable. Members considered
the report and in response to questions the following points were made: Where there were
gaps in providing assurance SWAP would try to find other assurance mechanisms
that already existed in the council that could provide the assurance
required; In terms of
undertaking a piece of work around lessons learnt around climate change, Brexit and the council’s
emergency response to situations like fuel shortages, Sally White agreed to
talk to the relevant officers on how these reviews could be brought forward to
the committee. Jonathan Mair suggested that a report on the council’s response
to the pandemic could also be provided for the committee to consider and agreed
to liaise with Sally White as SWAP could provide independent oversight. A request was made
to include the impact of climate change into future audits and also the issue
of the pension fund and exposure on fossil fuels. |
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Deloitte 2020/21 Audit Plan PDF 1 MB To receive the draft Audit Plan from I Howse, Deloitte. Additional documents: Minutes: Ian Howse from
Deloitte presented the 2020/21 Audit Plan and outlined the approach as set out
in the executive summary which included the main areas of focus. The report also provided details on the approach
to significant risk areas. Ian Howse
reported the good news that a lot of work on the 2020/21 accounts had already
been completed with an aim to complete the work by November 2021. The Executive
Director highlighted to the committee that the statutory deadline for signing
off the accounts was September and that, like many other councils this deadline
would not be met, this item would therefore be placed on the Forward Plan for
the November meeting. Members considered
the report and raised a number of questions in relation to: The risk associated
with invoices not being processed in time. The Executive Director for Corporate
Development advised that this was not a major risk factor for the council. The outstanding
work associated with the valuation of assets. The Executive Director for Corporate
Development advised that he was confident that this was not an issue as more
support was being put into the Property Team to address this resource
requirement. John Sellgren, Executive
Director for Place agreed that it was important for members to have sight and
overview of property valuations and property transactions and members had an
important role to play in the wider perspective and impacts, such as scrutiny
members looking at a review of South Walks House. Ian Howse thanked Cllr R Biggs for raising the
issue of property valuations and he gave reassurance that Deloitte were looking
at the classification of the council’s assets. In response to
comments and concerns on timescales for completion of the audit, Ian Howse
explained that the main issue was in relation to the scarcity of people with an
in-depth knowledge of local authority accounting and audit skills. This was a sector wide issue and Dorset
Council’s position was no different to other councils in the country. Members noted the
report. |
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Risk Management Update PDF 445 KB To consider a report by D Trotter, Risk & Resilience Officer and M Eyre, Service Manager for Assurance. Additional documents:
Minutes: John Sellgren,
Executive Director of Place explained the work that his officers had undertaken
to address risk; a workshop had been
held in July 2021 at which officers had reviewed all of the high and extreme
risks in place and looked at the mitigation and the timescales for dealing with
those risks. In summary the process had looked
at additional risks to add to the register and the importance of committee and
member processes, particularly in relation to financial matters such as
projects with long lead in times. For example, more regular inspection of trees
on highways and public open spaces had been added to ensure risks associated with
tree or branch structures were assessed.
In response to a
question members were advised that the role of the Audit & Governance
Committee was to look at the processes and systems in place to ensure that the
risks were being managed appropriately, it was the role of the scrutiny
committee to review the actual risks. Cllr S Cocking had
submitted a question in advance of the meeting on how exposed the council was
to risk compared to other councils. David Trotter, Risk & Resilience
Officer agreed to research this by undertaking a benchmarking exercise and
would report the findings back via the committee or members’ bulletin. Members noted the
report. |
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Treasury Management Annual Report PDF 415 KB To consider a report by D Wilkes, Service Manager, Treasury and Investments. Minutes: David Wilkes,
Service Manager for Treasury and Investments introduced the report. In response to a question
it was reported that there were no restrictions on how funding received from
Government for the Covid-19 pandemic. However
the money needed to be accessible at short notice which in current market
conditions meant zero, or very close to zero returns were possible. The council had ensured that that the money
was kept safe and that businesses had easy to access to the funding. David Wilkes,
Service Manager for Treasury and Investments was able to confirm that the
£10million liquidity was reviewed on an annual basis and it was there to ensure
that the council could meet any short notice liabilities. Members noted the
report. |
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To consider a report by B Forrester, Business Partner. Minutes: The committee
received a report which had originally been considered by Cabinet in October
2020, progress with this piece of work had been hindered but greater momentum
had come from a recent Peer Review. There
was a need for Dorset Council to review all of its
services, in terms of comparisons with other councils and to provide challenge
on whether the council was best placed to deliver the services and consulting
with the users of the services. Benchmarking was key to the exercise and there
were 4 key dimensions
cost, efficiency,
effectiveness and equity that would come together to inform the
council’s approach to value for money. Nine of the council’s service areas had
given a commitment to be part of the pilot exercise to develop the approach to
value for money and of the nine, five services had been chosen to give a spread
across the many activities undertaken by the council. Cllr Peter Wharf
highlighted that value for money was not just about money but also about value
for the organisation and the need to recognise that there would be competing
requirements. Members noted that
a timeframe for completion of the work had not yet been set but the exercise
would aim to do a limited number of reviews well that would then inform how
other reviews were undertaken in the future.
