Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL. View directions

Contact: Rob Close  Democratic Services Officer

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor P A Skinner and Mr I Haldenby

 

2.

Declarations of Members' Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

 

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2021 pdf icon PDF 404 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2021 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

4.

Combined Assurance Report pdf icon PDF 433 KB

(To receive a report which provides an insight on the assurances across all of the Council's critical services, key risks, partnerships and projects. The Chief Executive, Executive Directors and the Assistant Chief Fire Officer will be in attendance)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report was submitted to the Committee on the Council's combined assurance status, with the Chief Executive and each executive director assessing critical service delivery activities; key risks; key projects; and key partnerships. This provided the Council with an effective framework to assess risk, which in turn would provide an overall assurance level for the Council.

The Chief Executive introduced the report by reflecting on the challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic, particularly the impact to colleagues in social care and emergency services. Overall, staff had performed admirably and continued to be supported. The Council faced issued of labour shortages, however the willingness of Council staff to be redeployed where necessary allowed for continuity of essential activities. Despite the challenges faced by the Council, the combined assurance document continued to receive substantial assurance with a 4 per cent increase to green assurance and a 1 per cent increase to red assurance.

 

While responding to the Pandemic and ensuring day-to-day business activities were ensured, the Council continued to achieve the ambitions of its 10-year Corporate Plan. The transformation programme yielded benefits including improvements to Special Educational Needs Services (SEND) resulting in the Council being one of a small number of local authorities which wasn’t overspending in its higher needs block. While transformation relating to placement for looked after children within local communities was still in its early stages, it looked promising. Smarter working arrangements had now been launched and colleagues were increasing populating Council Offices.

 

The Chief Executive also highlighted the risks faced by the Council including the safeguarding of children and adults, business continuity and resilience, which all saw increased assurance because of relaxed Covid-19 restrictions. An area of concern, however, was that of market supply and recruitment of staff because of increased average salaries and wider accessibility of occupations. A Council Workforce Development Board was commissioned to explore mitigation opportunities going forward.

 

 Responses were made to questions from members of the Committee on the following topics:

 

  • Support and shared working with other local authorities - Lincolnshire was a partner in practice for Children’s Services, therefore, separately funded through a ringfenced grant enabling support to other areas of the country. Discussions were currently ongoing to offer support to North East Lincolnshire Council, similar to support offered to a number of other authorities. The Chief Executive was confident that the separate funding ensured Lincolnshire County Council’s support wouldn’t be to the detriment of its own service delivery. Recent initiatives identified a shared approach to the public health service with North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council though a piloted Section 113 agreement which could be halted at any time. The Director of Public Health felt strongly that there was indeed capacity to deliver a shared service which would be advantageous to all parties and address the health inequalities currently encountered within the county.
  • Smarter Working – Smarter working was launched at the end of January 2022; previous arrangements came under Covid-19 work from home guidance. Therefore, the data available for analysis  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Draft Audit Committee Annual Report 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 386 KB

(To receive a report from Councillor Mrs S Rawlins, Chairman of the Audit Committee, which seeks approval for the Chairman to present the Audit Committee Annual Report 2021, subject to any amendments, to the meeting of the County Council in February 2022)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which presented the proposed Annual Report of the Audit Committee for 2021/22 and sought approval for the Chairman to present this report to Council.

The Assistant Director – Finance confirmed that it was now a requirement for the external audit report to be attached to the Chairman’s audit report was a new requirement in line with national guidance.

RESOLVED

That the Audit Committee Annual Report 2021/22 be presented to the Council for approval.

 

6.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 428 KB

(To receive a report by Lucy Pledge, Head of Internal Audit and Risk Management, which invites the Committee to consider its work programme for the upcoming year)

Minutes:

The Assistant Director – Finance introduced the work programme which provided the Committee with core assurance activities currently scheduled for the 2022 work programme.

The Assistant Director – Finance clarified that work was being done to establish how the new deadline for accounts would be incorporated into the work programme, but a draft statement session was still planned with the Audit Committee in July.

RESOLVED

That the work programme be agreed.

 

 

 
 
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