Minutes:
The Committee received a presentation from the Strategic Director of Resources on the progress made on the recommendations in the Annual Governance Statement 2011/12 and the response to risks raised by the Audit Commission in the 2011/12 Audit Plan. Members were informed that the recovery plan following the recent Ofsted inspection on safeguarding services was being closely monitored and supported by specialist interim staff. Progress on the plan was reported monthly to Members and funding had been provided for service improvement. On economic stability, Members were updated on the production of the budget, which was due to be presented to the next meeting of the full Council, and had set a full medium term budget position for the Authority. In response to recommendations on business continuity, a plan was being written by KPMG and a simulation test was in preparation. The Workforce Planning Strategy was also outlined and a workforce plan would be presented to the Corporate Management Team.
The Audit Commission’s recommendation that the authority implement a Partnership Governance Toolkit had been completed and partnership terms of reference were being reviewed in line with this. Progress on developing an operational risk register identifying strategic risk was also good. The framework, strategy and policy document were in place and risk management training for staff was complete. It was noted that Departmental registers were still in place. Furthermore, a single procurement strategy was also in development. This would bring together existing procedures and reduce ambiguity. A central contracts register had been implemented in April 2011 and the exemptions process was captured in draft contract procedure rules.??
The District Auditor, Mr Chris Westwood, commented that he was satisfied with the progress made on the Audit Commission’s recommendations.
Resolved:- That the presentation be noted.