Agenda Document Pack - Audit and Scrutiny Panel - 24/02/2025
North Lanarkshire Council · 24 February 2025
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Panel — 24 February 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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13 February 2025 Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel Chief Executive’s Office Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk Notice is given that a Meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel is to be held in the Committee Room 1, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell, ML1 1AB on Monday, 24 February 2025 at 14:00 PM which you are requested to attend. The agenda of business is attached. Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Members : Clerk Name: Clare Louise McDonald Clerk Telephone: 07350 435308 Clerk Email: committee@northlan.gov.uk S Watson, B McCulloch, C Costello, A Duffy-Lawson, M Hughes, J Hume, D Johnston, J Leckie, M McCulloch, J McLaren, G Robinson. Page 1 of 176
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Agenda 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 Audit Related Items 2 Audit and Risk Related Items - Action Log Submit report by the Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) allowing Elected Members to track implementation of outstanding requests and recommendations made by the Panel in respect of audit and risk-related items. 5 - 8 3 Internal Audit Follow-up of Actions Previously Agreed by Management in Response to Audit Recommendations Submit report by the Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) providing an update on the progress made by management in the implementation of Internal and External Audit recommendations. 9 - 32 4 Internal Audit Progress Report Submit report by the Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) providing an overview of Internet Audit activity and audit reports since the last update to the Panel in October 2024. 33 - 78 5 Risk Management Update Submit report by the Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) providing an update on the developments and changes to the Corporate Risk Register since the last update to the Panel in October 2024, with a particular focus on corporate risks for which a review was completed during the reporting period. 79 - 86 6 Service Update - School Fund Compliance Arrangements Submit report by the Chief Officer (Education - South) providing an update on Compliance with Establishment Fund arrangements. 87 - 92 7 School IT Assets Age and Maintenance Submit report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) providing further information on IT Assets, used on school-based IT. 93 - 100 Page 3 of 176
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Scrutiny Related Items 8 Strategic Perfomance Framework - Perfomance Reporting Schedule Quarterly Performance Assurance Review Submit report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) providing the outcome of the latest quarterly performance assurance review, undertaken on performance reports previously submitted to Council Committees during Cycle 4 of 2024. 101 - 138 9 Scrutiny Work Programme - Update Submit report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) providing an update on the composite Scrutiny Work Programme and reporting timetable for the scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 139 - 154 10 Quality Assurance for the Project Management Framework and Programme of Work - Annual Audit and Scrutiny Panel Review Submit report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) providing an update on the implementation of the Quality Assurance arrangements. 155 - 168 11 Auditing Best Value in Local Government - Update Submit report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) providing an update on the national approach to auditing Best Value, the priorities for the 2024/25 Best Value audit work, and the implications for the Council. 169 - 176 Page 4 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit & Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref FS/ASP/ALFeb25 Date 24/02/25 Audit and risk related items: Action log From Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) E-mail scottfr@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07887 914207 Francis Scott Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to allow elected members to track implementation of outstanding requests and recommendations made by the Panel in respect of audit and risk- related items. The attached log (at Appendix 1) records those audit and risk-related requests and recommendations made by the Panel and when these were addressed and/or are expected to be addressed. Any actions that have previously been reported as complete and noted by the Panel have been removed from the log. Recommendations The Panel is invited to note the report. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Item 2 Page 5 of 176
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Appendix 1 Audit and Risk related items: Outstanding action log Date Requests or agreed action Status October 2024 1. Request a further report be brought back by management (Chief Officer – Education South) to the next meeting of the Panel regarding an update on action taken on school fund compliance arrangements. Complete – a report on this matter by the Chief Officer (Education South) is included as a separate agenda item at today’s Panel meeting. 2. Where progress in implementing agreed audit actions was still outstanding, but the original implementation date agreed by management was over a year-old, request that the relevant Chief Officer attend the Panel meeting to provide an update. Complete – the standard agenda item Follow-up of progress in implementing agreed audit actions, has been amended to include a specific appendix (see appendix 4) detailing any recommendations in this category and a current position. Relevant Chief Officers are in attendance to answer any queries the Panel may have. 3. Request that Internal Audit incorporate a 6 monthly tracking report of progress in implementing actions agreed in response to External Audit recommendations. Not yet due – the standing item Follow-up of progress in implementing agreed audit actions, will include a 6-monthy update on the progress in implementing the agreed actions contained in the 2023-24 External Audit annual report. The first update will be provided in cycle 2 of 2025. September 2023 4. Request a further report be brought back by management to a future meeting on progress implementing outstanding actions identified by Internal Audit follow-up work in relation to the implementation of quality assurance processes to monitor compliance with Project Management framework. In progress – implementation of this action has been tracked though Internal Audit’s follow-up procedures. The most recent assessment is that these management actions are now complete. The 2024-25 Internal Audit plan includes a review of progress with management’s quality assurance processes for project management. This audit is now underway and is expected to be reported to the Panel as part of cycle 2 of 2025. Page 6 of 176
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Appendix 1 Audit and Risk related items: Outstanding action log (continued) Date Requests or agreed action Status May 2023 5. Request a further report be brought back by management to a future meeting on outstanding actions identified by Internal Audit follow-up work in relation to managing strategic change. In progress – implementation of this action has been tracked though Internal Audit’s follow-up procedures. The most recent assessment is that these management actions are now complete. The 2024-25 Internal Audit Plan includes an audit of the Council’s recently revised governance arrangements for the Programme of Work to 2028. Planning for this audit is now underway, but the detailed work will be carried forward into the 2025-26 annual plan with the results reported to a future meeting of the Panel. 6. Request a further report be brought back by management to a future meeting on outstanding actions identified by Internal Audit follow-up work in relation to Employee Service Centre – key controls. In progress – the revised timescale for implementing management actions from this audit is March 2025. People Resources has now completed a review of the issues identified and a report will be presented to CMT in March for approval. A further update will be provided at the next meeting of the Panel. Page 7 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref FS/LM/ASP/February 2025 Date 24/02/25 Internal Audit: Follow-up of implementation of audit recommendations From Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) E-mail ScottFr@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07887 914207 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to update the Panel on the progress made by management in the implementation of Internal and External Audit recommendations. Recommendations which were previously reported to the Panel as partially implemented, are now monitored against revised target implementation dates agreed with management. In the period October to December 2024, of the 25 High and Medium priority recommendations that were due, 13 have been fully completed, 11 have been assessed as partially implemented and one is no longer relevant. Seven recommendations have been identified as having an implementation date more than 12 months overdue. Since April 2021, 92% of all relevant audit recommendations have been satisfactorily implemented by Services, meaning that only 8% of these audit recommendations remain outstanding. In respect of recommendations from External Audit reports, four of the 14 agreed actions have been completed, two are partially implemented and eight are not yet due. Recommendations The Panel is invited to: (a) note the contents of this report; (b) note the recommendations made by Internal Audit at Appendix 2; and (c) consider whether there are any issues arising from this report on which they wish to receive further information from relevant management. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work All Programmes of Work Item 3 Page 9 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 This report presents an overview of the status of all High and Medium priority Internal Audit recommendations with an original or revised implementation date due to be completed in the period October to December 2024. This ensures the focus remains on actions due in the most recent period only and avoids repeatedly reporting and focusing on actions which have longer term revised implementation dates. 1.2 This report also presents the assessment of the potential risks arising from those planned actions which are not yet fully completed. The format of this report is designed to allow the Panel to focus on those issues where non-implementation of agreed actions presents the most significant ongoing risk to the Council and to enable the Panel to hold relevant senior management to account. 1.3 This report also provides an update on progress made in addressing recommendations arising from External Audit reports. 1.4 The updates from management on progress to date have been verified on a sample basis by Internal Audit as part of the preparation of this report. However, it should be noted that this review has focused on whether planned actions have been completed and has not included detailed substantive testing of whether the implemented actions have been effective in addressing previously identified weaknesses. 2. Report Actions previously agreed by management – Internal Audit recommendations 2.1 Table 1 below shows summarises the progress of all High and Medium priority recommendations which were due to be completed in the period October to December 2024. Overall, 13 of the agreed actions have been completed, 11 are partially implemented and one is no longer relevant. Table 1 Complete Partially implemented No longer relevant Total Chief Officer Area Asset and Procurement 3 0 0 3 Community Operations 2 1 0 3 Education 2 4 1 7 Finance 4 0 0 4 People Resources 2 5 0 7 Place 0 1 0 1 TOTAL 13 11 1 25 2.2 The Panel will recall their request for this report to clearly identify those actions which have been assessed this cycle as being complete but were previously reported to the Panel as partially implemented. In this cycle (February 2025), there have been 10 such actions and detail in respect of these is included at Appendix 1. 2.3 Internal Audit has reviewed the management updates and agreed revised implementation dates for all 11 recommendations listed as partially implemented at Table 1. Progress with these recommendations will be monitored and reported back to the Panel in accordance with this revised timescale, at which time consideration will be given as to whether previously identified weaknesses have now been addressed. 2.4 Detail of these recommendations and the current residual risk assessed by Internal Audit is provided in Appendix 2, in which we have also made suggestions as to how Page 10 of 176