The Head of the
Chief Executive’s Department, Bridget Downton agreed to keep the committee
updated on progress and agreed to come back to the committee on how this would
be achieved. At that point
members noted the report and took an informal vote on the recommendation; the
minded to decision was unanimously in favour of the recommendation as set out
in the report. Jonathan Mair,
Corporate Director Legal & Democratic, having heard all
of the debate and having taken into account the unanimous view of the
committee made the following decision under delegated authority: That the five VfM reviews be undertaken with a.
Waste
service b.
Highways c.
Adults
brokerage d.
Children’s
commissioning e.
ICT
operations. |
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Review of Agency & Consultancy Spend PDF 350 KB To consider a report by C Matthews, Service Manager – HR Operations Minutes: Cllr Peter Wharf
thanked the Chairman of the committee for raising this issue which had prompted
officers to look into the matter and bring a report to committee. David Macintosh,
Corporate Director for HR and OD highlighted the main points of the report to
the committee. Agency workers made up an
important part of Dorset Council’s workforce due to national skills shortages
in some areas, the need to cover sickness absence, to deal with workload
pressures or the need to bring in specialist skills. Officers had carried out a review to check
and provide assurance to members that agency workers were used as a resourcing
strategy by the council and that spend was within the Comensura contract. Not all spend was within this contract but
officers were keen to get as many agency staff within this contract as possible
and there had been some reduction in the length of contracts for agency
workers. John Sellgren,
Executive Director of Place presented a short case study of how agency workers
were used in the Place directorate and the benefits gained from this
arrangement, for example dealing with short term sickness absence or temporary
backlog of work. The use of agency
workers was a useful resourcing tool without the need to increase the overall
size of the payroll budget and the Comensura contract provided value for money.
The Chairman
highlighted the perception in the wider community that there was a large cost
associated with consultants and the council needed to be clear about the cost
of a consultant compared to the cost employing someone in a permanent role. The
Chairman also highlighted the issue across public sector of the difficulty in
finding qualified staff to fill some vacancies and suggested that there should
be a rolling advert of vacancies to encourage the recruitment of permanent
staff. In response the committee was advised that the council monitored the
length of agency staff bookings and already used rolling adverts and recruitment
pages for some vacancies such as social workers. The Corporate
Director for HR and OD agreed to bring an annual report to the committee which
would include information on how agency workers were remunerated. Members noted the
report. |
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To consider the work programme for the committee. Minutes: Members noted the
Forward Plan and the Chairman requested reports/presentations from other directorates
on the use of agency staff to come to future meetings of the committee. The Executive
Director for Corporate Development advised the committee that the Cabinet would
be considering the LGA Finance Peer Review on 5 October 2021 and Cabinet would
be requesting that the Audit & Governance Committee monitor the performance
action plan which was likely to come to Audit & Governance early in the New
Year. In respect of the Risk
Management Report the Chairman asked the Executive Director for Corporate Development
to look at risks 272, 212, 344, 316, 326 with a view to providing an update to a
future committee to address the risks if needed. |
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Urgent items To consider any items of
business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be
urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The
reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes. Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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Exempt Business To move the exclusion of
the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure
of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the
Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press
will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered. There is no exempt business.
Minutes: There was no exempt business. |