Councillor Binks, Chair, presided.

L McIntyre, Head of Policy & Commissioning (Chief Executive’s); G McKinlay, Head of Schools (Children’s Services); C Dalrymple, Regulatory and Enforcement Manager (Communities, Housing & Planning Services); A McMahon, Chief Auditor, K Locke, Risk Manager, L Dickie, Finance Manager, S Fanning, Senior Health & Safety Officer and C MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer (all Finance & Resources); and P McCulloch, Acting Head of Health & Social Care (Paisley) and D Wilson, Social Work Manager (both Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership).

There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to training for Audit, Risk &
Scrutiny Board members.

The report intimated that at the meeting of the Board held on 28 August 2018 it was agreed that a programme of briefings for members would be provided and would continue to form part of the agenda at every alternate meeting.  A copy of the amended programme of briefings was attached as an appendix to the report.

L Dickie, Finance Manager, gave a briefing to Members on the accounting and scrutiny issues at Northamptonshire Council.  A McMahon, Chief Auditor, also provided a briefing to members on the National Fraud Initiative.  The Local Authority (Scotland) Accounts Advisory Committee report “Holding to Account; using Local Authority Financial Statements” was attached as an appendix to the report.

DECIDED:

(a)   That the timetable of briefing sessions be agreed; and

(b)   That the briefings provided be noted.

Councillors Dowling and Graham.

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the requirement in terms of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that Internal Audit communicated the results of each engagement to the Board.

The Appendix to the report detailed the category of assurance, service, engagement and assurance rating and gave recommended risk ratings for each engagement as either critical, important, good practice or service improvement.  A summary of findings was also provided in relation to final reports issued for those engagements completed during the period 1 July to 30 September 2018.

The report intimated that in addition to the reports listed in the Appendix, Internal Audit had an ongoing commitment to arrange corporate and service initiatives, progress information security matters in partnership with ICT and Legal Services, provide regular advice to officers, provide Internal Audit services to the associated bodies for which Renfrewshire Council was the lead authority and to Renfrewshire Leisure Limited and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board, coordination of the Council’s Corporate Risk Management activity and management of the counter fraud, risk management and insurance team.

DECIDED:  That the summary of Audit findings report for the period 1 July to 30 September 2018 be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to Internal Audit and Counter Fraud performance from 1 April to 30 September 2018 in terms of the delivery of the Audit Plan for the year and outlining actual performance against targets set by the Director of Finance & Resources. No formal performance targets for fraud investigation had been established as a major part of the team’s work involved being the single point of contact for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Single Fraud Investigation Service.

It was noted that the focus over the last year had been on increasing fraud awareness amongst employees to prevent fraud from occurring against the Council. The types of fraud referrals received to date were wide-ranging and the team’s objective was to concentrate on investigating those referrals considered to contain the greatest fraud risk.

The report detailed the progress made against local and national initiatives involving Internal Audit and the Counter Fraud Team from 1 April to 30 September 2018.

DECIDED:   That the Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Team progress and performance to 30 September 2018 be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to Audit Scotland’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) in Scotland report 2016/17.

The report indicated that NFI aimed to detect and prevent fraud and error through a national data matching exercise across public bodies carried out by Audit Scotland with the aim of identifying instances of possible fraud or error.  The initiative, which was being co-ordinated by the Council’s Internal Audit section, operated on a two-year cycle with the data being downloaded and electronically matched centrally one year and the results issued, investigated and reported on the next year.  

The report highlighted that Scottish public bodies had recorded outcomes of £18.6 million arising since the last NFI report in June 2014.  The cumulative outcomes from the NFI in Scotland were now around £129.2 million and £1.69 billion across the UK.

The report highlighted areas for improvement which should be addressed by participating bodies and a summary of the current arrangements in Renfrewshire Council was detailed along with identified improvement actions.

DECIDED:   That the report from Audit Scotland and the position in relation to Renfrewshire Council’s arrangements be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to 'Risk Matters' the Council's combined risk management policy and strategy. The report intimated that Risk Matters was formally reviewed every two years and an interim review was conducted by the Corporate Risk Management Group on behalf of the Corporate Management Team. The report also highlighted that risk management arrangements were well established and robust. Risk Matters continued to reflect good practice, was aligned to recognised standards and took account of learning through benchmarking with other public sector organisations. 

The report advised that minor amendments had been made to reflect changes to the intranet; incorporated reference to the new ISO 31000:2018 standard; and reflected an update from the 2012 edition to the 2016 edition of the CIPFA Delivering Good Governance guidance.

DECIDED: That Risk Matters, version 13.0, be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources in keeping with the Council’s risk management policy relative to the mid-year progress on management of the risks recorded in the strategic and corporate risk registers and service plans risks.

The report advised that there had been good progress made in the control and management of the identified risks.  No new risks had emerged that were not anticipated as part of the process to revise the risk register earlier in the year and the overall risk profile remained unchanged from the report submitted to the meeting of the Board held on 29 May 2018. 

DECIDED:   That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to the Council’s absence statistics for the period 1 July to 30 September 2018.

The report provided information in relation to absence targets and how services and categories of staff had performed against them. An analysis of the reasons for absence for the period was included in the report. Information was also provided on supporting attendance activity levels by service and cost of sick pay and the overall number of days lost during the period and for the equivalent quarters in previous years.

DECIDED:   That the report on absence statistics for the period 1 July to 30 September 2018 be noted.







Prior to consideration of the following item, the Convener welcomed M Higginbotham, Development Manager, Environment & Communities and R Macauley, Traffic Manager, Police Scotland to the meeting.

There was submitted a report by the Lead Officer relative to the review of the newly-introduced speed limit in Brookfield (A761).

The report advised that in 2006 the Scottish Government provided new guidance to Local Authorities regarding the speed limit on roads under their control. The guidance provided a detailed framework for how speed limits should be assessed and imposed. Within this guidance was an instruction for each Local Authority to carry out a “Speed Limit Review” on all A and B class roads by 2011.

In 2011, the Council carried out the review which identified several locations where the existing speed limit did not meet the framework’s criteria and requested consideration to reducing the speed limit on those locations. The review did identify some locations where a technical evaluation suggested a raised speed limit. At this time Council officers suggested that there was little or no support for raising speed limits and consequently proposed no increased speed limits.

At the meeting of the Environment and Infrastructure Policy Board held on 8 June 2011, it was agreed that, subject to police agreement, nine A and B class roads, which included the section of the A761 going through Brookfield, be reduced to 30mph, from the original speed of 60 mph.

The report provided further background information relating to the A761 stretch of road going through Brookfield and outlined the next steps.

A statement from Environment & Communities detailing the background and current position was attached as an appendix to the report.

M Higginbotham, Development Manager, Environment & Communities and R Macauley, Traffic Manager, Police Scotland provided information in relation to the review and answered Member’s questions.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the progress and information contained within the report be noted; and

(b)  That the next steps outlined within the report be agreed.