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the Panel may wish to consider these issues. Definitions of the residual risk ratings are provided at Appendix 3. 2.5 The action assessed as ‘no longer relevant’ relates to a recommendation on general school fund issues. This has been superseded by new recommendations raised following a recent audit of Compliance with Educational Establishment Fund Arrangements, which will be followed up in line with the normal protocols. 2.6 The Panel previously requested that an update be provided at each meeting detailing action taken on recommendations relating to School Excursions. Although there has been limited progress since the last Panel update, we acknowledge that progress has been somewhat impeded by the Service’s resources being focussed on the ongoing issues around school transport and a change in management within the Service. The Service is on track to implement the agreed actions and is working to a revised implementation date of March 2025. We will continue to report on the progress of these actions at each meeting of the Panel. 2.7 Progress made to date on recommendations arising from the reports on the Housing and Corporate Property Procurement and the whistleblowing allegations relating to Mears Scotland LLP, are being followed up separately as part of the 2024/25 Internal Audit Plan and will be reported to a future meeting of the Panel. Outstanding Internal Audit Recommendations 2.8 As at this cycle (February 2025), 92% of all relevant audit recommendations, where the original agreed implementation date was either due or had passed, have been fully implemented by Services, meaning that the percentage overall of all audit recommendations made since April 2021, which remain outstanding, is 8%. This highlights an improvement since the last period when 88% were complete and 12% were outstanding. 2.9 For instances where the original implementation date of an agreed audit action was more than 12 months overdue, the Panel requested that the relevant Chief Officer attend the meeting to provide an update. In this period there are seven such actions, and these are detailed in Appendix 4. Relevant Chief Officers have been invited to attend the Panel meeting. External Audit recommendations 2.10 Table 2 shows the status of actions agreed by management in response to External Audit reports issued as part of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 audits. 2.11 Internal Audit has concluded that four of the agreed actions have been completed, two have been partially implemented, and eight are not yet due. Table 2 Completed Partially implemented Not yet due No longer relevant Total Report Title/Year 2022-23 Annual Report 2021/22 1 2 0 0 3 Best Value Thematic Report 3 0 0 0 3 2023-24 Annual Report 0 0 5 0 5 Best Value Thematic Report 0 0 3 0 3 TOTAL 4 2 8 0 14 Page 11 of 176
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2.12 At the October meeting, the Panel requested a six-monthly tracking report of progress in implementing agreed external audit actions. The first update will therefore be presented at the next meeting of the Panel and be incorporated into this report. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Internal Audit reports each cycle to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel on the progress made by management in implementing actions in response to Internal and External Audit reports. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Appendix 2 Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Appendix 3 Residual risk rating definition Appendix 4 Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) Page 12 of 176
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact because of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Failure by Services to address previously identified issues and/or weaknesses will impact on the effectiveness of the relevant control framework. This, depending on the nature of the issue, will be captured and should be reflected in the relevant service risk register or the corporate risk register (as appropriate). 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 13 of 176
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Appendix 1 Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Original due date Extension Action taken to address recommendation and mitigate risk Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) Contract Management (April 2023) Risk: Without robust overarching review/monitoring arrangements, management would not be able to determine whether effective C&SM activities were being undertaken in accordance with corporate expectations. Contract and Supplier Management performance issues may not be appropriately managed, and lessons learned/good practice may not be adequately shared across the council. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) should: (1) review and determine a proportionate risk-based approach for the Council to gain assurance on the extent of compliance across Services with key corporate expectations in relation to contract and supplier management. This might include requiring Chief Officers to attest that the arrangements within their Service areas comply with the guiding principles within the C&SM guidance (where alternative Service specific arrangements are in place), an annual confirmation by Chief Officers that C&SM activity within their Services is operating as intended and periodic compliance checks on a sample of contracts to verify that expected processes are being properly adhered to; and (2) consider the adequacy of the current arrangements for reviewing/updating the contract management information within the contract register database and determine how this might be used to facilitate effective C&SM monitoring and oversight as per recommendation (a) above. Category: High December 2023 June 2024 December 2024 Fully implemented The Service have put in place a risk-based approach which will enable the Council to gain assurance on the extent of compliance across Services with key corporate expectations in relation to Contract and Supplier Management. This includes an MS Forms Poll being sent to Chief Officers which generated positive confirmation. Similarly, an MS Forms Poll was issued to officers identified from the Procurement Register as being Contract Managers for a contract awarded during the financial year 2023/24. A 5% sample of contracts were selected and checked by the Corporate Procurement Team to ensure that the Contract Owner has complied with their Contract and Supplier Management responsibilities. Going forward annual confirmation will be sought via the Annual Assurance Statement issued to Chief Officers. A sample of 5% of contracts will thereafter be selected and checked to ensure ongoing compliance. Creditors (April 2024) Risk: There may be inconsistency in the way invoices are approved for payment that is not fully compliant with the Financial Regulations. The Council’s reputation and statutory responsibility may be compromised if it fails to implement adequate controls in a timely manner. Invoices may be passed for processing where goods and services have not been received and/or in the absence of appropriately authorised orders. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) should monitor and periodically report to senior management on purchase activity undertaken using and not using the PECOS system (or other approved electronic procurement systems) with a view to identifying scope for greater use of automated purchasing arrangements. Category: High September 2024 November 2024 Fully implemented Asset and Procurement have undertaken a review of reporting capabilities and have determined that there is no meaningful reporting that can be gleaned from the system. As the P2P journey continues, the relevant project group will take forward reporting and the developments thereon. Page 14 of 176
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Appendix 1 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Original due date Extension Action taken to address recommendation and mitigate risk Chief Officer (Community Operations) Business Continuity Planning (July 2022) Risk: The absence of regular testing of planned business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements may lead to an increased risk that these arrangements are ineffective and/or inadequate in the event of an emergency. Recommendation: Management should ensure that: (1) a formal programme of future planned tests is prepared and implemented across all Services to ensure appropriate testing of all business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements. Testing should be risk-based, proportionate and include table-top exercises, structured walkthroughs and disaster simulation testing as appropriate. (2) testing and review templates, as referenced in the guidance, are completed by all service areas recording details of all such testing undertaken including: the outcomes of testing; lessons learned and improvement actions identified. (3) once completed, testing and review templates referenced at (2) above are reviewed by the Resilience Development Unit for each service area and lessons learned collated into a document for sharing across Services; and (4) Annual Assurance Returns are reviewed and a summary thereafter prepared, detailing testing undertaken in the year and the subsequent outcomes of such testing, for inclusion in the annual report on resilience planning submitted to CMT and elected members. Category: Medium September 2023 March 2024 December 2024 Fully implemented Services are encouraged to annually test their plans with advice/guidance from the Resilience Planning Team. A discussion template for testing has been made available for services to use if required (this is not mandatory) and emails have been issued to Services reminding them of the need to complete annual testing. The intention is that corporate testing will be on a 3 yearly basis. Going forward, Business Continuity assurance will be sought through inclusion in the Annual Governance Statement which is completed by Chief Officers. Internal Audit are currently undertaking a review of the Council’s Business Continuity arrangements, the outcome of which will be reported to a future meeting of the Panel, with progress of actions monitored as part of Internal Audit’s follow-up arrangements. Income & Cash Collection - Leisure Sites (January 2023) Risk: Procedures may be inadequate resulting in processes being undertaken unnecessarily. Procedures and/or arrangements may not be operating as expected and/or may not be being applied consistently across all leisure sites with an increased risk that income collected may not be fully recorded and/or properly accounted for. Recommendation: Service management should ensure that a comprehensive review of all aspects of the control framework for income/cash-handling at leisure sites is undertaken with a view to ensuring that up-to-date written procedures clearly setting out expected controls and actions are prepared and then implemented. These should reflect the current operating environment and include consideration of each of the issues identified above. Once finalised, revised guidance should be circulated to all staff and training delivered as appropriate. Category: High April 2023 October 2023 March 2024 October 2024 Fully implemented A comprehensive review of the procedures has been undertaken, with new procedures setting out expected controls and action to be taken written and circulated to staff. Training has been provided on a one-to-one basis as needed and LearnNL modules, for annual certification, have been developed and completed by staff. Further LearnNL modules are being developed and will be rolled out to relevant staff in due course. Page 15 of 176
