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.
Minutes:
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.
Supporting documents: