Scrutiny Committee - 28/06/2023

At a MEETING of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held remotely on 28th June, 2023.

Present:-

Depute Lord Provost Kevin CORDELL

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Bailie Kevin KEENAN, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 26th April, 2023 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

II SUMMARY OF EXTERNAL CARE INSPECTORATE INSPECTION REPORTS FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY NURSERIES - MAY, 2022 TO MARCH, 2023

There was submitted Report No 189-2023 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service, providing a summary of external Care Inspectorate (CI) inspection reports for local authority nurseries from May, 2022 to March, 2023.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the summary of the external inspection reports; and

(ii) to remit the Executive Director of Children and Families Service to ensure that the area for improvement was acted upon, both in relation to the particular services inspected and as guidance on good practice for other services.

III INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

There was submitted Report No 181-2023 by the Chief Internal Auditor, providing a summary of the Internal Audit Reports finalised since the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the information contained within the report.

IV INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN UPDATE AND PROGRESS REPORT

There was submitted Report No 183-2023 by the Chief Internal Auditor, providing an update on the progress towards delivering the 2022/2023 Internal Audit Plan; the audits brought forward from the 2021/2022 Plan; and information about the number of open internal audit recommendations.

The Committee discussed and agreed to note the information contained within the report.

V 2022/2023 INTERNAL AUDIT ANNUAL REPORT

There was submitted Report No 182-2023 by the Chief Internal Auditor, providing the Chief Internal Auditors Annual Report for 2022/2023 to the Committee. The report provided an independent annual internal audit opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisations governance, risk management and control framework and a summary of the key activities of the Councils Internal Audit Service during the period from which the opinion was derived. It also provided all the information that the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) required to be reported to those charged with governance.

The Committee considered and agreed to note the contents of the report.

VI ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR TO 31ST MARCH, 2023

There was submitted Report No 167-2023 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 2023.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the covering report;

(ii) to approve the Annual Governance Statement which was included as an Appendix to the report;

(iii) to instruct the Executive Director of Corporate Services to include the Annual Governance Statement in the Annual Accounts for the year to 31st March, 2023;

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

(v) to note the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Councils corporate governance as detailed in the Annual Governance Statement.

VII UNAUDITED ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2023

There was submitted Report No 190-2023 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, providing some background and additional commentary on the Councils unaudited Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st March, 2023 which were being submitted to the Committee along with this report.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the covering report;

(ii) to note the Unaudited Annual Accounts which had been submitted along with the report;

(iii) to instruct the Executive Director of Corporate Services to arrange for the Unaudited Annual Accounts to be signed as required and submitted to the Councils external auditor by 30th June, 2023 at the latest;

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

(v) to note that a Members briefing on the Annual Accounts would be arranged.

VIII OTHER REPORTS RELEVANT TO THE REMIT OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

There was submitted Report No 184-2023 by the Chief Internal Auditor, advising of reports submitted to Tayside Contracts Joint Committee, Tayside Valuation Joint Board and Tay Road Bridge Joint Board that were relevant to the work of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the reports as listed at Appendix 1 of the report.

IX DUNDEE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT

There was submitted Report No 188-2023 by the Chief Internal Auditor submitting, for information only, the Dundee Integration Joint Board (IJB) internal audit report for Governance Action Plan.

The Committee agreed to note, for assurance purposes, the information contained within the report.

X ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLAINTS

There was submitted Report No 153-2023 by the Chief Executive, reporting on performance regarding complaints in 2022/2023, with comparisons to previous years, and to show how the Council continued to learn from complaints.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the key performance indicators on complaints closed between 1st April, 2022 and 31st March, 2023, with trends from previous periods;

(ii) to note the examples of the volume of transactions the Council had with customers and citizens as a context for the number of complaints;

(iii) to note the examples of how complaints had been used to improve services;

(iv) to note the results of the satisfaction survey sent to people who made complaints in 2022/2023; and

(v) to note the examples of compliments received about Council services.

XI LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLAND - OVERVIEW 2023

There was submitted Report No 192-2023 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, providing a summary of the above national report that had been undertaken by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission.

The Committee agreed to note the key messages arising from the Audit Scotland overview report.

XII LOCAL GOVERNMENT BENCHMARKING FRAMEWORK PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 2021/2022

Reference was made to Article XII of the minute of meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee of 15th May, 2023, wherein it was agreed to submit the above report to this meeting of the Scrutiny Committee for further consideration.

There was submitted Report No 71-2023 by the Chief Executive, advising of the performance of the Council for the financial year 2021/2022, as defined by the performance indicators compiled by the Improvement Service for the Local Government Benchmark Framework (LGBF). It also explained how reporting was to be aligned to the priorities as set out in the Council Plan 2022/2027 and described the Councils performance in relation to their comparator authorities (ie Family Group).

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the results contained in the report; and

(ii) to remit the Council Leadership Team to review the selected areas of improvement in Section 6 of the report.

Kevin KEENAN, Convener.