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Appendix 1 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Original due date Extension Action taken to address recommendation and mitigate risk Chief Officer (Education and Families) School E – School Fund and General Issues (January 2024) Risk: The absence of a cash book and compliance with financial management procedures may lead to an increased risk of loss, theft or misappropriation of monies where any level of cash is held. The lack of management oversight and checks on financial activity within the school fund may mean that any such loss, theft or misappropriation of monies may remain undetected. Recommendation: The Chief Officer of Education and Families (North) should as a matter of urgency, ensure that immediate action is taken to improve the control environment surrounding the arrangements for recording of income and expenditure and handling of cash for the school fund at School E. This should include ensuring that the Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures are fully adhered to. Category: High June 2024 December 2024 Fully implemented The Education and Families Manager has met with the Head Teacher on several occasions to ensure that the recommendations outlined in the audit report have been understood; discuss proposed actions to address the issues raised and thereafter ensure that the actions have been implemented and recommendations fully addressed. The school now have a school fund committee in place and have updated their constitution and school fund policy to bring it in line with the Council’s Educational Establishment Fund Procedures. The Head Teacher has submitted the required annual compliance documentation for 2023-24 to Education HQ and this will be reviewed in due course. School F – Discrepancies in School Fund (March 2024) Education and Families should liaise with both the Head Teacher of School F and colleagues in Finance to determine what, if any, further steps can be taken with the Royal Bank of Scotland to resolve the issue of the discrepancy in the monies lodged in the school fund bank account. In doing so, consideration should be given as to whether all avenues have been exhausted and, if so, whether the monies should be written off as a loss in the cash book for the school fund. Category: High March 2024 October 2024 Fully implemented The Headteacher has confirmed that the Royal Bank of Scotland have concluded their investigation into the missing monies and are unable to trace the transaction. Education and Families are satisfied that all avenues have been exhausted with regards to the discrepancy in the monies lodged. An adjustment has been made in the school fund records to reflect this discrepancy. Page 16 of 176
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Appendix 1 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Original due date Extension Action taken to address recommendation and mitigate risk Chief Officer (Finance) Review of Petty Cash Imprests (October 2023) Risk: A lack of review of the ongoing need for cash being held by establishments could lead to a greater amount of cash being held than is necessary and the increased likelihood of fraudulent activity and misappropriation occurring. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Finance) should undertake a review of imprest accounts and cash floats held by Services and establishments to determine whether there is a continued need for each and, where still required, whether their value remains valid and appropriate. Appropriate action should be taken to implement any findings arising from the review. Category: Medium March 2024 July 2024 October 2024 Fully implemented A review has been undertaken of imprest accounts and cash floats held by Services and establishments. There were 164 imprest accounts held and following the review, and subsequent action taken as necessary, there are now 100 imprest accounts, with a significantly reduced balance. Creditors (April 2024) Risk: Failure to appropriately discharge delegated authority in accordance with financial regulations may result in payment of invoices which may not be properly due. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Finance) should consider how best Services’ compliance with the certification requirements set out in the financial regulations (currently section 14.4) can be reviewed/verified in a proportionate and risk-based manner and thereafter introduce appropriate arrangements. Category: Medium August 2024 November 2024 Fully implemented The Financial Regulations have been updated to reflect additional requirements and the Chief Officers/OMT have been advised of the Creditor Invoice Processing – change to the Certification Statement. These changes came into force from 16 December 2024. A schedule of intermittent checking will be undertaken once the new process has had time to embed. A log will be maintained of those invoices reviewed and the outcome. In addition, the interface between PECOS and eFinancials, which is due to ‘go live’ imminently, should ensure that there is always sufficient back-up for payment which will automatically allow Creditors to release the payment. Where this does not exist, the invoice will be automatically reverted to the Service to address. Page 17 of 176
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Appendix 1 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Previously reported as outstanding, now complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Original due date Extension Action taken to address recommendation and mitigate risk Chief Officer (People Resources) Payroll Key Controls: Overtime and Travel and Subsistence Claims (April 2023) Risk: Overtime and expenses transactions which have not been properly authorised may be processed, resulting in an increased risk of incorrect, invalid or inappropriate payments being made. Recommendation: The Chief Officer of Finance should: (1) in conjunction with the Chief Officer of People Resources, review the appropriateness of the current authorised signatory database for payroll transactions and consider if controls built into the iTrent system itself would provide a more effective means of operating delegated authority requirements; and (2) undertake a review of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the current arrangements for the ASDB for other types of transactions, taking into consideration current operating environments (with many authorisations now taking place using user permissions set-up within relevant systems), to determine whether it remains fit for purpose and how delegated authorities can, going forward, be best established and effectively discharged. Category: High September 2023 September 2024 December 2024 Fully implemented Discussions were held by Finance and People Resources regarding the current arrangements for the authorised signatory database where it was agreed that in-built controls in the iTrent system would provide a more effective solution than the existing arrangements. A module has now been developed on the iTrent system to hold the authorised signatory information and replace the current MS Access database. Security forms have been completed for the necessary employees and access to the Authorised Signatories module granted to these employees. Authorised signatory information can be searched as per iTrent mechanics with full access to information, as per the current Authorised Signatories Database, to confirm authority for approving transactions. Guidance has been compiled and issued to the relevant parties together with a brief communication telling them that iTrent should be used instead of the MS Access database. Review of the Council’s Counter Fraud Arrangements (August 2023) Risk: Staff and Elected Members may not be aware of the Councils approach to fraud and their responsibilities in relation to the prevention, detection and reporting of fraud. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should (1) review and update the online induction and fraud awareness modules to include relevant content in relation to the identification of fraud risks, the Council’s response to fraud through its policies and processes and raising awareness of the Council’s Counter Fraud Policy; and (2) ensure that the links to other policies contained with the Employee Code of Conduct are active. Category: Medium December 2023 April 2024 December 2024 Fully implemented The online induction and fraud awareness modules have now been reviewed and updated to reflect the points raised in the finding and recommendation. A link to the Council’s Counter Fraud Policy is provided within these modules. The Employee Code of Conduct now makes reference to the Counter Fraud Policy and includes updated active links to the other relevant Council policies. Page 18 of 176
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Appendix 2 Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (Community Operations) and Chief Officer (People Resources) Follow-up of Investigation of Staffing Issues within Waste and Fleet Resources (July 2023) Risk: A lack of documentation to clearly support the reasons for staff undertaking higher duties means claims for higher duties payments may be authorised inappropriately and staff could receive payments which they are not entitled to, and this could lead to increased costs for the Council. Failure to apply conditions of service appropriately could lead to inconsistency of employee payments across both the Service and the Council. If errors are not stopped immediately when they are first identified, any overpayments arising from the error could continue to increase and the likelihood of recovery could be reduced. Delays in employees agreeing and signing repayment schedules for overpayments could lead to a delay in recovery and increase the risk of the overpayment not being recovered if the employee were to leave the Council’s employment. Recommendation: (1) ensure that HR Business Partners, prior to authorising and passing higher duties claims for payment, properly scrutinise and understand the appropriateness of such claims, confirm that claims have been agreed and authorised by the Chief Officer or senior management and ensure that documentation accurately reflects the reason for such payments. (2) review, and take appropriate action, to resolve the issues and errors in contractual and non-contractual payments identified by Internal Audit and outlined in the document which has been provided under separate cover. (3) identify other employees who may be affected by the issues identified in the finding above, with a view to review and taking appropriate action to resolve any subsequent issues/errors identified; and (4) ensure that where overpayments arise from these reviews, prompt action is taken to ensure that appropriate repayment schedules, with reasonable terms, are promptly agreed with relevant employees and that recovery commences as soon as possible. Category: High Parts (1) and (2) of the recommendations made are considered to be fully implemented. Requests for higher duties claims are authorised by the Business Manager, Chief Officer and HR Business Partner to ensure all such claims have been properly scrutinised and appropriately authorised. A review of the contractual and non- contractual payments has been completed, and appropriate action is being and/or will be taken to resolve the issues and errors in these payments as identified both by Internal Audit and during the aforementioned review. Discussions are ongoing between the HR Business Partner and the Employee Service Centre to agree the value and thereafter arrange for appropriate action to be taken for the over and under/payments. As this is a manual exercise, it has been labour intensive and is taking longer than was first anticipated. Original timescale: September 2023 Agreed extension(s): December 2023 June 2024 September 2024 November 2024 Proposed revised timescale: February 2025 We acknowledge the action that has been taken to date to address the recommendations made and the planned actions proposed to fully mitigate the risks. We further acknowledge that the delay in implementation is largely due to competing priorities and an underestimation by People Resources of the time required to complete the exercise. We have assessed the residual risk for this recommendation as ‘High’. While we appreciate the actions which have been taken to date and/or are proposed, we consider that a significant period has passed, and the recommendation has not been fully implemented. We consider it important that the agreed extension date of February 2025 is achieved. This item is also included in Appendix 4 (recommendations more than 12 months overdue). The Chief Officer (People Resources) has been invited to attend the Panel. Page 19 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (Education and Families) School E – School Fund and General Issues (January 2024) Risk: Inefficiently managed bank signatories may result in fraudulent activity and/or delays in transactions being processed If the schools are unaware of the safe limits, then the balance of cash held may be in excess of these limits and would not be covered by the Council’s insurance policies. If schools which have charitable status are not complying with the requirements of OSCR this could create additional reputational risks. Recommendation: The Chief Officer of Education and Families (North) should: (1) ensure current signatories in place for all school funds are reviewed to determine whether these are appropriate, agree with the list of signatories held by the Treasury Management section and ensure that any resultant necessary changes are actioned promptly (2) collate a list of the safe/other secure facility held at each educational establishment and thereafter pass the details to the Insurance section enabling them to determine and advise of the level of insurance cover provided for each establishment; and (3) review which schools have charitable status activities; whether this is still required and, if so, that they have been made aware of the expected governance arrangements (rules, regulations and processes etc.) to be followed to comply with statutory/OSCR expectations. Category: Medium There has been limited progress in implementing agreed actions in recent months, primarily due to staffing changes and competing priorities. A revised action plan is currently being developed with a view to addressing the commitments made by the Service. The first stage of the process will centre on preparing and issuing a pro-forma to all Heads of Establishment, seeking initial information in respect of each of the three points in the audit recommendation. Thereafter, action will be taken to ensure accurate and current information is held in respect of establishments, and that this information is shared with the respective teams across other Council services. Original timescale: June 2024 Agreed extension(s): December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge the planned actions proposed to fully address the recommendations made and reduce the risks which the Council is exposed to. We further acknowledge that the delay in implementation is largely due to staffing changes within the Service and competing priorities, around the implementation of changes to the provision of school transport. We have assessed the residual risk for this recommendation as ‘Medium’ and consider it important that the agreed extension date of March 2025 is achieved. We would suggest that the Panel may wish to consider agreeing to note the proposed action to be taken and the revised completion date and to monitor progress being reported at future meetings of the Panel. Page 20 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (Education and Families) School G – Potential Irregularity (March 2024) Education and Families should ensure that the Head Teacher of Stepps Primary School liaises with the Treasury Management section with a view to arranging for the school fund bank account currently being used to be closed and the monies transferred to the NLC school fund bank account held for School G. Category: High The Education and Families Manager has met with the Head Teacher who has confirmed that the non-NLC school fund bank account is still open. Thereafter, the Education and Families Manager contacted the Treasury Management section with a view to seeking guidance on closing the non-NLC school fund bank account and transferring any balance of monies to the NLC school fund bank account held for School G. Action will be taken in line with the guidance received. Original timescale: June 2024 Agreed extension(s): October 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge the action taken to date and that proposed to address the recommendation. We have assessed the residual risk as ‘Low’ and consider it important that the agreed timescale for implementation is adhered to. Accordingly, we suggest that the Panel may simply wish to consider agreeing to note the progress made and the revised completion date. Compliance with Establishment Fund Arrangements (October 2024) Risk: The absence of regular, accurate and timely reporting may mean that senior management are not made fully aware of the extent of establishments’ compliance with the Establishment Fund Financial Procedures. Recommendation: The Chief Officers (Education and Families - North and South) should determine, and formally document, the frequency and content (i.e. level of returns submitted by establishments and results of compliance checks undertaken including issues identified, proposed actions and progress to address issues) of information which requires to be provided to Service management with regards the establishment fund Compliance Framework. Category: Medium In December 2024, the Service’s SMT agreed to implement updated governance and oversight arrangements in respect of establishment funds. SMT recognise that these revised arrangements do not fully address the recommendations made or commitments made by the Service. They will, however, ensure that the position is kept under review and will endeavour to roll out further actions subject to the identification of internal staffing resources. Original timescale: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge the actions proposed by the Service in relation to this recommendation and the commitment being made to ensure that the position is kept under review with a view to taking further action to mitigate the identified risks. We have assessed the residual risk as ‘High’ and recommend that the Panel continue to monitor progress being reported at future meetings of the Panel. A report from management, at the Panel’s earlier request, giving an update on progress of implementation of Internal Audit actions raised in respect of school funds is being tabled as a separate agenda item at this meeting. Page 21 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (Education and Families) Compliance with Establishment Fund Arrangements (October 2024) Risk: The absence of adequate oversight/monitoring of schools’ compliance with the Council’s Educational Establishment Fund Procedures may result in areas of non-compliance going undetected and/or increase the risk of fraud or misappropriation of funds. Unless establishments are notified of areas of non-compliance and/or the Service take action to address these issues there is a high probability that these errors and/or malpractices will be carried forward and repeated in future years which increases the potential risk of theft or misappropriation of funds. Recommendation: The Chief Officers (Education and Families – North and South) should ensure that action is taken to further develop each of the five components within the Compliance Framework for the Service to ensure compliance on the operation and management of Establishment Funds across educational establishments. This should include, but is not limited to, specific detail and/or guidance regarding the following: 1. who will monitor submission of returns by Heads of Establishment and recording and tracking of this. 2. the initial checks required to be undertaken on these submissions, by whom and the recording of the outcome. 3. determination of a proportionate risk-based programme which clearly documents how the Service will identify and thereafter undertake targeted sample checks at establishments to verify compliance with the Educational Establishment Fund Procedures; and 4. the protocol for action to be taken on those establishments who have either not returned the required documentation (either in full or in part) or where issues/areas of non-compliance have been identified with the documentation submitted. Category: High Schools have begun to submit their compliance paperwork for session 2023-24. These submissions will be reviewed and assessed, with the Service thereafter adopting a formal response and plan following completion of this exercise. In December 2024, the Service’s SMT agreed to implement updated governance and oversight arrangements in respect of establishment funds. The SMT recognise that these revised arrangements do not fully address the recommendations made or commitments made by the Service. They will, however, ensure that the position is kept under review and will endeavour to roll out further actions subject to the identification of internal staffing resources. Original timescale: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge the actions proposed by the Service in relation to this recommendation and also the commitment being made to ensuring that the position is kept under review with a view to taking further action to mitigate the identified risks. We have assessed the residual risk as ‘High’ and recommend that the Panel continue to monitor progress being reported at future meetings of the Panel. A report from management, at the Panel’s earlier request, giving an update on progress of implementation of Internal Audit actions raised in respect of school funds is being tabled as a separate agenda item at this meeting. Page 22 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (People Resources) ESC: Testing of Selected Key Controls (March 2022) Risk: Failure to apply conditions of service appropriately could lead to inconsistency and/or errors in payments made to employees across the Council. Recommendation: The Head of People and Organisational Development should ensure that HR Business Partners, in conjunction with service management, review how non-core hours have been calculated for all relevant employees in receipt of a standing non-core hours payment each pay period to ensure that these are accurate and consistent with the employee's work pattern/rota and Schedule A. Category: Medium People Resources have now completed the review of non-core hours. A report is due to be presented to the February 2025 meeting of CMT. Original timescale: December 2022 Agreed extension: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge the current management position and have assessed the residual risk for this recommendation as ‘Medium’. It is important that the agreed extension date of March 2025 is achieved. This item is also included in Appendix 4 (recommendations more than 12 months overdue). The Chief Officer (People Resources) has been invited to attend the Panel. Payments to Staff (Regularity): Additional Non- Standard Payments (October 2023) Risk: If there are too many element codes and the description of each code is unclear, staff and managers may not understand the purpose of each code which could result in an increased likelihood that the incorrect code is selected, and the incorrect rate is paid leading to under and/or overpayments. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should undertake a review of current element codes to: (1) determine the need for each code based on the Council’s terms and conditions, removing any which are unnecessary and provide a clear explanation of each code remaining to ensure that staff and managers understand the purpose of each code; and (2) restrict the codes available to individual employees so that they are only able to select codes which are relevant to their post. Category: Medium The Service have only recently started work in this area and work is ongoing to develop and execute a process to review and make the necessary changes to the current element codes. A report will be generated which will identify all payroll element codes that are in the system and when they were last used. Those which have never been used will be deleted and those which have not been used in the last three years will have a ‘DO NOT USE’ suffix placed on them. In addition, the Service aim to add some clarity around the more ambiguous payroll elements that are open to interpretation, thus helping staff and managers to understand the purpose of such codes. The Service have advised that they are unable to restrict certain elements to certain employees but hope that the ‘Paid Time’ module of iTrent can do this should it be procured at some point in the future. Original timescale: January 2024 Agreed extension: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: April 2025 We have assessed the residual risk as 'High'. Whilst we acknowledge the limitations experienced by the Service and the actions proposed, we consider that a significant period has passed and there has been little progress made to implement the recommendation and/or mitigate the risks. This item is also included in Appendix 4 (recommendations more than 12 months overdue). The Chief Officer (People Resources) has been invited to attend the Panel. Page 23 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (People Resources) Payroll: Follow-up of Overtime Duplicate Payments (August 2024) Risk: Claims may be submitted, authorised and paid that do not accurately reflect the amounts properly due. Ineligible and/or inappropriate claims may be made. