To receive the final update on the CIPFA Action Plan.

Andrew Vallance, Head of Finance, explained that this was the final CIPFA update that the Panel would be receiving. All actions in the action plan had now been undertaken, the last action still to be completed was on the recruitment of new staff. They would be starting in January 2022 when this action would be completed. In November 2021, Cabinet had approved the new internal audit arrangements which would come into effect from April 2022. Cabinet had also seen the 31Ten action plan report into the RBWM Property Company. Two Cabinet Transformation Sub Committees were taking place to consider the Corporate Transformation Strategy. A final report on the CIPFA action plan would be considered by Cabinet in December 2021.

The Chairman asked if now that all actions had been completed, were officers confident that there was now a system in place.

Andrew Vallance said that officers were confident and it was now business as usual for all service departments.

Councillor Sharpe considered the transformation of the finance team over the past few years and said that it was now in a good place.

Councillor L Jones asked about the management of partnership arrangements. Internal audit and the Property Company had been completed but other partnerships had not.

Andrew Vallance confirmed that reviews on Optalis and Achieving for Children had been completed, along with the review on the pension fund.

Councillor L Jones asked what other partnership arrangements did RBWM have.

Adele Taylor said that the shared legal service and Building Control were also part of this review. All partnership arrangements had appropriate reviews.

Councillor L Jones proposed that this section of the action plan was amended, so that it showed all reviews for partnership arrangements had been completed, not including partnerships which were subject to procurement.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel recommended the completed section of the CIPFA action plan was amended to show that all partnerships, which were not subject to procurement, had been completed.

Councillor Werner said that now the CIPFA action plan had been completed, there was a big danger as this was when things could start to slide. He asked if there was a review process in place, for example could CIPFA be brought back in to see how RBWM was performing.

Adele Taylor explained that internal audit would ensure that RBWM was still performing as expected and the Audit and Governance Committee would be involved in the action plan of internal audit. Services would look to keep planning and make use of best practise, it was important that RBWM had a good internal audit function which also worked in conjunction with the external auditors.

Councillor Werner said that previous external and internal audits had failed, CIPFA then had to be brought in and therefore Councillor Werner felt that RBWM should have an open mind. He suggested that CIPFA was brought back in two years.

Adele Taylor said that there was an option around peer reviews, this was something that the Audit and Governance Committee could pick up on their work programme.

Councillor Werner said that RBWM needed to stay on top of this.

Councillor L Jones said that she was happy with the process and the reporting which was now much more transparent. A review should be considered in a couple of years which could be conducted through the peer review process. One aspect of the CIPFA report mentioned ‘poor officer culture with dominant Members’, Councillor L Jones felt that the culture of Members was not yet at the right level and was an area that still required some work. She felt that challenge was welcome in environments like the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel meetings but for other Panels this was not the case.

The Chairman noted that under Member Oversight, there was narrative reminding Members of their roles and responsibilities.

Councillor Sharpe said that the council was transforming the way that it operated. Overview and Scrutiny had improved, it was more collaborative and cooperative then it had been in the past.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel reviewed the report and:

i)             Noted the actions taken in respect of the objectives set out, and that the Action Plan had now been completed.

ii)            Reported any comments on the final completion of the Action Plan to Cabinet.