Issue - meetings

(a)       That the report be accepted; and

(b)       That the Committee is assured of the progress which has been made on direct payments.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the update report on the work of the Internal Audit department.  The move to the new integrated audit software was improving the tracking of recommendations but had affected progress against the Audit plan for 2015/16, however this was heading back on track.  There had been a rise in the number of councils participating in the Wales Chief Auditors Group benchmarking exercise which showed Flintshire’s performance to be mainly above average.  On finalised reports, more detail was provided on the findings of the ‘red’ risk review on direct payments which had received a significant increase in service users.

The Senior Manager (Safeguarding & Commissioning) and Business Manager gave a detailed update on the completed actions in the red risk area which involved a number of controls and improvements to the process.  Members were reminded that Flintshire had piloted direct payments and was leading implementation across Wales.  Council officers were working closely with social workers and senior managers to assess the concerns and to increase robustness of the process.  Whilst most actions had been addressed, the recommendation to add fields to the Lotus Notes database had not been done as requirements had been built into the P2P system.  In respect of managing risks, consultation with other councils had not identified a monitoring tool and so the team were instead working with Accountancy colleagues to build their own system.  Explanation was also given on the agreed system for closing direct payments and the implementation of direct payment cards.  The Senior Manager felt that the findings of the audit had proved useful in giving an independent perspective on the service.

The Chief Executive reiterated that the implementation of direct payments was still a new initiative and that the Council’s involvement in the pilot had been positive in testing the process and identifying improvements.  He advised that progress would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee.

Mr. Paul Williams asked whether resources/training had been a barrier in implementing the existing procedures.  The officers highlighted Flintshire’s prominent role in working with Welsh Government (WG) to help shape direct payments.  Initial take-up had been high, during a time when one employee had been responsible for processing.  However, the recommendations by Internal Audit had helped to improve controls and resulted in expertise now being shared across the team.

When asked about the issue on financial monitoring, officers explained that help was being provided to the support agency to resolve the few outstanding issues which were manageable.

Concerns were raised by Councillor Arnold Woolley about the range of findings of the review.  The Senior Manager reiterated that direct payments were a new system with an expected learning curve.  Complex administration issues were involved and whilst WG guidance had been taken on board, there were no examples of best practice to draw from.  The improvements being made would help to retain a degree of flexibility in direct payments with improved controls, and officers were continuing to develop the system with WG and other authorities.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63