Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Head of Business Improvement & Modernisation (copy attached) to inform Members of the WAO’s conclusion and improvement proposals.

The Wales Audit Office representative, Gwilym Bury, introduced the Wales Audit Office (WAO) Annual Improvement Report 2016-17 (previously circulated) to advise Council of the WAO’s conclusion and improvement proposals, and to secure Council endorsement of a response to the Report.

Under the Local Government Measure, the Wales Audit Office annually reviewed the Council’s progress towards meeting its objectives and its prospects for continuing to improve in the year ahead.

Overall, this had been a very positive report and no recommendations had been put forward.  However, the report highlighted six “proposals for improvement” to be considered:

(i)    Strengthen governance arrangements by consistent, timely monitoring of each significant service change.

(ii)   Strengthen financial planning arrangements by:

Ø  Developing an Income Generation/Charging Policy

Ø  Formally risk rating savings according to achievability and identify sustainable mitigating actions for those classified as high risk.

(iii)  Strengthen people management arrangements by:

Ø  Developing an approach to ensure that employees with limited or no access to the intranet can access relevant HR information, and

Ø  Ensuring that variations and inconsistency of application of HR policies are avoided for front-line non-office-based employees.

(iv) Strengthen asset management arrangements by ensuring that actions already underway to modernise corporate asset management arrangements promote more efficient and effective use of the Council’s land and property portfolio and reinforce its contribution as a strategic resource.

(v)  Strengthen ICT arrangements by:

Ø  Ensuring the Council consults its ICT service over all technology purchases for both strategic and routine purchases, and

Ø  Ensuring adequate ICT expertise are included in larger-scale or higher-risk procurements and implementations.

(vi) Strengthen information management arrangements by:

Ø  Ensuring Information Governance arrangements meet the requirements of international standards and include representation from across the whole of the Council

Ø  Extending the terms of reference of the Information Governance Group to cover business information needs as well as the requirements for compliance

Ø  Developing an Information Strategy, linked to other resource strategies, to shape information use and ensure information is accessible when and where it is needed, and

Ø  Developing longer-term implementation plans for the Electronic Document and Records Management System to move the Council towards its goal of a paperless office environment.

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance & Strategy Assets confirmed the update from the Council to the proposals for improvement as follows:

(i)    Robust arrangements were in place to monitor service change.  This would continue to be a lead role for Scrutiny and the Service Challenge process in particular

(ii)   The report would be taken to Cabinet by Autumn 2017 outlining the proposals to strengthen arrangements in this area.  An improved system of risk rating the efficiency plans was to be adopted in time for 2018/19.

(iii)  From September 2017, the HR intranet would be available to all staff through the internet and flexible working arrangements were currently being reviewed with a view to an increased consistency of approach across the Council.

(iv) The Council continued to implement improvements to its asset management processes.  The new Asset Management Group arrangements had been implemented and were working effectively.  The consultation period on the new Asset Management Strategy ended in May 2017, and the expectation was that the strategy would be adopted in the summer.  In parallel with this, a new suite of performance measures were being developed and baselined to inform future property decisions.  A new database system – Technology Forge – had been commissioned which would bring together data currently held in a number of systems bringing significant efficiency and operational benefits.

(v)  It was a requirement of the ICT strategy that the ICT service “signed off” all technology purchases.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6