Scrutiny Committee - 26/06/2019

At a MEETING of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 26th June, 2019.

 

Present:-

 

BAILIES

 

Kevin KEENAN

Willie SAWERS

 

 

COUNCILLORS

 

Richard McCREADY

Ken LYNN

Alan ROSS

 

Lynne SHORT

 

 

Bailie Kevin KEENAN, Convener, in the Chair.

 

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 17th April, 2019 was held as read.

 

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

 

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

 

No declarations of interest were made.

 

II EXTERNAL INSPECTION REPORT FOR FAIRBAIRN STREET YOUNG PERSONS HOME

 

There was submitted Report No 246-2019 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service providing a summary of recent external inspection reports which did not require in-depth scrutiny.

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted the summary of the external inspection report on Fairbairn Street Young Person's Home which received grades of good or better in all areas covered by the inspections; and

 

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

 

III LOCAL GOVERNMENT BENCHMARKING FRAMEWORK PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 2017/2018

 

On a reference to Article VI of the minute of meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee of 22nd April, 2019, there was submitted Report No 103-2019 by the Chief Executive relative to the above.

 

The Committee, for their interest:-

 

(i) noted the results contained in the report;

 

(ii) remitted to the Council Management Team to review the selected areas for improvement in Section 8 of the report; and

 

(iii) agreed to the publication of the Local Government Benchmarking Framework report on the Council's website.

IV ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLAINTS

 

There was submitted Report No 189-2019 by the Chief Executive reporting on the complaints statistics for 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 31st March, 2019 with trends from previous periods;

 

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

 

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

 

(iv) noted the information on compliments received through the website.

 

V CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICE IMPROVEMENT FRAMEWORK (PSIF) ASSESSMENT

 

There was submitted Report No 226-2019 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service summarising the process and outcomes of a PSIF assessment undertaken between November, 2018 and March, 2019.

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted the PSIF report and the Improvement Action Plan appended to the report, which included specific actions, responsible officers and target completion dates;

 

(ii) noted the opportunities to learn from the evidence which emerged from the process and informed the development of the Improvement Action Plan which was attached to the report as Appendix 1b;

 

(iii) noted the benefits the PSIF assessment process had provided to the Children and Families Service by providing valuable evidence to support the development of a single plan for improvement for the Service for 2019/2022. The plan outlined the many significant contributions and high ambitions of the service in early years settings, schools, social work teams and care placements. It was consistent with, and supported, the implementation of the Tayside Plan for Children, Young People and Families 2017/2020; the Dundee City Plan 2017/2026; the Dundee Council Plan 2017/2022 and the Dundee Community Justice Outcome Improvement Plan 2019/2020, all of which were designed to improve life chances for all;

 

(iv) noted the opportunity to support the Children and Families Service in achieving key areas for improvement, particularly in relation to:-

 

- greater integration of more functions within the Children and Families Service and across the Council in order to improve accessibility for citizens and embed the one team culture;

 

- improving engagement with partner agencies at a strategic level;

 

- improving engagement and understanding of the needs and customer experience within the various communities of interest, including improving consultation and engagement with hard to reach groups;

- better alignment between schools and community centres to increase awareness about the range of Council services being delivered in communities;

 

- strengthening the alignment of financial and strategic planning with resource allocation; and

 

(v) noted that in each of the PSIF assessments undertaken to date, Leadership was consistently the highest scoring theme. The level of commitment and dedication of our people and the respect partners and stakeholders had for Council staff had also been a recurring theme, as well as the positive perceptions wider stakeholders had in relation to the Councils honesty and transparency in relation to partnership working.

 

VI INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

 

There was submitted Report No 220-2019 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 within the report.

 

VII 2018/2019 INTERNAL AUDIT ANNUAL REPORT

 

There was submitted Report No 221-2019 by the Senior Manager, Internal Audit submitting the 2018/2019 Internal Audit Annual Report and providing the Committee with an independent annual internal audit opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation's governance, risk management and control framework and a summary of the key activities of the Council's Internal Audit Service during the period from which the opinion was derived.

 

The Committee considered and noted the contents of the report.

 

VIII RISK MANAGEMENT ANNUAL REPORT

 

There was submitted Report No 222-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing the Committee with an update on the status of actions within the Risk Management Improvement Plan, an outline of the stage reached in developing Service-level Risk Registers, and proposals to further develop the Council's Corporate Risk Register.

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted target dates for actions which remained outstanding with the Council's Risk Management Improvement Plan (RMIP) as detailed in paragraph 5 of the report;

 

(ii) noted the stage reached in developing Service-level Risk Registers as detailed in paragraph 6 of the report, the schedule for completion of these as detailed in the Roll‑out Plan and that these would be progressively added to Pentana;

 

(iii) noted the proposed actions to further develop the Council's Corporate Risk Register as detailed in paragraph 7 of the report; and

 

(iv) noted additional relevant information, including an update on the Corporate Risk Management Working Group (CRMWG) meetings, the recent Internal Audit of the Council's Risk Management Arrangements and cross-referencing to risk within the 2019/2020 Internal Audit Plan as detailed in paragraph 8 of the report.

 

IX SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC MONEY: ARE YOU GETTING IT RIGHT?

 

There was submitted Report No 231-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing the Committee with a summary of the above national report that had been compiled by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission.

 

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted the key messages arising from the Audit Scotland report appended to the report; and

 

(ii) noted the eight Councillor checklists within the Audit Scotland report.

 

X INSURANCE CLAIMS HANDLING AUDIT

 

There was submitted Report No 232-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing the Committee with a report prepared by the Council's Insurers, Zurich Municipal, to provide an objective analysis of Dundee City Council's claims handling measured against current best practice. The review measured the quality of claims handling, and in financial terms captured any improvement opportunities.

 

The Committee noted the report which was appended at Appendix A of the report.

 

XI AUDIT SCOTLAND MANAGEMENT REPORT - INTERIM AUDIT 2018/2019

 

There was submitted Report No 248-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing the Committee with the Management Report - Interim Audit 2018/2019 prepared by the Council's External Auditor, Audit Scotland.

 

The Committee noted Audit Scotland's report and approved the management response to Audit Scotland's key findings contained therein.

 

XII ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR TO 31ST MARCH, 2019

 

There was submitted Report No 224-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services presenting the Annual Governance Statement for approval and inclusion into the unaudited Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st March, 2019.

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted the contents of the covering report;

 

(ii) approved the Annual Governance Statement which was included as an appendix to the report;

 

(iii) instructed the Executive Director of Corporate Services to include the Annual Governance Statement in the Annual Accounts for the year to 31st March, 2019; and

 

(iv) noted that a copy of the approved Annual Governance Statement would be submitted to the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership for assurance purposes.

 

XIII DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL UNAUDITED ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2019

 

There was submitted Report No 249-2019 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services providing background and additional commentary on the Council's unaudited Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st March, 2019.

 

The Committee:-

 

(i) noted the contents of the covering report;

 

(ii) noted the unaudited Annual Accounts that had been submitted along with the report;

 

(iii) instructed the Executive Director of Corporate Services to arrange for the annual accounts to be signed as required and submitted to the Council's External Auditors; and

 

(iv) noted that the key assumptions underpinning the independent actuaries calculation of the Council's IAS 19 liability had been reviewed and accepted by the Council as administering authority for the Pension Fund.

 

 

 

 

Kevin KEENAN, Convener.