Scrutiny Committee - 14/12/2016

At a MEETING of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 14th December, 2016.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Kevin KEENAN, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 28th September, 2016 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

II EXTERNAL INSPECTION FOR WHICH ALL GRADES ARE GOOD OR BETTER

There was submitted Report No 414-2016 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Services reporting on the findings of the recent external inspection at The Junction Children's Home.

The Committee:-

(i) noted the summary of the inspection report on The Junction, which received grades of good or better in all areas covered by the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate did not make any requirements or recommendations or propose significant adjustments but suggested some areas for improvement; and

(ii) remitted to the Executive Director of Children and Families to ensure that the areas for improvement were acted upon, both in relation to the particular services inspected and as guidance on good practice for other services.

III BI-ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLAINTS

There was submitted Report No 417-2016 by the Chief Executive reporting on complaints statistics for the first half of 2016/2017, with comparisons to previous periods, and on the action which continued to be taken to ensure that complaints were handled well and to learn from complaints.

The Committee noted:-

(i) the key performance indicators on complaints closed between 1st April, 2016 and 30th September, 2016, with trends from previous periods;

(ii) the latest update from the Complaints Review Group which meets quarterly to check the quality of complaints handling and to promote learning and process improvement from complaints;

(iii) the results of the satisfaction survey sent to everyone who made a complaint closed during the first two quarters of 2016/2017, with trends from previous surveys; and

(iv) a summary of the annual letter from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on complaints received about the Council during 2015/2016.

IV CORPORATE PERFORMANCE SELF-ASSESSMENT 2016/2017 - REPORT FOR SIX MONTHS TO 30TH SEPTEMBER, 2016

There was submitted Report No 407-2016 by the Chief Executive advising elected members of the performance of Dundee City Council for the first six months of the financial year to 30th September, 2016 as defined by the key quarterly performance indicators.

The Committee remitted to all Executive Directors to review the contents of Appendix 1 as it related to their service and consider if there were any indicators for which performance could be improved over the remainder of 2016/2017.

V INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

There was submitted Report No 395-2016 by the Chief Internal Auditor providing the Committee with a summary of the Internal Audit Reports finalised since the last meeting of this Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the information contained within the report.

VI NFI SELF-APPRAISAL CHECKLIST

On a reference to Article VII of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 28th September, 2016, there was submitted Report No 396-2016 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing elected members with the Council's National Fraud Initiative Self-Appraisal Checklist in accordance with the recommendations from Audit Scotland.

The Committee noted the completed NFI Self-Appraisal Checklist shown in Appendix A to the report.

Kevin KEENAN, Convener.