Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in

doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned; and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting of the Audit Committee held on 24 November 2016 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the last meeting held on 24 November 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.

To consider a progress report on individual risks identified in the Council’s Strategic Risk Register.

The Committee considered a progress report in relation to the individual risks identified on the Strategic Risk Register, specifically in relation to risks regarding ‘Reputational Damage’. The Committee discussed plans to control and mitigate the risks with the risk owners, Mr Jack, Chief Executive and Mr Cavill, Director of Place.

Mr Jack began by explaining that overall, the Council was now seeking to be much more pro-active in dealing with media and reputational issues, rather than simply responding to requests for information. Additionally, work was being carried out with the Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Blackpool Teaching Hospital Trust in terms of a more coordinated approach to press and media releases. Going forward, a shared communications service with those agencies was being looked at, similar to what was already in place for legal services and emergency planning, between the Trust and the Council.

Mr Jack went on to explain that different and more effective methods of engaging with the community were currently being examined, particularly in relation to the Fairness Commission. The intention was for all of the different elements of the town to be brought together. A detailed plan was being coordinated by Dr Arif Rajpura, Director of Public Health and the essence of the plan was an intention to be more supportive towards the community.

In terms of new initiatives going forward, Mr Jack spoke about the opportunities afforded by the potential new conference centre and the new Blackpool Museum in order to attract both additional and different types of visitors to the town.

Mr Cavill spoke about the success of the ‘Blackpool has it all’ media campaign in terms of promoting the town and the fact that over 100 positive press articles had appeared nationally, as a result of active media management. The Committee was informed of the initiatives to bring together public relations from across the business economy in an attempt to manage media commentaries in a joined up way, leading to a lower volume of unilateral press releases.

Mr Jack responded to a number of questions from the Committee. In connection with the risk of negative TV documentaries, regardless of the level of cooperation given by the Council, or other agencies, he explained that the level of cooperation would be decided upon on an individual basis when an approach was made. He quoted the example of the ‘999 what’s your emergency?’ TV programme, which gave a very negative view of Blackpool, despite full cooperation being given by the police. Mr Cavill added that the intention was not to turn down all requests and pointed out that the Council had developed a good relationship with TV AM, which had resulted in some very positive morning TV slots being aired.

The Committee asked for additional details to be provided about the corporate branding and the engagement toolkit, as detailed against risk 6b in the register. Mr Jack explained that the corporate branding approach was designed to make it clear who was doing a piece of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To provide the Audit Committee with an update on progress made on the actions identified in the Annual Governance Statement 2015-2016.

The Committee considered the Action Plan following the mid-term review of the Annual Governance Statement 2015-2016. The report was presented by Mr. Towers, who explained the statutory background to the Annual Governance Statement which was designed to provide assurance around the governance framework of the Council. He explained that Members and officers had inputted into the self assessment and the action plan had been developed to build upon the existing assurance process. Mr Towers further explained that efforts to consult with a wider group of respondents was an action contained with the current plan. Mrs Greenhalgh, Chief Internal Auditor added the mid-term review had proved to be a very useful process in checking progress on developments.

Mr Towers responded to several questions from the Committee. Asked how the Leadership Charter would be used, he explained that the current Individual Performance Appraisal (IPA) exercise consisted largely of operational management objectives and that a new approach was now being examined to identify different leadership behaviours, values and principles. He confirmed that going forward, managers would be asked to explain if and how they felt their objectives had been met, during the appraisal interview.

The Committee asked whether the whistleblowing policy was linked into fraud awareness training and what the timelines were regarding progress.  Mrs Greenhalgh explained that it was hoped that whistleblowing training and awareness raising would be in place by the end of the financial year.  She acknowledged that the take up for fraud awareness training was still low and that areas of the Council considered to be most important in terms of the training were now being targeted.

Asked about progress on the review of ethical principles, Mrs Greenhalgh confirmed that this would be focussed on in the next six months.

The Committee discussed the issue around performance management, identified within the report as needing to be more robust and the data more accessible. Mr Jack acknowledged that performance management data was inconsistent across the organisation. Some of the data was considered to be too cumbersome and needed to be streamlined. A great deal of data was in existence but it did not necessarily support current decision making processes and was not altogether complete across the Council.

The Committee asked questions around the proposal for an independent member to be appointed to the Audit Committee and the information that was contained within the action plan in support of that. Mr Towers explained that the proposal had been developed in conjunction with best practice and that the Committee had been supportive when the Action Plan had been agreed in June 2016 and now the Leader of the Council had confirmed his support.

The Committee discussed the issue around managing risk with reduced resources and asked whether this would have an impact on the Corporate Risk Register. Mrs Greenhalgh explained that the Risk Register was currently in the process of being reviewed and a report would be presented to the Committee in due course.

Members asked about the prospects for progress against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To highlight to the Audit Committee the items on the Adult Services and Children’s Services departmental risk registers that are scored as high net risk, in response to a request at the last meeting of the Committee.

Following a request made at its last meeting, the Committee considered a report which highlighted items on the Adult Services and Children’s Services departmental risk registers that were scored as a high net risk. The report was presented by Mrs Wood, Head of Business Support and Resources (Children and Adult Services). She explained the context of the report, in that the Departmental Risk Register sat directly underneath the Strategic Risk Register, detailing the high risk items and identifying whether they were adequately represented on the Strategic Risk Register. She added that three out of the four risks on the departmental register were represented on the Strategic Register.

A brief explanation was given as to the reasons for the items being on the departmental register. Mr Jack then explained in more detail some of the background, context and measures being taken to mitigate the risks. Crucially, it was acknowledged that the high numbers of looked after children needed to be reduced, whilst understanding the higher levels of unpredictability and unforseeability that existed in terms of risks against children, compared with adults. He explained however that the Council was getting better at wider family engagement, and spoke of the arrangements for improved local support. These included the Crash Pad model, providing short term respite care and the Pause model, providing medical and psychological support and looking directly at the problems in a persons life. The evidence base existed to suggest that improved local support achieved improved outcomes, as well as being significantly cheaper to deliver. The aim was to reduce the number of looked after children from the current figure of over 500, to around 450 within three years.

Mrs Wood explained other additional initiatives currently underway with a view to reducing the number of looked after children. These included a forensic review currently underway of the 20 most costly placements and the three-five year Commissioning Strategy being developed, which would outline future plans for children’s placements.

Mrs Wood and Mr Jack responded to questions from the Committee. It was confirmed that no financial incentives would be provided by way of encouragement to take part in the Pause programme, and that only medical and psychological interventions were provided.

The Committee asked about the tight and robust management oversight that was detailed as one of the controls and mitigations provided against the risk of failure to keep people safe within the Children’s Services department. Members queried whether this should not be happening in all areas. Mrs Wood agreed that should be the case and pointed out this was a specific action around supporting good practice, reviewing cases and explaining why decisions were being made.

The Committee discussed the likely impact of the financial plan that was currently being worked towards and asked about the possibility of the high net risk scores being reduced at the end of three years. Mrs Wood expressed an aim to bring the current scores of 20 down to 16 if successful and to achieve more manageable risk levels.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note the date and time of the next meeting of the Committee as 2 March 2017, commencing at 6pm..

The Committee noted the time and date of the next meeting as 6pm on Thursday 2nd March 2017 at Town Hall, Blackpool.