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should ensure that: (1) As a priority, a robust mechanism is developed and implemented to identify, and hold to account, any managers who are continually authorising duplicate claims and are therefore failing to properly and effectively discharge the delegated financial authority assigned to them. This should include, but not be limited to, the need for completion of the Time and Expenses training to be made a mandatory requirement for authorising managers; reporting instances of authorising duplicate claims to the relevant Chief Officer and devising a process whereby continual dereliction of duties results in consideration of appropriate formal action; and (3) Regular reports detailing instances of recurring non-compliance of both submission and authorisation of duplicate claims are introduced and circulated to both People Resources management and relevant Chief Officer Category: High There is now a protocol in place and being followed where there are repeated instances of individual employees submitting, and managers authorising, duplicate claims. As part of this process, both the employee and the authorising manager are notified by e-mail where a duplicate overtime claim has been submitted and authorised and alerting them to the consequences if they continue to do so. After three such occasions, the case is referred to the Employment and Policy Manager and an investigation undertaken to determine the action requiring to be taken. In addition, the Service have drafted, and are currently finalising, a letter which will be sent to managers who have been identified as authorising duplicate pay claims. This letter will highlight the duplicate claims and request that the manager makes the appropriate arrangements to ensure that there will be no further occurrence of duplicate claims being authorised. It then states that where the manager continues to authorise duplicate claims, the matter will be brought to the attention of the Chief Officer who may decide to investigate and take action as necessary. Original timescale: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: April 2025 We acknowledge the actions that have been undertaken to date but consider that some work is still required to be undertaken before the identified risks are fully mitigated and the recommendations can be fully implemented. People Resources management receive reports providing summary information on duplicate claims submitted and authorised each period, however these do not currently provide detail of recurring non-compliance. In addition, there is currently no escalation process for managers who are repeatedly signing duplicate claims for one or more of their employees. The Service have advised that this will be discussed with the Chief Officer (People Resources) and consideration given to documenting such a process. We have assessed the residual risk as 'Medium’ and consider it imperative that the revised timescale of April 2025 is met. We would suggest that the Panel may wish to consider agreeing to note the proposed action to be taken and the revised completion date and progress will be reported at the next meeting of the Panel. Page 24 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (People Resources) Payroll: Follow- up of Overtime Duplicate Payments (August 2024) Risk: Claims may be submitted, authorised and paid that do not accurately reflect the amounts properly due. Ineligible and/or inappropriate claims may be made. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should ensure that guidance and training provided to both employees and managers provides clear and explicit instruction on the key expectations regarding the completion and review of overtime claims, including those listed in the finding above. Category: High The Overtime and Expenses training module has been developed and went live on 27th January. It is available to access by Authorised Signatories (as a standalone) and by Managers via the Manager’s Toolkit (as they are required to complete the full toolkit). A completions report will thereafter be run to ensure that the Toolkit (or individual module) is completed, and a process will be put in place for ‘non-completion’ to be followed up. Completion of the module is not mandatory, but the Service will ensure that it is promoted thoroughly and through different channels. Original timescale: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: February 2025 We acknowledge that there has been significant progress made to date with regards to this action. We have assessed the residual risk as ‘Low’ and consider it important that the agreed timescale for implementation is adhered to. Accordingly, we suggest that the Panel may simply wish to consider agreeing to note the progress made and the revised completion date. Payroll: Follow- up of Overtime Duplicate Payments (August 2024) Risk: Failure to progress recovery of overpayments in a timely manner increases the financial risk to the Council of non-payment of these overpayments. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should ensure that: (1) A formal plan, detailing the action required to be taken to agree and recover the previously identified overpayments and the associated timescales and responsible officers, is prepared and progress thereafter monitored; and (2) Appropriate and timely action is thereafter taken to recover the overpayments referenced at recommendation (1) above, with regular updates on the status of the recovery of these overpayments provided to Senior Management. Category: Medium A decision was made at the BMT meeting in October 2024 to recover the previously identified overpayments from active employees only and not from leavers. A process has been devised as to how amounts will be recovered for (a) salaried employees and (b) timesheet paid employees. Work in this area will commence in January 2025. Original timescale: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 We acknowledge that delay in progressing this action was largely due to awaiting a decision to be made around whether, and what, overpayments would be actively pursued. We further acknowledge that a process has now been devised as to how overpayments will be recovered. While we appreciate the actions which have been taken to date and/or are proposed, we consider that a significant period of time has passed since the overpayments were originally identified and they have yet to be recovered. As such, we have assessed the residual risk for this action as ‘Medium’. We would suggest that the Panel may wish to consider agreeing to note the proposed action to be taken and the revised completion date and to monitor progress being reported at future meetings of the Panel. Page 25 of 176
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Appendix 2 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Actions due, but not yet complete Chief Officer Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Internal Audit comment Chief Officer (Place) Creditors (April 2024) Risk: There may be inconsistency in the way invoices are approved for payment that is not fully compliant with the Financial Regulations. The Council’s reputation and statutory responsibility may be compromised if it fails to implement adequate controls in a timely manner. Invoices may be passed for processing where goods and services have not been received and/or in the absence of appropriately authorised orders. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Place) should ensure that, as a matter of urgency, the solution for an interface between PECOS and eFinancials is finalised and implemented. This should include ensuring that user acceptance testing is satisfactorily completed, and that staff involved in raising and approving and matching PECOS orders/invoices are provided with appropriate training prior to implementation. Category: High The interface between PECOS and eFinancials has been fully acceptance tested and signed off by both internal and external parties. All Services have completed a review of their PECOS plans including requisitioners and approvers. A training module has been developed and training for staff involved in raising and approving and matching PECOS orders/invoices has been rolled out. Suppliers have been made aware of the changes that are coming, a new mailbox has been set up and there is now a Purchase to Pay channel available on Teams to relevant staff. Documents will be uploaded to this channel in due course. It is anticipated that the interface will be ‘going live’ in the coming weeks. Original timescale: September 2024 Agreed extension(s): November 2024 Proposed revised timescale: February 2025 We acknowledge the work that has been undertaken to date to develop and implement this interface and note that the expectation is that the interface will be ‘going live’ in the coming weeks. Given the length of time taken thus far to progress this action and fully implement the interface we have assessed the residual risk for this recommendation as 'Medium' and consider it important that the agreed extension date of February 2025 is achieved. We would suggest that the Panel may wish to consider agreeing to note the proposed action to be taken and the revised completion date and progress will be reported at the next meeting of the Panel. Appendix 3 Residual risk rating definition Internal Audit assessment of residual risk from non-implementation High Non-implementation of actions has the potential to significantly undermine the relevant control environment. Medium Non-implementation of actions has the potential to impact upon the achievement of the control environment. Low Other issues which require management attention, but which pose less significant or less immediate impacts to the control environment. Page 26 of 176
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Appendix 4 Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Chief Officer / Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Chief Officer (People Resources) ESC: Testing of Selected Key Controls (March 2022) Risk: Failure to apply conditions of service appropriately could lead to inconsistency and/or errors in payments made to employees across the Council. Recommendation: The Head of People and Organisational Development should ensure that HR Business Partners, in conjunction with service management, review how non-core hours have been calculated for all relevant employees in receipt of a standing non-core hours payment each pay period to ensure that these are accurate and consistent with the employee's work pattern/rota and Schedule A. Category: Medium Significant progress – action required largely complete People Resources have now completed the review of non-core hours. A report is due to be presented to the February 2025 meeting of CMT for approval. Original timescale: December 2022 Agreed extension: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: March 2025 Chief Officer (People Resources) Payments to Staff (Regularity): Additional Non-Standard Payments (October 2023) Risk: If there are too many element codes and the description of each code is unclear, staff and managers may not understand the purpose of each code which could result in an increased likelihood that the incorrect code is selected, and the incorrect rate is paid leading to under and/or overpayments. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should undertake a review of current element codes to: (1) determine the need for each code based on the Council’s terms and conditions, removing any which are unnecessary and provide a clear explanation of each code remaining to ensure that staff and managers understand the purpose of each code; and (2) restrict the codes available to individual employees so that they are only able to select codes which are relevant to their post. Category: Medium Significant work still to be undertaken The Service have only recently started work in this area and work is ongoing to develop and execute a process to review and make the necessary changes to the current element codes. A report will be generated which will identify all payroll element codes that are in the system and when they were last used. Those which have never been used will be deleted and those which have not been used in the last three years will have a ‘DO NOT USE’ suffix placed on them. In addition, the Service aim to add some clarity around the more ambiguous payroll elements that are open to interpretation, thus helping staff and managers to understand the purpose of such codes. The Service have advised that they are unable to restrict certain elements to certain employees but hope that the ‘Paid Time’ module of iTrent can do this should it be procured at some point in the future. Original timescale: January 2024 Agreed extension: December 2024 Proposed revised timescale: April 2025 Page 27 of 176
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Appendix 4 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Chief Officer / Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) Contract Management (April 2023) Risk: Inexperienced officers may be identified as Contract Owners which may prevent the contracts from being managed effectively. Staff may not be aware of the Council’s Contract & Supplier Management (C&SM) guidance and/or corporate expectations on Contract owners for undertaking C&SM. Without the appropriate training, officers would not be able to sufficiently undertake their duties for C&SM. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (Asset and Procurement) should ensure that: (1) all Chief Officers are reminded of the need to nominate appropriately skilled/experienced officers as contract owners and ensure that such staff are made aware as soon as possible of the C&SM guidance and the responsibilities and corporate expectations placed on them when undertaking such a role. (2) the eLearning modules and associated training continue to be developed in accordance with the expected timescales and consideration is given to the need for specific mandatory training on the corporate C&SM guidance for those nominated as Contract Owners; and (3) the C&SM guidance is subject to periodic review to ensure that it continues to be adequate and reflects current corporate expectations in relation to C&SM activity across the Council. Category: Medium Significant progress – action required largely complete (1) The Service have conducted an MS Forms Poll with Chief Officers and officers identified from the Procurement Register as being Contract Managers for a contract awarded during the year 2023/24. This generated positive confirmation of awareness of corporate Contract and Supplier Management guidance and the responsibilities and expectations to enable delegated officers to undertake their roles. (2) The training module has been developed but requires further development and content to be added prior to ‘going live’. The Procurement and Support Manager is meeting with the Talent and Organisational Development Team in the coming weeks with a view to discussing and finalising the training. (3) The Contract and Supplier Management guidance has been reviewed and a new document has been drafted but is not yet fully populated. It will be completed in the coming weeks and will thereafter be submitted to the CPWG. The document includes details of the review schedule. The Service have committed to ensuring that these actions are fully implemented by the previously agreed revised implementation date of March 2025. Original timescale: December 2023 Agreed extension(s): June 2024 March 2025 Page 28 of 176
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Appendix 4 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Chief Officer / Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Chief Officer (People Resources) Controls – Use of Teaching Supply Staff (January 2023) Risk: A lack of appropriate guidance in relation to supply teachers could lead to confusion over definitions, uncertainty around the expectations and responsibilities of Headteachers and the HRBP team not being made aware of all short-term supply teachers undertaking long-term engagements which could further lead to supply teachers not being provided with appropriate contracts of employment and the Council not complying with SNCT guidelines. If a supply register detailing short-term supply teacher availability is not maintained and provided to Headteachers, they may have difficulty identifying an appropriate resource to undertake their supply needs which could lead to Headteachers not notifying the HRBP team where a resource is found, or an increased risk of teachers being employed who have not been subjected to the Council’s recruitment process and pre-employment verification checks. Recommendation: People Resources, in conjunction with Education and Families, should (1) prepare and issue documented guidance providing clear definitions of short and long-term supply teachers and outlining the responsibilities and required actions of Headteachers in relation to supply teachers; and (2) finalise and implement the proposed processes for the management of short-term supply teachers as highlighted in the finding (i.e. notification of engagements and the Supply Register) and ensure that a formal review of the adequacy and effectiveness of these processes is undertaken, after a sufficient period of time, to assess how well they are operating, identifying and taking any necessary improvement actions as appropriate. Category: High Significant progress – action required largely complete (1) Guidance in relation to supply teachers, including the process to be followed by Head Teachers when filling short and long- term cover requirements, has been formally documented and was implemented in June 2024. (2) A new process for the management of short-term supply teachers has been devised and documented; however, it is currently with the Trade Unions for them to review and agree the process prior to it being implemented. Given that the process has not yet been implemented, the Service request that the previously agreed revised timescale be further revised to June 2025 thus allowing sufficient time, following implementation, for the process to be embedded and thereafter the adequacy and effectiveness of these arrangements reviewed. Original timescale: August 2023 Agreed extension(s): June 2024 February 2025 Proposed revised timescale: June 2025 Page 29 of 176
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Appendix 4 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Chief Officer / Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Follow-up of Investigation of Staffing Issues within Waste and Fleet Resources (July 2023) Risk: A lack of documentation to clearly support the reasons for staff undertaking higher duties means claims for higher duties payments may be authorised inappropriately and staff could receive payments which they are not entitled to, and this could lead to increased costs for the Council. Failure to apply conditions of service appropriately could lead to inconsistency of employee payments across both the Service and the Council. If errors are not stopped immediately when they are first identified, any overpayments arising from the error could continue to increase and the likelihood of recovery could be reduced. Delays in employees agreeing and signing repayment schedules for overpayments could lead to a delay in recovery and increase the risk of the overpayment not being recovered if the employee were to leave the Council’s employment. Recommendation: (1) ensure that HR Business Partners, prior to authorising and passing higher duties claims for payment, properly scrutinise and understand the appropriateness of such claims, confirm that claims have been agreed and authorised by the Chief Officer or senior management and ensure that documentation accurately reflects the reason for such payments. (2) review, and take appropriate action, to resolve the issues and errors in contractual and non-contractual payments identified by Internal Audit and outlined in the document which has been provided under separate cover. (3) identify other employees who may be affected by the issues identified in the finding above, with a view to review and taking appropriate action to resolve any subsequent issues/errors identified; and (4) ensure that where overpayments arise from these reviews, prompt action is taken to ensure that appropriate repayment schedules, with reasonable terms, are promptly agreed with relevant employees and that recovery commences as soon as possible. Category: High Action required partially complete Parts (1) and (2) of the recommendations made are considered to be fully implemented. Requests for higher duties claims are authorised by the Business Manager, Chief Officer and HR Business Partner to ensure all such claims have been properly scrutinised and appropriately authorised. A review of the contractual and non-contractual payments has been completed, and appropriate action is being and/or will be taken to resolve the issues and errors in these payments as identified both by Internal Audit and during the aforementioned review. Discussions are ongoing between the HR Business Partner and the Employee Service Centre to agree the value and thereafter arrange for appropriate action to be taken for the over and under/payments. As this is a manual exercise, it has been labour intensive and is taking longer than was first anticipated. Original timescale: September 2023 Agreed extension(s): December 2023 June 2024 September 2024 November 2024 Proposed revised timescale: February 2025 Page 30 of 176
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Appendix 4 (continued) Internal Audit recommendations – Original implementation date more than twelve months overdue Chief Officer / Report Details Details from original recommendation Current position per management update Original and revised timescales Chief Officer (People Resources) Corporate Governance Principles C & D (May 2023) Risk: Without regular review, key corporate policies may not be appropriate or accurately reflect the Council’s arrangements and/or staff and other key stakeholders may not be aware of the most up to date policies and procedures. Recommendation: The Chief Officer (People Resources) should ensure that appropriate arrangements are put in place to allow for key HR related documents referenced in the finding above to be reviewed/refreshed and communicated to staff and that these are monitored to ensure revised timescales are achieved. Category: Medium Fully implemented (subject to Committee approval) All HR policies are regularly reviewed on a rolling cycle. The Chief Officers Code of Conduct has been reviewed and updated and was approved by the Policy and Strategy Committee in June 2023. The PRD process has been reviewed and implemented. A report was presented to BMT in May 2023 to agree the full roll out and launch of the new process and the new system approach was promoted as part of the ‘learning at work’ week in June 2023. The Employee Code of Conduct has now been reviewed and updates agreed by CMT. It will then be presented to the forthcoming meeting of Policy and Strategy Committee for approval. The mandatory training module will thereafter be updated to reflect any changes. Original timescale: September 2023 Agreed extension(s): December 2023 March 2024 September 2024 March 2025 Chief Officer (People Resources) Payments to Staff Additional Non-Standard Payments (October 2023) Risk: Payments may be allocated to the incorrect post which could result in incorrect payments and additional costs to the Council. Recommendation: (1) The Chief Officer (Education – South), in conjunction with the Chief Officer (People Resources) should undertake a review to identify staff who regularly receive casual worker payments to ensure that they have an appropriate casual worker post set up on iTrent and a current Casual Worker Agreement in place. Where no post and/or agreement exists, appropriate action should be taken to correct this. (2) The Chief Officer (People Resources) should: • Consider whether the review recommended at (1) above needs to be extended to other Service areas, facilitating this as appropriate. • Consider whether an exception report can be devised to capture instances where casual worker payments are being made to staff without a casual worker post set up in iTrent and/or a Casual Worker Agreement in place to enable monitoring, identification and prompt action to correct this; and • Remind casual workers, and managers authorising claims, of the requirement to ensure that casual worker payments are only allocated to their casual worker post. Category: Medium Significant work still to be undertaken Communication was issued to all managers and casual employees advising them of the correct process and the requirement for compliance was re-emphasised in the ESC Managers Bulletin in March 2024. No review has been undertaken as yet to identify staff who regularly receive casual worker payments to ensure that they have an appropriate casual worker post set up on iTrent and a current Casual Worker Agreement in place. Discussions will take place between the ESC Manager and HR Business Partnership Manager to devise