Agenda item

To consider a report by the HR Services Manager (copy enclosed) updating members on the actions identified as part of the Internal Audit report.

10.50 a.m.

The HR Services Manager (HRSM) submitted a report (previously circulated) updating members on the actions identified as part of the Internal Audit report for Strategic HR.  In view of the low assurance rating given for delivering the audit action plan which had been reported to the committee in February 2013, members had agreed to keep progress under review and requested an update at this meeting.

The HRSM reported upon progress with the action plan made since February and also detailed further work to be undertaken together with some revised timescales.  She elaborated upon a number of outstanding areas of work which had been summarised within the report.  Reference was also made to progress with the HR Improvement Plan which was referred to as a considerable undertaking.

Members sought clarification regarding a number of actions to be progressed, queried the reasons for the delay in their implementation and sought assurances regarding future progress.  Officers responded as follows –

·         reported upon the IT systems currently used for HR and work ongoing to match data from Payroll and Trent together with plans to integrate those systems to enable data to be inputted once

·         elaborated upon the professional competency reviews for HR staff to measure performance and identify any development gaps

·         a new recruitment framework had been introduced to address the problems relating to take up of references and validation of qualifications and safeguarding checks would be carried out to ensure compliance

·         agreed that determination of competency gaps and succession planning was crucial in light of workforce pressures and advised that this process had been built into the workforce planning exercise undertaken annually with services

• confirmed that due to work pressures Payroll had been unable to attend meetings with HR but monthly meetings would likely restart in July

·         acknowledged the reputational risk to the council arising from employment of ex-employees which had been included within the Pay Policy.

The committee also discussed with officers the need for accurate employee data and felt that more should be done to address that issue.  Councillor Martyn Holland felt that line managers should take some responsibility and suggested a process be introduced for managers to check the accuracy of staff data. [LA/CR to action]

The Head of Internal Audit Services (HIAS) verbally reported upon the follow up review carried out the previous week advising that he still had serious concerns regarding delivery of both the audit action plan and HR Improvement plan and felt that not enough progress had been made.  He highlighted that only 21 of the 45 original actions had been completed and some deadlines had been extended more than once.  It was felt that the plans were over ambitious in terms of timescale and may not be achievable.  The final follow up report would be available shortly and a further follow up would likely take place in November.  The Head of Strategic HR referred to the additional pressures on the service as a result of the current climate and changing priorities but provided some assurance regarding delivery of the action plans within timescales advising that additional dedicated resources had been provided specifically for that purpose.  The HRSM agreed that the HR Improvement Plan was ambitious but she was confident that the December 2013 deadline for specific actions within the audit action plan would be met.

Members noted the audit opinion and confidence expressed by HR officers that deadlines could be met.  The committee agreed to continue to monitor progress and receive a further update at their next meeting.

RESOLVED that the Strategic HR Internal Audit Report be received and noted and a further progress report be submitted to the committee’s next meeting on 4 September 2013. [IB/LA/CR to action]