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Agenda item

To submit the report of the Head of Corporate Support.

Minutes:

The Council's Business Support Manager set the context, and noted that the role of the Committee was to satisfy itself that arrangements and processes were underway to ensure that improvement proposals of external reports were implemented, and that the Committee should not duplicate an investigation into matters that were within the remit of other scrutiny committees.

 

He referred to Appendix 1 of the report which included a chronological list of the inspections undertaken by external auditors between 2012/13 and 2017/18 along with their improvement proposals, and the progress made by the Council against these proposals since the Committee discussed the matter at its meeting on 30 November 2017. He explained that it was the relevant Department's observations noted under the 'Progress against improvement proposals' heading, with the independent opinion of officers from the Council's Business Support Unit noted under the 'Conclusion' heading. He noted that it was a matter for the Committee to decide whether or not they agreed with the conclusion that the work of realising the recommendation had been 'completed' or continued to be 'on-going'.

 

During the discussion, the following main points were noted by members:

·         The 'Annual Performance Appraisal of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) 2013/14' report had been submitted quite a long time ago. Who completed health assessments for looked-after children and was a shortage of doctors a reason for the reduction in the performance percentage of registering with a GP within 10 days?

·         Progress regarding improvement proposals in the report noted above was a matter that needed to be addressed;

·         The Care Scrutiny Committee should be asked to consider scrutinising matters highlighted by the 2013/14 and 2014/15 CSSIW reports, the 'Helping People to Live Independently: Do Councils Do Enough?' report, along with the 'National Review of care and assistance to people with learning disabilities (Joint-review carried out by CSSIW and the Health Care Inspectorate)', and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

·         The Communities Scrutiny Committee should be asked to consider scrutinising matters highlighted in the 'Delivering with Less - the impact on environmental health services and citizens' report, and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

·         Confirmation should be received in terms of which committee should consider the 'Asset management [Land and Buildings]' report;

·         In terms of the 'Community Safety in Wales' report, if the matter was in this Committee's terms of reference, the Committee should receive a report on the matter;

·         An explanation should be received of why three improvement proposals under the 'People Strategy' report had not been completed.

 

A member enquired whether or not there was a time-scale to complete the work of responding to improvement proposals. The Council's Business Support Manager noted that a time-scale to complete the work of responding to recommendations would be considered when an update would be submitted to the Committee in six months.

 

The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager took the opportunity to update members on progress against recommendations in relation to the 'Risk Management - An assessment that is based on the risk of the Council's corporate arrangements' report. He confirmed that a report on the Council's risk management arrangements would be before the next meeting of the Committee on 19 July.

 

The Head of Finance Department referred to improvement proposal six under the 'Local authorities arrangements to charge a fee for services and generate income' report - "Improve the arrangements for anticipating income from payments by planning
scenarios and conducting sensitivity analysis", which had been noted as "on-going". He noted that the recommendation was an aspiration and that it was not a core matter, priority was given to focusing on the savings work and work associated with the Council's budget. He suggested that consideration should be given to note that work associated with this specific recommendation was to be done when resources were available and to remove it from the list to be submitted again to the Committee.

 

As the above recommendation was not a priority, a member noted that it should be noted as 'completed'.

 

A discussion was held on the forward scrutiny of service changes business cases to respond to the improvement proposal from the 'Good governance when determining significant service changes' report. A member expressed his concern about the role of ordinary members in the democratic process with the onset of the cabinet system in 2012. He added that matters were being raised by members who did not receive a response. He noted that a bridge was needed between general members and cabinet members. He referred to the last meeting of the Controls Improvement Working Group where relevant Cabinet Members had not been present.

 

The Head of Finance Department noted that the Council's Budget report would be submitted before the Council before the matter went before the Cabinet and the Full Council. Matters such as re-modelling the Youth Service and developments relating to the North Wales Growth Deal had been scrutinised in advance by the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee. He explained that there was a restriction in terms of the number of matters that could be considered.

 

A member noted that the Scrutiny Forum should be asked to consider the situation in terms of forward scrutiny with regards to service changes business cases.

 

   RESOLVED:

(i)     to accept the report subject to noting that improvement proposal six under the 'Local authority arrangements to charge a fee for services and generate income' report is "completed";

(ii)    to ask the Care Scrutiny Committee to consider scrutinising matters highlighted by 2013/14 and 2014/15 CSSIW reports, the 'Helping People to Live Independently: Do Councils Do Enough?' report, along with the 'National Review of care and assistance to people with learning disabilities (Joint-review carried out by CSSIW and the Health Care Inspectorate)', and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

(iii)  to ask the Communities Scrutiny Committee to consider scrutinising matters highlighted in the 'Delivering with Less - the impact on environmental health services and citizens' report, and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

(iv)  to receive confirmation in terms of which committee should consider the 'Asset management [Land and Buildings]' report;

(v)    that the Committee receives a report in relation to the 'Community Safety in Wales' report, if the matter is in the Committee's terms of reference;

(vi)  to receive an explanation why three improvement proposals under the 'People Strategy' report had not been completed;

(vii)  to ask the Scrutiny Forum to consider the situation in terms of forward scrutiny with regards to service changes business cases.

Supporting documents: