Scrutiny Committee - 12/12/2018

At a MEETING of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 12th December, 2018.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Bailie Kevin KEENAN, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 26th September, 2018 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

II EDUCATION SCOTLAND (HMI) INSPECTION OF FORTHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY CLASS

There was submitted Report No 398-2018 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service reporting on the above inspection of Forthill Primary School and Nursery Class in September, 2018.

The Committee:-

(i) noted the contents of the report; and

(ii) instructed the Chief Education Officer to monitor progress towards meeting the areas for improvement outlined in the report.

III EDUCATION SCOTLAND (HMI) INSPECTION OF CLEPINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

There was submitted Report No 399-2018 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service reporting on the above inspection of Clepington Primary School in June, 2018.

The Committee:-

(i) noted the contents of the report; and

(ii) instructed the Chief Education Officer to monitor progress towards meeting the areas for improvement outlined in the report.

IV EXTERNAL INSPECTION REPORT FOR WHICH ALL GRADES ARE GOOD OR BETTER

There was submitted Report No 377-2018 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service providing a summary of recent external inspection reports carried out by the Care Inspectorate on young people's homes at Gillburn Road and The Junction which did not require in-depth scrutiny.

The Committee:-

(i) noted the summary of inspection reports on Gillburn Road and The Junction young people's homes, which received grades of good or better in all areas covered by the inspection; and

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

V BI-ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLAINTS

There was submitted Report No 369-2018 by the Chief Executive reporting on complaint statistics for the first half of 2018/2019, 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:-

(i) noted the key performance indicators on complaints closed between 1st April, 2018 and 30th September, 2018, with trends from previous periods;

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

(iii) noted the results of the satisfaction surveys sent to everyone who made a complaint closed during the first half of 2018/2019, with trends from previous surveys;

(iv) noted a summary of the annual letter from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on complaints received about the Council during 2017/2018 which highlighted that only one complaint reached the Ombudsman's investigation stage and was upheld; and

(v) noted that a programme of training for employees on dealing with complaints was continuing, and was reinforcing the importance of dealing promptly with complaints, keeping complainants informed and giving clear explanations of decisions.

VI INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

There was submitted Report No 374-2018 by the Senior Manager - Internal Audit providing the Committee with a summary of the Internal Audit Reports finalised since the last Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee noted the information contained in the report.

VII INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT

On a reference to Article VII of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 14th February, 2018, there was submitted Report No 375-2018 by the Senior Manager - Internal Audit providing the Committee, for information only, an Internal Audit Report containing the detailed findings and corresponding recommendation from the Risk Maturity Assessment of Dundee Integration Joint Board (IJB).

The Committee noted, for assurance purposes, the information contained within the report.

Kevin KEENAN, Convener.