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Agenda and minutes
Venue: The Council Chamber - City Hall, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR. View directions
Contact: Allison Taylor 0117 92 22237
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Welcome, Introductions and Safety Information Minutes: The Chairwelcomed allparties tothe meeting.The Committeenoted theemergency evacuationprocedure forthe Council Chamberif required.
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Apologies for absence. Minutes: There were none. |
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Declarations of Interest To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors. They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.
Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.
Minutes: There were none. |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting To agree the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record. Minutes: It was agreed to amend bullet point 3, item 18 – draft statement of accounts 2023/24 to read ‘it was noted that there had been an objection to the statement of accounts 22/23.’
RESOLVED – that the minutes of 30 May 2024 be approved as a correct record subject to the amendment above.
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Minutes: This was noted.
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Chair's Business Minutes: The Chair reminded members of the training recently received and the CIPFA Guidance that the Committee functioned best when politics was left at the door and the committee worked together to best serve Bristol.
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Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.
Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum. The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda. Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-
Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on 16 July 2024.
Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received two working day prior to the meeting. For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on 18 July 2024.
Members of the press and public who plan to attend a public meeting at City Hall are advised that you will be required to sign in when you arrive and you will be issued with a visitor pass which you will need to display at all times.
Minutes: The Public Forum Bundle was noted. Written responses would be provided to the following Supplementary questions:-
Dan Ackroyd - The technology to record meetings in the Chamber already existed and a member of staff was available to webcast so why was Audit Committee not being webcast?
Dan Ackroyd - For CRR52 and CRR60 what is the current known estimate of how much unplanned expenditure they will cost in this year?
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To note the work programme. Minutes: It was agreed, as part of the action sheet, to check whether the Homes & Housing Delivery Policy Committee would be considering compliance on BCC’s social housing stock subsequent to the government’s Regulator for social housing judgement and if not to add to Audit Committee WP.
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Internal Audit Update Report Additional documents:
Minutes: The report and each Appendix was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. It was noted that the performance of 77% was significantly below target and this varied per quarter. It was noted that the reporting period had been characterised by competing priorities so the poor performance could be attributed partly to the timing of the report. 2. A part-time IA role was being advertised primarily to remain within the allocated budget but part-time working also provides flexibility for candidates which is necessary to achieve work life balance. It was confirmed that it had been a struggle to recruit staff for some time; 3. In answering a question about challenges in completing audits, it was confirmed that managing the conflicts was part of the Internal Audit role and it was necessary to all work together to get the work done; 4. External Auditors would take their own view on the position being reported but IA needed to ensure the issues were identified and dealt with decisively.
Appendix 1 – Children placed in unregistered provisions.
1. Children & Families directorate had the lowest percentage of actions implemented and the Committee was informed that the directorate had been under significant pressure but was working really hard to improve the position. There had been a number of assurance reports which were being worked through and changes were to come during the course of the year; 2. It was noted that it had not been possible to identify a registered provider who could provide 10 children safe care; 3. It was unlawful to place children in unregistered provisions but it was not uncommon to use them nationally. Children’s courts understood the position and had oversight of some of the children; 4. One child had been in unregistered provision since 2022 but the provider was going through the registered process at the time. The other children had been in unregistered provision since 2024. Permission was required at Executive Director level and the Chief Executive was informed. It was also highlighted as the highest risk on the risk register; 5. A new quality assurance framework would be appended to the Practice Direction from July 2024 and a new template would provide a consistent approach; 6. Visits were monitored weekly and there was oversight but the minutes had not sat on the children’s record and that had now been corrected; 7. It was a struggle to get placements and a sufficiency strategy would go before the Children & Young People Policy Committee in August; 8. When a child was placed urgently a social worker would always place the child and accompany the child to view the provision, as well as establishing with other LA’s who have placed there; 9. Unregistered provision would only take place in exceptional circumstances; 10. There were financial implications and these were reviewed weekly at the same time as reviewing whether the child’s needs were still being met and that they were safe; 11. The Leader of ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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Deep Dive: CRR55 Risk of children placed in unregistered provision which is unlawful. Additional documents: Minutes: As the contents of this report had been discussed in some detail at Agenda item 9 – Appendix 1 it was:-
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Q1 24/25 Corporate Risk Report Update Additional documents:
Minutes: The report was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. It was agreed to report back within the Action Sheet on IT security and whether BCC was impacted by the recent Cloudstrike outage & what contingencies did BCC have for such events; 2. It was agreed to report back within the Action Sheet on CRR7 now that BCC has Microsoft Co-pilot and what were the implications of this with confidential documents; 3. The Leader of the Council, Tony Dyer, reported that the pressures on social housing continued and the figure within the report could increase.
Resolved – That the Q1 2024/25 Corporate Risk Report (CRR) be noted.
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Revision of Procurement and Contract Management Rules Additional documents:
Minutes: The report was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. It was important to have legal involvement when publishing contracts over £5M and it was noted that the arrangements currently had a low bar for legal support; 2. A template for contracts had been developed; 3. The equalities impact assessments were unaffected by the changes and remained the same.
Resolved - That the papers prepared for Full Council regarding proposed revisions to the Council’s Procurement & Contract Management rules be noted.
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Procurement Compliance Update Minutes: The report was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. Training for employees involved in any form of procurement was now mandatory; 2. Many breaches stemmed from lack of planning for end dates; 3. It was noted that there had been a reduction in the value of the breaches in the last 3 years. There was currently a target of two breaches per month with the commitment to getting to zero; 4. Any retrospective order would need to be signed off by the budget holder and procurement officer; 5. CLB had weekly visibility and data was available on the system to review trends.
Resolved - That the data on breaches of the Council’s procurement rules, the management actions taken, and the significant improvements in compliance that have resulted be noted.
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Bristol Beacon Lessons Learned Report Additional documents: Minutes: The report was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. There was no definitive figure for the proportion of the overspend that was unanticipated. As well as the obvious risks of an old building Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine all had impacts on costs; 2. Arcadis authored the report and were the appointed PMO. They therefore only interviewed stakeholders; 3. The report was not meant to hold people to account but was to learn from for future capital projects; 4. It was clear that multiple surveys would not have shown up what was eventually found with the structure of the building. However it was clear that the level of governance, corporate control, resources and risk profile were not in place and needed to be for the future; 5. It was noted that the Capital portfolio was audited in 2020 and was given limited assurance; 6. A development framework was being developed and this would include governance and monitoring; 7. A capital portfolio management office would now oversee the capital portfolio; The report showed serious weaknesses in planning of the project and some contrition on the part of BCC would have been welcomed; 8. Officers welcomed engagement with members and had previously held themselves to account in Public Forum at Cabinet; 9. It was confirmed that for good governance it was important to have a key senior officer as a sponsor as well as a dedicated member; 10. It was planned for IA to report further on capital portfolio schemes in Autum 24 and any scheme with limited assurance would come before this Committee; 11. The Committee agreed that a report on the management response & the actions taken in response to the Lesson Learned report come before a future Audit Committee.
Resolved – That the Bristol Beacon Lessons Learned report be noted and a report on the management response & the actions taken in response to the Lesson Learned report come before a future Audit Committee.
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Audit Committee Annual Report to Full Council 2023/24 (Draft) Additional documents:
Minutes: The report was summarized for the benefit of the Committee and the following points arose from discussion:-
1. It was agreed that an informal meeting of the Committee be arranged in September to consider how the Committee can do things better.
Resolved – That the Audit Committee’s Draft Annual Report to Council for 2023/24 be approved.
16. Date of next meeting.
23 September 2024 at 2pm.
The meeting ended at 5.10pm.
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