Agenda item

(a)       That the arrangements in place for the scrutiny of performance and collaborative projects be noted and monitored; and

(b)       That the protocol for collaborative projects be developed to include the role of the Audit Committee.

The Chief Executive introduced the report to consider the scrutiny of performance of collaborative projects, as requested at the previous meeting.  This included an overview of regional collaboration in North Wales to give assurance that the Council was meeting its commitments under the National Compact and on suitable arrangements to govern, review and evaluate collaborative working.

The Chief Executive commented on previous concerns raised by Members on the Telecare project, as an example, arising from communication on the transition stages, which had led to detailed discussion.  He explained that the report aimed to clarify roles for both the Audit Committee and Overview & Scrutiny for the increased number of collaborative projects undertaken by the Council as well as including details of current examples.  Within the appended Regional Collaboration report, he highlighted the sections on the tracking of new collaborative projects prior to implementation together with those on assessing performance and governance arrangements on which the Audit Committee would have a key role.  He spoke of the role of Overview & Scrutiny and Cabinet on business cases, holding to account and reporting, and said that the involvement of Audit Committee would add to quality assurance.  He then made a suggestion that the protocol be developed.

Councillor P.G. Heesom said it was important that collaborative arrangements did not conflict with local arrangements and felt that correlation between the two had not been resolved.  He spoke of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and the need to look at a financial planning framework for collaborative arrangements.

In response to the comments on a local fit, the Chief Executive said that each Council did and would take this into account during reviewing business cases for collaboration.  For example, the protection of schools and quality of support had been a key issue for School Improvement which Council had endeavoured to meet, whereas the CCTV regional project had been rejected due to proposals not meeting local need.  During agreement of business cases, financial planning was and would be built in.

Councillor I.B. Roberts pointed out that with the exception of the Mersey Dee Alliance, there appeared to be an absence of partners from English Councils on the collaborative projects listed.  The Chief Executive said that the only regional formal collaboration of this type at strategic level was for transport and economic development.  He pointed out that significant progress had been made on collaboration and for the future, more radical solutions may necessitate cross-border collaboration.

The Internal Audit Manager referred to involvement of his team on collaborative models by reviewing business cases, the agreement that the Internal Audit department of the lead Council on individual collaborations undertook the audit of those areas and the reviews of governance where the arrangements were for Joint Committees with Flintshire as the lead Council.

Councillor A. Woolley referred to the importance of cross-border working on the Mersey Dee Alliance.

Councillor J.B. Attridge spoke of the potential for future changes in Local Government arising from the Welsh Government Public Services Commission.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the arrangements in place for the scrutiny of performance and collaborative projects be noted and monitored; and

(b)       That the protocol for collaborative projects be developed to include the role of the Audit Committee.