a plan going forward as to how best to address the audit recommendations regarding casual workers. The Service have committed to ensuring that these actions are fully implemented by the previously agreed revised implementation date of March 2025. Original timescale: January 2024 Agreed extension(s): July 2024 March 2025 Page 31 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref FS/ASP/PRFeb25 Date 24/02/25 Internal Audit: Progress Report From Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) E-mail scottfr@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07787 914207 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of Internal Audit activity and audit reports issued since the last update to the Panel in October 2024, namely: • City Deal • Devolved School Management • Housing Asset Management Planning • Housing Rents • Use of Purchase Cards Additionally, this report will provide an update on a recent unplanned Internal Audit review of a school fund, and a summary of an audit investigation concluded in the period. This report will also advise on the progress with the 2024-25 Internal Audit plan and provide an update on performance management. Recommendations The Panel is invited to: (a) note the content of the Internal Audit reports together with the associated management responses. (b) consider whether there are any issues raised by Internal Audit which the Panel consider are sufficiently significant to require a further report from management to be submitted to a future meeting of the Panel. (c) request that Internal Audit report to future meetings of the Panel on the progress in implementing agreed management actions categorised as ‘High’ or ‘Medium’ priority, and (d) otherwise note this report. Item 4 Page 33 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 The 2024-25 Annual Plan was approved by the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in May 2024. The Internal Audit Charter, most recently approved by the Panel in August 2024, requires that the results of Internal Audit’s work be periodically reported to CMT and the Panel. This report fulfils that requirement. 2. Report Audit reviews completed in the period 2.1 The audit reports summarised below were included in the 2024-25 Internal Audit Plan and have been completed since the last meeting of the Panel in October 2024. While the reports noted contain recommendations for improvement, all have been assessed as providing positive levels of assurance. Management have responded positively to these reports and satisfactory responses and commitments to audit recommendations have been received. 2.2 Appendix 1 provides detailed definitions of the priorities assigned to audit recommendations, and the factors considered when determining the level of assurance provided in the audit opinion. Full copies of these audit reports have been included in the meeting paper in line with the approved Internal Audit Charter and associated reporting protocol. City Deal Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Recommendations High 0 Medium 0 Low 2 2.3 The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council's arrangements in respect of its participation in the Glasgow City Region (GCR) City Deal. We were pleased to note that the Council continues to apply expected governance arrangements in relation to City Deal projects, including compliance with the GCR Assurance Framework, Programme Management Toolkit and Benefits Realisation Framework, and the Council’s General Contract Standing Orders. Additionally, we found that grant claims were properly prepared and submitted with funding received used for the intended purpose. Devolved School Management Internal Audit Opinion Reasonable assurance Recommendations High 1 Medium 3 Low 1 2.4 The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s Devolved School Management (DSM) scheme. Based on the results of our work, we are satisfied that the DSM scheme is largely consistent with Scottish The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 34 of 176
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Government guidance and best practice, and the arrangements in place to provide good quality and timely financial reporting are generally sound. 2.5 The audit work did identify some non-compliance and scope for improvement. There is scope for procurement practices within Education establishments to be further developed and strengthened to ensure full compliance with procurement regulations and the Council’s General Contract Standing Orders (GCSOs). Additionally, further areas for improvement included: • assessing compliance by establishments with the core elements of the DSM scheme. • ensuring consistent application of financial monitoring arrangements across establishments, and • the extension of DSM training and awareness for Heads of Establishment and other key stakeholders. Housing Asset Management Planning Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Recommendations High 0 Medium 0 Low 1 2.6 This was a high-level review designed to provide assurance on the implementation of the Council’s Housing Asset Management Plan (HAMP) 2021-26, and the extent to which planned outcomes are being delivered. 2.7 Based on our work, we consider that the Council’s management arrangements relating to the HAMP are adequate and operating effectively. We were pleased to note that the Council’s approach to housing asset management is generally consistent with recommended good practice published by the Scottish Housing Regulator. In addition, the HAMP includes an action plan which contains strategic actions and milestones, with targets and completion timescales, and there are appropriate governance arrangements in place for monitoring and reporting on progress of these actions. Housing Rents Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Recommendations High 0 Medium 1 Low 0 2.8 This audit was a review of the arrangements for managing the housing rents operation, and based on our audit work, we are satisfied that the controls in this area are adequate, operating effectively and being consistently applied. There is an adequate process in place for adding and removing housing assets from Housing Services Management System (HSMS) and reconciling housing stock. There is a clear rationale for determining rent charges, with annual checks to ensure that the rent increase has been fully and accurately applied to individual properties. Regular reconciliations are undertaken between HSMS and the Council’s financial ledger, and rent refunds are properly requested, checked and authorised prior to payment. 2.9 We have made one medium priority recommendation to improve the processes, guidance and documentation for the Rent Assistance Fund (RAF). Page 35 of 176
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Use of Purchase Cards Internal Audit Opinion Reasonable assurance Recommendations High 0 Medium 2 Low 2 2.10 This audit focused on assessing whether the Council has established appropriate written policies and procedures designed to ensure effective control over the use of purchase cards, and whether the procedures are being followed consistently and are operating effectively. Based on the results of our work during this audit, we are satisfied that, in general, purchase cards are being used for legitimate purposes, card limits appear appropriate and there are adequate levels of record keeping in place for purchase card transactions. 2.11 However, while a documented Policy on the Use of Purchase Cards is in place, some elements of the policy have yet to be fully implemented in relation to monitoring and reconciling card usage. We also identified some areas of non-compliance with the policy relating to the use of purchase cards by officers. Completion of the planned actions agreed with management will ensure that the control environment is enhanced and non-compliance with the policy reduced. Unplanned Internal Audit Review – School Fund Discrepancy 2.12 This unplanned review was undertaken in relation to potential discrepancies in school funds that were reported to Internal Audit. The review found that School H had not followed the appropriate procedures for managing school funds and did not have adequate processes for recording, reconciling and banking income and expenditure. Additionally, there had been a lack of oversight from the previous Head Teacher and senior school management. 2.13 Although discrepancies were identified between school fund records and bank statements, the audit did not identify any evidence to indicate misappropriation of funds and there was no financial loss. The discrepancies noted related to the bank account balance being higher than the balance noted in the fund records maintained by the school, which was considered to be a result of incorrect recording of transactions. Internal Audit Investigation – School Fund Fraud 2.14 Following a report of missing school fund monies at School I, an Internal Audit investigation was undertaken in accordance with the Council’s Corporate Fraud Policy. During the investigation, a member of staff confessed that they had taken funds on several occasions for personal use, and the audit work concluded that there is clear and unequivocal evidence that fraud had been committed by this staff member. The appropriate response under the Council’s Discipline Policy was progressed by Education and Families management, and the staff member resigned from their post prior to the disciplinary hearing. In line with the Corporate Fraud Policy, Internal Audit has referred the matter to Police Scotland for further consideration. Additionally, Audit Scotland has been notified of the details of this fraud. 2024-25 Internal Audit Plan – Progress Update 2.15 The Panel has previously been advised of the resourcing issues in the audit team. Despite the Chief Officer post now being filled, a vacancy has arisen for the role of Audit Manager. Interim arrangements are in place to cover these duties, and a recruitment exercise is in progress, however it is likely that the team will carry a vacancy at auditor level for the remainder of this financial year. Page 36 of 176
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2.16 Taking account of the reduced resources available since the audit plan was approved and a number of unplanned assignments during the year, I have been required to make amendments to the plan for 2024-25. Priority has been given to higher risk audits and those which provide core support to the annual opinion. This has resulted in 7 assignments being deferred and carried forward for inclusion in the 2025-26 audit plan and 1 further assignment being removed. Details of these changes are highlighted in Appendix 2. 2.17 One of the key annual performance indicators is the completion of the Internal Audit Plan completed each year, with a target of 90%. Despite the resourcing constraints and amendments to the audit plan noted above, I anticipate that this target should be achieved for 2024-25. This will allow sufficient audit coverage to provide an annual audit opinion which is unrestricted in terms of scope. Performance Management 2.18 In line with Internal Audit performance management framework, two performance indicators are subject to quarterly reporting to the Panel. 2.19 The first indicator is the implementation of agreed actions arising from Internal Audit reports by the implementation date. In the period to December 2024, 57% of agreed actions have been implemented by the implementation date (the previous update for the period to September 2024 had a 64% completion rate). 2.20 The second performance indicator measures client satisfaction. The results received in the period continue to show positive feedback on the work of Internal Audit, with 100% of respondents agreeing that Internal Audit added value by assisting in providing assurance, and that reports were relevant and constructive with findings clearly and accurately communicated. Appendix 3 provides a summary of the questions we ask audit clients at the conclusion of each audit. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Internal Audit reports annually on its performance to the Panel and is also subject to review annually by the Council’s appointed external auditors. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 Audit Grading Definitions Appendix 2 Changes to Audit Plan 2024-25 Appendix 3 Internal Audit Client Feedback Results Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) Page 37 of 176
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 38 of 176
