The Chief Executive and Leader of Dorset County
Council have been invited to attend the meeting to address issues raised with
regard to Dorset County Council in the Programme Governance Reports produced by
South West Audit Partnership (SWAP). The
Shadow Overview and Scrutiny Committee wish to seek assurance that action is in
place by the county council to address the comments made by SWAP. A representative of SWAP will also be
attending the meeting.
The
SWAP report and follow up report are attached for information.
Minutes:
Following
a request by the committee at the last meeting, the Chief Executive and Leader
of Dorset County Council had been invited to the meeting to address issues
raised with regard to Dorset County Council in the Programme Governance Reports
produced by South West Audit Partnership (SWAP). A representative of SWAP, Dave Hill, had also
been invited to the meeting to provide an overview of the relevant issues.
Mr
Hill provided an overview of the issues raised and noted that the flagged red
status had been in respect of one item, with the overall direction of travel
being seen as positive. It was noted
that the review had been based on stakeholder consultation. It was accepted that there were gaps in the
consultation held with Dorset County Council and that this was to be reviewed
and a further evidence based piece of work was to be undertaken. It was also noted that SWAP would be
producing monthly reports in future.
The
Leader of Dorset County Council, Councillor Rebecca Knox, welcomed the committee’s
monthly review of the SWAP report and noted that the county council was also
considering additional independent review and would welcome further input and
recommendations.
The
Chief Executive of Dorset County Council, Debbie Ward, thanked the committee
for the invitation to the meeting. She
did not believe that the actions of the county council were in any way
inhibiting the progress of local government reorganisation. The county council’s budget would form a huge
part of the new organisation and the county council was responsible for the
safe transfer of budget, services and staff to the two new organisations in
Dorset. A lot of work was currently
underway and it was the responsibility of the Chief Executive to maintain good
quality management information across the organisations. Information would be shared where it was
appropriate. Meetings had been held with
SWAP and the Shaping Dorset Council Programme Director and it was felt that
good progress was being made. It was
also noted that there was always appropriate officer cover in the absence of
the Chief Executive and it would be made sure that this was well known.
Members
considered the issues arising and during discussion the following points were
raised:
·
In response to a question, Dave Hill noted that the statement made by
SWAP had been based on the stakeholder consultation exercise and had been based
on the conclusion made at that point in time.
It was felt that since then, the situation had moved on. The further evidence based piece of work to
be undertaken would assist with this
·
R Bryan declared an interest as a Dorset County Council representative
on the SWAP Board
·
A point was made that Dorset County Council were undertaking the Shaping
Dorset Council programme work in addition to ongoing service provision and that
it should be noted that the county council were very open with their
information
·
A point was raised that it was disappointing that it had not been made
clear in the report that the comments had not been evidence based as this had
led to some concern that was not warranted.
Appropriate caveats should have been included in the report
·
Debbie Ward assured the committee that the county council continued to
work with the Shaping Dorset Council Team but also had the responsibility to ensure
the maintenance of essential management information to be transferred to the
two new organisations. She reiterated
the point that she did not believe that the actions of the county council were
in any way inhibiting the progress of local government reorganisation
·
Councillor Rebecca Knox noted that in addition to the programme work,
the county council had to continue to manage its services and move to a place
where the two programmes could begin to come together. She confirmed that the county council
continued to seek independent verification of its work within the programme
·
Dave Hill accepted that moving forward, SWAP needed to ensure clarity in
reports in terms of what information was based on. However he noted that it was important that
in this case, the confidence in the information provided by stakeholders was
not overlooked
·
In response to a question it was noted that the stakeholders involved in
the review were key individual stakeholders in the delivery of the Shaping
Dorset Council programme. These
stakeholders were to be reviewed as it had been felt that there had been a
disproportionate amount from the county council
·
Information from town and parish councils had not been gathered at this
stage
·
Councillor Rebecca Knox noted that the direction of travel was positive
and welcomed continued audit and guidance for the future
·
In conclusion, Dave Hill noted that he would take the positive aspects
of the discussion from the meeting and the challenge from members. Members would continue to receive reports on
a monthly basis
The
Chairman thanked the invited attendees for their contribution to the
discussion.
Supporting documents: