Agenda item

That the Council’s Improvement Assessment Letter received from the Auditor General for Wales and the Council’s response be noted.

The Chief Executive introduced a report on the Council’s Improvement Assessment Letter of October 2012 from the Auditor General for Wales, together with the Council’s response.  He summarised the background to the report which, together with the draft response, had been received by the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee with no new issues raised, prior to approval by Cabinet in November 2012.

Ms. A. Hughes of Wales Audit Office (WAO) explained that along with some other Authorities, the Council had delayed publishing its Improvement Plan, due to the administration change following the local government elections, which meant that a report on this audit would be included in a further Letter to the Council.  The report indicated that the Council was likely to comply with the requirement to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement during the financial year.  Whilst the significant financial challenges facing all Authorities was recognised, Ms. Hughes said that the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan was progressing but that more clarity was required on savings across all areas to meet financial pressures.  The Council’s improving performance in the use of technology was backed up by some examples of good practice.  No new recommendations had been made by WAO, although progress on those outstanding from previous reports would continue to be monitored to bring them to a conclusion.  In summing up, Ms. Hughes thanked the Council in helping to facilitate the work carried out by WAO and said that relations between the two would continue to be fostered.

On the use of technology, the Head of ICT & Customer Services said that comments made by WAO had been positive and that targets on service planning and performance indicators were mainly being achieved, with some outstanding issues due to an increase in demand for IT services.  He added that an increased demand for IT services in the Flintshire Futures programme would require careful prioritisation.

Mr. P. Williams asked if there were sufficient resources to cope with demand.  The Head of ICT & Customer Services replied that a review of ICT Services was being carried out, to take into consideration service demand and more effective use of resources.

In response to a query raised by Councillor G.H. Bateman on provision for the potential for equal pay liability, Ms. Hughes explained that external experts had worked to assist Flintshire and other Councils in North Wales on this.  However, audit work on the financial statements for Flintshire, which had been reported in September, had raised concerns about the use of this information without sufficient rigour and challenge.

The Chief Executive said that equal pay was a historic and sensitive issue for local government.  He had discussed with John Herniman of WAO the comments made on the figure provided in the accounts and this was deemed to be a technical accounting issue at that time on which there was now a greater understanding.  The Head of Legal & Democratic Services went on to explain that an estimate figure had been required for accounting purposes and that this had been accepted on the basis that assumptions would change over time.  Councillor A. Woolley added that there had been cases in other Authorities but that the external experts would not have been aware of those impacts at that time of giving advice to Flintshire.

In response to a query by the Chair on Flintshire Futures, Ms. Hughes said that the timing and value of savings yielded from individual projects would benefit from greater clarity.

Mr. Williams asked how the Audit Committee could monitor progress on the implementation of outstanding recommendations made by WAO.  Ms. Hughes said that the Committee’s responsibility in considering recommendations from external regulators meant ensuring that actions were taking place across the Council rather than the Committee progress tracking recommendations itself.  In response to a further question on interaction between Overview & Scrutiny and Audit Committee to ensure that actions were being carried out, Ms. Hughes said that it was for the Committee to decide on an appropriate way of enabling it to fulfil its role but she was aware of arrangements in some other Authorities where quarterly update reports on recommendations were submitted to Audit Committees.  Mr. Williams commented on the need for closer liaison between the Committee and Overview & Scrutiny.  Mr. P. Green of RSM Tenon Plc said that this should be tailored to the needs of the Committee.

In response to the comments made and a query on Single Status by Councillor G.S. Banks, the Chief Executive commented on the overlap of roles between Audit Committee and Overview & Scrutiny which had been reflected in the Council’s response to the WAO Letter.  On the Single Status project, he said that resources were sufficient for this demand intensive programme and that an effective date between 1 April - 30 June 2013 had been agreed.  The Chief Executive accepted that there was scope to progress on Flintshire Futures but said that there were other outside economic and policy influences, some of which were national and outside the Council’s control, which could not be predicted.  In order to bridge the financial gap between available resources and the cost of delivering services, difficult decisions would need to be made by the Council on prioritising spend.  On IT resources, the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) assessment had a positive outcome and a recently published self-assessment had been well received by Estyn.

The Chair asked for clarification on two of the projects mentioned in the report.  The Chief Executive explained that a Flintshire Connects ‘hub’ had recently opened in Holywell providing a walk-in centre to access all Council services and that this facility would be extended to other areas of the county.  The Head of ICT & Customer Services said that ‘channel shift’ was a method of encouraging changes from traditional ways of working to alternative modern ways.

RESOLVED:

That the Council’s Improvement Assessment Letter received from the Auditor General for Wales and the Council’s response be noted.