Agenda item

Report by the Director of Finance and Support Services, and the Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership.

The Committee will also receive a verbal update on the Care Quality Commission work.

The Committee is asked to note the Internal Audit Progress Report.

35.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Finance and Support Services, and the Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership (copy appended to the signed minutes).

35.2     The item began with attendance from Mrs Phillips, Assistant Director – Safeguarding planning performance, to discuss the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection preparation.

35.3     Mrs Phillips explained that adult social care had not been inspected in 13 years and so the CQC was inspecting to ensure compliance with the care act.  County Council officers had been working with the CQC to understand the methodology that would be used for the inspection so that they could ensure necessary compliance with the care act responsibilities.  20 Councils will be inspected each quarter until all councils have a base line.

35.4     Mrs Phillips reported that officers were focussing on the ‘must’ and ‘should’ elements of compliance; and had created an action plan linked to adults project plan.  Internal Audit were working with the service to look into the plans and the assessment criteria.  Seven audits had been undertaken; five were reasonable and two were limited.  Internal Audit had marked the project plan as reasonable, and highlighted areas for improvement.  142 polices are also being reviewed by officers to ensure compliance.

35.5     Mrs Phillips reported that additional funding had been granted by the County Council in the budget for a two year improvement programme.

35.6     The Committee made comments including those that follow.

·         Queried how the plan would be organised and monitored.  - Mrs Phillips explained that there was a Programme Management Office which was being chaired by the Director of Adult Services.

·         Asked what oversight the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee (HASC) would have over the project.  – Cllr Wall, Chairman of HASC, confirmed that the project was well on the Committee’s radar.

·         Sought clarity over the control systems to manage the multiple policies.  – Mrs Phillips agreed there were a high number of policies and gave reassurance that a piece of work was underway to ensure the policies were accessible.

·         Queried the assessment into the County Council’s capabilities to successfully deliver the project.  – Mrs Phillips reported that the new Programme Management Office was in place to manage and assess the project.

·         Questioned who set the agenda of inspections.  – Mrs Phillips explained that the methodology is set by CQC, and that the County Council should not be marked down for areas of development if they have been identified and addressed in the action plan robustly.

35.7     The Committee thanked Mrs Phillips for her attendance and update on the project.

35.8     Mr Pitman, Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership, introduced the report and confirmed that there had been a reduction of overdue actions.  A review of purchase cards had been undertaken to consider spend across the organisation to enable a holistic review of risks and identify susceptible areas.

35.9     The Committee made comments including those that follow.

·          Commented that workforce planning had been discussed at the September Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee (PFSC) and would be due again in September 2023.  – Mrs Eves resolved to share the PFSC report with the Committee and gave reassurance that the Executive Leadership Team were closely monitoring the issue alongside PFSC.

·         Sought clarity on the findings of the procurement service review of contractor expenditure not aligned to contracts.  – Mrs Eves confirmed that the audit findings had been noted and accepted.  Officers were looking into procurement strategies and thresholds; and working to ensure everyone was aware of the requirements.

·         Raised concerns on the findings that 14,000 purchase card transactions had not been approved by a manager.  – Mrs Eves reported that there had been significant improvements made in the Children’s Services directorate in this area.  Officers were working to tidy the system and ensure accurate data was held for account holders.  Cllr Hunt confirmed that this was a historic issue that covered a significant number of transactions.

·         Queried the deadlines in the report and how extensions were managed for actions.  – Mr Pitman highlighted that annex 2 of the report outlined all timescales.  The dates were set by the officers responsible for their implementation.  Through the progress report the Southern Internal Audit Partnership transparently relayed any changes to the original timescales agreed, with reasons for those of a high priority. It is within the gift of the Committee to hold officers to account if they are concerned that timescales for the implementation of management actions are unreasonably long.

·         Asked if Internal Audit challenged deadline changes.  – Mr Pitman explained that there was no significant challenge from Internal Audit, and that formal challenges should come from the Committee.

·         The Committee raised concerns on the dates for working time directive and cyber security.  – Mrs Eves commented that the significant issues for cyber security had been addressed and resolved to ensure dialogue was added to the next report for the Committee to consider.  Mrs Eves also proposed that background information should be added to reports to explain where dates were a long way off.

35.10  Resolved – That the Committee notes the Internal Audit Progress Report (February 2023).