AGENDA ITEM NO. 11
REPORT TO:
REPORT NO:
DATE:
LEAD MEMBER:
LEAD OFFICER:
CONTACT OFFICER:
SUBJECT:
Executive Board
CFPO/13/09
3 February 2009
Councillor Alun Jenkins
(Finance & Asset Management)
Chief Finance & Performance Officer
Mark Owen (Tel: 292704)
Reporting of Regulators Reports
N/A
WARD:
1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
To propose a process for the reporting of reports received from the Council’s external regulators.
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.1 The Wales Audit Office, Estyn and the Care and Social Services Inspectorate
Wales (CSSIW) undertake audit and inspection work of the Council in accordance with the annual Regulatory Plan.
2.2 The attached process provides a systematic arrangement for members and officers to ensure that inspection and performance audit reports are properly considered and responded to.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 That the Board provide any comments and approve the attached process.
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REASON FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
To allow Executive Board the opportunity to consider the conclusions and recommendations of external regulators’ inspection and performance audit reports and to challenge the proposed response of the Council.
Mark S Owen
Chief Finance & Performance Officer
4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
4.1 In Autumn 2008 the Wales Audit Office (WAO) undertook a study to review the impact of its reports on Wrexham County Borough Council services by examining the impact of a sample of WAO reports.
4.2 As well as making recommendations for the improvement of WAO reports, the study recommended that the Council,
“Introduce systematic arrangements for Members and officers to ensure that
Wales Audit Office inspection and performance audit reports are:

Properly considered at the appropriate level within the organisation; and

Effectively monitored and evaluated to review progress in dealing with the issues raised”
5. CONSULTATION
5.1 The changes proposed do not require any formal consultation.
6.
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE COMMENTS
6.1 The process has not been considered by Scrutiny Committee.
7.
IMPLICATIONS
7.1 Policy Framework- The Executive Board is able to determine a protocol for the treatment of reports from External Regulators.
7.2 Budget - There are no budget decisions required in this report
7.3 Legal – There are no legal decisions required in this report.
7.4 Risks - Not agreeing a process for reporting regulators inspection and performance audit reports will put the Council at risk of non-compliance with regulators recommendations and subsequent criticism by regulators.
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7.5 Equalities - This process has not been impact assessed. Equalities issues are considered by external regulators and will be included in inspection and performance audit reports as appropriate.
BACKGROUND PAPERS LOCATION WEBSITE INFO.
WAO Report - Follow Up
Work, Wrexham County
Borough Council
Performance
Improvement Unit
N/A
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Appendix 1
Regulators Reports Process
Wales Audit Office
1 All Wales Audit Office (WAO) projects will be organised in accordance with the Joint Working Protocol agreed between Wrexham County Borough
Council and the Wales Audit Office.
Local Performance and Inspection Studies
2 The official version of WAO performance and inspection study reports will be sent to the appropriate Chief Officer(s) and copied to their Strategic Director.
3 The appropriate Chief Officer(s) will be agreed as part of the drawing conclusions meeting at the end of each project. The WAO will also copy any report to the Council’s contact officer.
4 The receiving Chief Officer will be responsible for taking the report to
Executive Board, along with an action plan that sets out how recommendations will be responded to. The report and action plan will be shared with the Lead Member prior to submission. The contact officer will monitor compliance and if issues arise will report this to the Chief Finance and Performance Officer, who will in turn raise them with Strategic
Management Team.
The Council works to a Joint Working Protocol with the Wales Audit Office.
This stipulates that the Council must provide a completed Action Plan to the
Wales Audit Office within 3 months of receiving the final report. In order to meet this deadline the Chief Officers must take the report to the Executive
Board within 2 months of receipt. An Action Plan detailing the implementation arrangements should be included. Following the Executive Board the approved response can be provided to the regulator.
5 The Audit Committee also receive two monitoring reports a year from the
WAO setting out their progress against the regulatory plan. This includes high level information on all work underway.
6 Where it is not appropriate to take a report to the Executive Board – for instance for Good Practice Exchange projects or similar – this will be agreed between the Council (SMT Officer) and the WAO. This should take place at the drawing conclusions meeting.
National Reports
7 Where the WAO undertakes work within the Council that results in a national report, that report will not be referred to Executive Board. However, if the
WAO feels that findings warrant a local report to highlight key messages to the Council this will follow the above process.
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Financial Statements and Governance Arrangements
8 The outcome of WAO work on the financial statements and governance and performance arrangements is reported through the Relationship Managers
Annual Letter (RMAL) which is reported to Executive Board.
Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales Reports
9 CSSIW present their annual Performance Evaluation report to Executive
Board on an annual basis. Actions agreed from the report are included in business plans and monitored through scrutiny committee and re-assessment by CSSIW.
10 Other CSSIW reports will be sent to the Chief Social Care Officer and Chief
Safeguarding and Support Officer as appropriate and copied to their Strategic
Director. The outcome of reports will be included in performance reports to scrutiny and inform the annual performance evaluation report.
Estyn Inspection Reports
11 Estyn reports are sent to the Chief Learning and Achievement Officer and copied to the Strategic Director (Children and Young People).
12 Reports on the Local Education Authority and area based inspection reports are reported to Executive Board. Post Inspection Action Plans resulting from such inspections are also reported to Executive Board.
13 Inspection reports on schools are reported directly to the inspected body, with a copy provided to the Chief Learning and Achievement Officer. The results of these inspections are reported to Children and Young People Scrutiny
Committee.
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