Scrutiny Committee - 25/06/2025

At a MEETING of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held remotely on 25th June, 2025.

Present:-

BAILIES

Willie SAWERS

(for Nadia EL-NAKLA)

Kevin KEENAN

Fraser MACPHERSON

COUNCILLORS

Jimmy BLACK

Lee MILLS

(for Christina ROBERTS)

Georgia CRUICKSHANK (substitute for Helen WRIGHT)

Lynne SHORT

Bailie Kevin KEENAN, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 23rd April, 2025 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 2024 TO MARCH 2025

There was submitted Report No 204-2025 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, providing a summary of Care Inspectorate (CI) inspection reports for Dundee City Council nurseries from May 2024 and March 2025.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the summary of the external inspection reports.

III EDUCATION SCOTLAND VISIT - HARRIS ACADEMY

There was submitted Report No 203-2025 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service, reporting on the findings of the Education Scotland, His Majestys Inspectors of Education (HMI) visit to Harris Academy in February 2025.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the report.

IV EDUCATION SCOTLAND RETURN VISIT ST JOHN'S RC HIGH SCHOOL

There was submitted Report No 206-2025 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service, reporting on the findings of the Education Scotland, His Majestys Inspectors of Education (HMI) return visit to St Johns RC High School in January 2025.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the report.

V CARE INSPECTORATE REPORTS ON CHILDREN'S HOMES

There was submitted Report No 205-2025 by the Executive Director of Children and Families Service, providing a summary of the Care Inspectorates findings from recent annual inspections of Childrens Homes at Gillburn House (published 3rd December, 2024, Appendix 1 to the report); The Junction (published 12th February, 2025, Appendix 2 to the report); and Foresters House (published 5th May, 2025, Appendix 3 to the report).

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the contents of the report, including findings and work being undertaken to progress further improvements.

VI FIRE AND RESCUE QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT

There was submitted Report No 208-2025 by the Area Commander, providing information regarding the performance of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service against the priorities, outcomes and performance measures detailed within the Local Fire and Rescue Plan for Dundee 20202023, to facilitate local scrutiny.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note, scrutinise and question the content of the report.

VII DUNDEE POLICING AREA QUARTERLY POLICE REPORT

There was submitted Report No 209-2025 by the Chief Superintendent, recommending that members note and scrutinise the operational report.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note and scrutinise the information to the Committee regarding the performance of Police Scotland to facilitate local scrutiny.

VIII INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

There was submitted Report No 178-2025 by the Chief Internal Auditor, submitting a summary of the Internal Audit Reports finalised since the last Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the information contained within the report.

IX INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN UPDATE AND PROGRESS REPORT

There was submitted Report No 183-2025 by the Chief Internal Auditor, submitting an update on the progress towards delivering the 2024/2025 Internal Audit Plan; the audits from previous years plans that were not complete in June 2024, and information about the number of open internal audit recommendations.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the progress with the Internal Audit Plan;

(ii) to note progress with the implementation of agreed internal audit recommendations; and

(iii) to provide feedback on the new layout in the report tables.

X 2024/2025 INTERNAL AUDIT ANNUAL REPORT

There was submitted Report No 179-2025 by the Chief Internal Auditor, submitting the Chief Internal Auditors Annual Report for 2024/2025. 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 agreed:-

(i) to consider and note the contents of the report.

XI ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT TO 31ST MARCH, 2025

There was submitted Report No 181-2025 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, 2025.

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, 2025; and

(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.

XII UNAUDITED ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2025

There was submitted Report No 182-2025 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, 2025 which were being submitted to the Scrutiny 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, 2025 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.

XIII AUDIT SCOTLAND BEST VALUE THEMATIC REVIEW 2024/2025

There was submitted Report No 202-2025 by the Chief Executive, presenting Audit Scotlands report on the outcome of their Best Value Thematic Review for 2024/25 on Transformation.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the findings and recommendations in the report attached as Appendix 1; and

(ii) to note that the actions in the improvement plan would be included in the Chief Executives Service Plan.

XIV 2024/2025 COMMITTEE SELF-ASSESSMENT AND ANNUAL REPORT

There was submitted Report No 180-2025 by the Chief Internal Auditor, providing a draft annual report on the work undertaken by the Scrutiny Committee during 2024/2025.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to review the draft annual report for the year to 31st March, 2025 and provide any comment;

(ii) to determine whether any amendments were required in the light of issues discussed at this meeting;

(iii) to agree the items for inclusion in an action plan, and

(iv) to approve the annual report and that it be submitted to the City Governance Committee.

XV ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLAINTS 2024/2025

There was submitted Report No 146-2025 by the Chief Executive, on the Annual Report on Complaints for 2024/2025, contained in Appendix 1 of the report, presenting an update on performance regarding complaints in 2024/2025, with comparisons to previous years, and showed how the Council continued to learn from complaints.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the key performance indicators (KPIs) on complaints closed between 1st April, 2024 and 31st March, 2025, with trends from previous periods, which was attached to the report as Appendix 1;

(ii) to note examples of the range and volume of transactions the Council had with customers and citizens as a context for the number of complaints received, which was attached to the report as Appendix 2;

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

(iv) to note examples of compliments received about Council services, and

(v) to note results of the satisfaction survey sent to people who made complaints in 2024/2025.

XVI LOCAL GOVERNMENT BENCHMARKING FRAMEWORK PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 2023/2024

Reference was made to Article III of the minute of meeting of the City Governance Committee held on 12th May, 2025 where it was agreed to remit this report to the Scrutiny Committee for further consideration.

There was submitted Report No 161-2025 by the Chief Executive, advising of the performance of Dundee City Council, for the financial year 2023/2024, as defined by the performance indicators compiled by the Improvement Service for the Local Government Benchmark Framework (LGBF). It focused on the 40 indicators that most aligned to the priorities as set out in the Council Plan 2022/2027 and described the Councils performance in relation to comparator authorities (i.e. Local Government Benchmark Framework Family Group) for these.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the results contained in summary at section 5.2 of the report and more fully in Appendix 1 of the report;

Kevin KEENAN, Convener.