Agenda item

The Committee asked that the minutes clarify the disappointment by the referrer of the Levelling Up Bid item concerning their request for Officers attendance.

·       The Scrutiny Advisor agreed to do this.

The Chair highlighted to the Committee that the meeting that had been scheduled for the 29^th September had been moved to the 9^th October 2023.

·       The Scrutiny Adviser noted that the time of the of this meeting would start earlier to allow time in the meeting to cover both reports.

·       The Committee understood that the meeting had to begin earlier however wished to start an hour later than scheduled at 2pm.

·       The Scrutiny Advisor agreed to change the start time.

The Chair asked if there were any matters arising.

The Committee noted that there was an ongoing issue with the vacancies in the internal Audit team and asked the Chair whether their concerns can be raised as other Committees have done.

·       The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate gave a brief overview of the issues and explained that there had been a number of officers who had moved on to other opportunities from the Audit team and that this had left the Council with vacancies.

·       The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate noted the issue had been raised in Place and Corporate Scrutiny Committee when considering the end of year report, and in Governance and Audit Committee as part of the terms of reference. The Director confirmed that the Head of Finance had made an agreement to return to Governance and Audit Committee with an updated Audit Plan for the remainder of 2023/24, which is likely to include securing additional resource from an external organisation.

·       The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate added that audit vacancies were currently out to advertisement for applications, and the service was exploring other methods for recruitment such as apprenticeships. The Council is engaged in informal discussions exploring the opportunities that a regional service could provide, but that this was for further consideration.

·       The Chair noted that over the years there has been a lot of movement in the Audit team and a vacancy for a period of time.

·       The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate explained that there had been a vacancy carried in the team but noted that this had been removed from the team as part of activity to balance the budget. The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate explained that although there is no current capacity to reduce staffing levels, there will be a need to balance the budget again in the coming year.

·       The Committee queried how many people were employed in the internal audit team and the Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate noted that by the Summer there will be one person in the team.

·       The Committee asked whether engaging the external Audit organisation would be more expensive than if the internal roles were filled.  The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate confirmed that the Council already deploy the company for some audit and that the Head of Finance has been asked to create a detailed report which can then be circulated to the Committee following Governance and Audit Committee.

·       The Committee asked whether there was any support that they could provide concerning the remuneration package for officers, and the Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate explained that the pay policy and structure was set by the Council, and that it would not be as simple as putting more money into a particular role as all roles are linked.

·       The Chair noted that in the past market factors had been applied to a role and the Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate agreed but explained that there is a process that must be followed before that point.

The Committee raised the previous request for the University to come to the Committee and stated that this had not been completed as they were waiting on a response.

·       The Chair explained that a response had been forwarded.

·       The Committee considered that the response had not fully addressed all the questions that they had. 

·       The Chair noted that the University had been repurposing buildings to allow for a greater number of students.

·       The Chair explained that if the University was to accept an invitation to discuss this with Council representatives, then they would not likely come to Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, as the terms of reference of the Committee does not include scrutinising the University.

·       The Committee noted that it was purely a request as it is important to have openness and transparency and added that was critical to attract students to live in the city.

·       The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate explained that the Committee does not have the authority to scrutinise the University but added that he would ensure that an invitation is sent to them, whereby they have the option to decline the invitation. .

·       The Committee queried whether the word Scrutiny may put them off and the Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate noted that it would be made clear in the request that they were not being invited to be ‘scrutinised’.

·       The Chair asked what the appropriate forum was to scrutinise the University, and the Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate stated that although it was not the Committee, they had raised some legitimate questions.

The Committee noted in the training recommendations there had been a statement about the Council being unable to control training due to it being facilitated externally. They added that if the training provision was not functioning in the way that was required, then other training options could be explored. The Committee also noted that although the recommendations made did not have to be accepted for action, it may be of use to understand the reasons for this.

·       The Chair noted that this would be raised again and stated that the Council could provide the rationale for using the external providers so that the reason can be documented for Committee.

·       The Scrutiny Adviser stated that a draft document to monitor recommendations had been created which would be brought to the next Scrutiny Chair’s Meeting and CMT for feedback before its implementation.

The Scrutiny Advisor added that the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services has been working on getting the response from the Chief Executive regarding the responsibility of recommendation implementation and would ask that a response be provided on the matter of training.

The minutes of the previous meeting held 23^rd June 2023 were accepted as a true and accurate record.