Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor J King.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2022 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(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)

A report was submitted to the Committee on the Council's combined assurance status, with the Chief Executive and Executive Directors 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 provided an overall assurance level for the Council. The following matters were reported:

·   The Council had experienced many pressures over the past 12 months, including increased demand in many Place based services, Children and Adults services; many health related services due to the pandemic; inflationary and cost-of-living pressures; and the increase of refugees, evacuees and migrants requiring settlement.

·   The Government’s financial settlement for 2022/23 was better than expected and has helped maintain service delivery and fund cost pressures .

·   IT infrastructure was improving under the transformation programme and significant changes were underway in moving towards a cloud-based system, but more work to address capacity and capability was in progress

·   The external audit report found good governance to be in place. 

·   Workforce markets had stabilised within social care. Work was underway to target international labour such as international university students, refugees, settled foreign nationals and foreign nationals struggling to move to the UK.

·   Audits had found the Council’s debt management to offer substantial assurances. Debts currently stood at £7-9 million.

·   The backlog experienced by the Office of Public Guardian contributed to the Council’s non secured debts and constituted a risk to the Council’s financial situation.

·   Pay inflation and fee rates were financial concerns for the coming year.

·   Council contacts with SMEs in some areas had increased, which resulted in shorter-term contracts and greater administration. Short-term contracts also meant that many contract expiration dates would fall over the coming year, and fee increases were anticipated.

·   The Council had been integrating services with the NHS via the newly established Integrated Care Board (ICB) and had established a good working relationship.

·   There was a national shortage of public health nurses and social workers, and the Council had to take measures to remain a competitive employer in this area of work – prioritising flexibility and benefits.

·   Costs had risen in the placement of children in care.

·   Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) had implemented an action plan for improvements in the protection function, business resilience and equality and diversity – with work underway to update policies and procedures alongside dedicated staff training and a culture review of accepted behaviours.

·   LFR was facing challenges in staff retention.

·   A business continuity plan had been specially devised to mitigate disruption to services as a result of industrial action in LFR.

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

·   Medium-term contract inflation was anticipated with significant impacts on value for money. Risk management around value for money was a priority looking ahead over the next 2-4 years.

·   Energy price inflation was anticipated to tail off in 2025.

·   Social Workers had been employed by the Council via agencies to meet service needs due to adverse labour markets – with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

(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 2023)

Consideration was given to a report which presented the proposed Annual Report of the Audit Committee for 2022 and sought approval for the Chairman to present this report to Council.

The Committee suggested that ‘Independent Persons’ be changed to ‘Independent Added Persons’ for clarity.

RESOLVED

That the Audit Committee Annual Report 2022 be presented to the Council for approval.

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

RESOLVED

That the work programme be agreed.