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Effective responses by management to the weaknesses, control issues and/or areas of improvement identified by Internal Audit will increase the likelihood of the Council achieving its ambitions by improving control frameworks and more effectively mitigating potential risks and threats to the achievement of planned outcomes. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 39 of 176
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Appendix 1 Audit Grading Definitions Audit reports are graded with an overall assurance opinion, and any issues and associated recommendations are classified individually to denote their relative importance, in accordance with the definitions in the tables below. Definition of audit assurance and recommendation categories Assurance Confidence based on sufficient evidence that internal controls are in place, operating effectively and objectives are being achieved. Assurance opinion Substantial Assurance There are minimal or minor control weaknesses that present low risk to the control environment. The control environment has substantially operated as intended although some minor errors have been detected. Very few or no improvements are needed. Reasonable Assurance There are some control weaknesses that present a low to medium risk to the control environment. The control environment has mainly operated as intended although errors have been detected. Some improvements should be made. Limited Assurance There are significant control weaknesses that present medium to high risk to the control environment. The control environment has not operated as intended. Significant errors have been detected. Substantial improvements should be made. No Assurance There are fundamental control weaknesses that present an unacceptable level of risk to the control environment. The control environment has fundamentally broken down and is open to significant error or abuse. Immediate and major changes need to be made. Organisational impact Major The weaknesses identified during the review have left the Council open to significant risk. If the risk materialises it would have a major impact upon the organisation. Moderate The weaknesses identified during the review have left the Council open to medium risk. If the risk materialises it would have a moderate impact upon the organisation. Minor The weaknesses identified during the review have left the Council open to low risk. If the risk materialises it would have a minor impact upon the organisation. Recommendation priority High Significant control failure or weakness that, if not addressed, may lead to a major financial, operational or reputational risk to the organisation and/or significantly impact the successful delivery and achievement of the objectives of the area under review. Urgent/Immediate action is required. Medium Control failure or weakness that, if not addressed, may lead to a moderate financial, operational or reputational risk to the organisation. Weakness may be individually significant, but it is unlikely to affect the successful delivery and achievement of the overall objectives of the area under review. The risk of error would, however, be significantly reduced if corrective action were taken. Prompt action is required Low Control failure or weakness that may lead to a minor financial, operational or reputational risk to the organisation. Weakness does not appear to significantly affect the ability to meet objectives. Minor issue raised to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of controls. Page 40 of 176
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Appendix 2 Changes to Audit Plan 2024-25 Internal Audits Deferred – to be included in 2025-26 Internal Audit Plan Area Audit Title Corporate Governance Risk Management Key Strategic/Corporate Risks New Roads Contract Key Strategic/Corporate Risks Strategic Governance Arrangements * Key Strategic/Corporate Risks Information Governance Service/Operational/Programmes of Work Contract Management Compliance Framework * Note – planning for this audit is underway and will commence within 2024-25, but the detailed audit work will carry forward into the 2025-26 audit plan Other Audit Work Deferred – to be included in 2025-26 Internal Audit Plan Area Title Fraud & Irregularity Review of the Council’s Anti-Fraud Arrangements Contribution to Good Governance Assurance Mapping Internal Audits Removed Area Audit Title Key Strategic/Corporate Risks Future Operating Model * * Note – this area has been removed from the Corporate Risk Register. Planned audit of Strategic Governance Arrangements (noted above) will provide assurance on Programme of Work during 2025-26. Page 41 of 176
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Appendix 3 Internal Audit Client Feedback Results Responses received in this period from 10 clients related to assignments reported to the Panel (note these responses primarily relate to audit assignments reported in the Internal Audit Progress Reports presented to the October 2024 and February 2025 meetings of the Panel) Question Strongly Agree or Agree (%) Neither Agree nor Disagree 1. Internal Audit added value to my area by assisting in providing assurance and/or identifying weaknesses and/or improvements in relevant governance/business process and internal controls 100% 0% 2. Internal Audit findings were accurate and clearly communicated 100% 0% 3. The audit report made relevant, constructive and practical recommendations to help improve operations 100% 0% 4. Internal Audit staff were professional and courteous throughout the audit process 90% 10% Where management raise concerns over Internal Audit’s work, these matters are discussed with relevant senior management to fully understand the nature of any concerns and, where it is considered appropriate, to identify areas for improvement. We also seek Services’ views on what they liked or disliked about the audit process and comments received are used to inform future action plans for improving the service provided by Internal Audit. Page 42 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/aur-internalauditfiles/shared documents/general/final report for asp/asp audit final reports.docx 1 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT GLASGOW CITY REGION - CITY DEAL 2024/25 Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Findings and Recommendations 3. Action Plan Issued to: Chief Officer (Place), Chief Officer (Finance) and City Deal Manager Copied to: Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive Headlines The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council's arrangements against the requirements and expectations imposed on the Council in respect of its participation in the Glasgow City Region (GCR) City Deal programme. The audit reviewed progress to date on key City Deal projects and assessed the extent to which the Council is adhering to key elements of the GCR City Deal Assurance Framework and Programme Management Toolkit with a focus on the processes in place surrounding change control, the preparation and submission of grant claims and the conduct of any recent procurement/tendering arrangements. Based on the results of our work, we have concluded that: • the Council has continued to successfully apply expected governance arrangements in relation to the planning, controlling, monitoring and reporting of City Deal projects. • we are satisfied that during 2024-25 the Council substantially complied with the requirements of the GCR Assurance Framework 2019, Programme Management Toolkit 2022 and the Benefits Realisation Management Framework 2019. • City Deal grant claims in 2024-25 (to date) were properly prepared and submitted in accordance with the terms and conditions under which the grant award was made, the funds have been used for the intended purposes in accordance with the relevant terms and conditions under which the grant is made and the sums claimed are properly due; and • the City Deal team has substantively complied with the Council’s General Contract Standing Orders in its procurement/tendering processes for City Deal projects. We have categorised the audit as offering ‘substantial assurance’ as the control environment appears adequate and to have operated as intended with only a small number of minor areas for improvement identified around the importance of retaining adequate documentation to support the authorisation of key procurement documentation. These are outlined in the Action Plan at Section 3. Internal Audit is required to return a GCR City Deal annual assurance statement to the Head of Audit at Glasgow City Council as the lead auditor for the GCR City Deal, and this work underpins the completion of this statement. The results of this review and our other knowledge and understanding of the Council’s arrangements will be used to inform this return at the year-end. Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Organisational impact Moderate Report status FINAL Audit ref 0750/2025/001 Date issued 16/01/2025 Audit Team Elaine MacDonald and Paula Hendry Page 43 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/aur-internalauditfiles/shared documents/general/final report for asp/asp audit final reports.docx 2 1. Executive Summary Objectives The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council's arrangements in respect of its participation in the Glasgow City Region (GCR) City Deal. The audit work included: • reviewing progress to date on key projects; and • assessing the extent to which the Council is adhering to key elements of the GCR City Deal Assurance framework with a focus on the processes surrounding change control, the preparation and submission of grant claims and reviewing any relevant procurement/tendering arrangements. This engagement has been conducted in accordance with the ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Standards’. The Internal Audit section reports formally on conformance with these standards to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 2. Findings and Recommendations Number and category of recommendations raised High Medium Low 0 0 2 Key areas requiring management action (High) No areas requiring urgent management action have been identified. Good practice identified We noted the following areas of good practice during the audit: • the Council has established robust governance arrangements in relation to the planning, delivery, controlling, monitoring and reporting of projects which are consistent with the requirements set out in the Glasgow City Region Assurance Framework 2019, Programme Management Toolkit 2022 and Benefits Realisation Management Toolkit 2019. • change control processes are in place and are generally operating in line with identification, monitoring and reporting expectations. • grant claims for 2024-25 have been prepared and submitted in accordance with the terms and conditions under which the grant award is made; and • the Service has substantially complied with the Council’s General Contract Standing Orders in its procurement/tendering processes for City Deal projects. Other areas for improvement (Medium) No other areas for improvement were identified. Page 44 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 3 3. Action Plan Glasgow City Region – City Deal 0750/2025/001 Ref Finding 1 Appropriate evidence to verify the authenticity of signatures/approvals on key procurement documentation is not always retained. In early 2024, Asset and Procurement issued a procurement advisory note to Chief Officers to clarify the authorisation process required for key procurement documentation. This was also shared via the Procurement Network teams site and made available on InsideNL. The advisory note outlines the documents within the procurement process that require authorisation to confirm and validate document completion. For internal documents (e.g. contract strategy, conflicts of interest, individual scoresheets) authorisation by email is acceptable on the basis that the document and version being approved is transparent and that an audit trail is maintained in records held. We reviewed the procurement and tender documentation for a City Deal procurement exercise and noted that whilst the majority of documents requiring authorisation were adequately demonstrated, sufficient evidence, by way of email, to verify the authenticity of type-signed names on quality evaluation scoresheets and the consolidated scoresheet were not retained on file. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Month/Year Without appropriately signed documentation, the Council may not be able to demonstrate robustness and transparency in its decision-making processes. The Chief Officer (Place) should ensure that all City Deal staff are reminded of the need to comply with corporate expectations and ensure that emails are retained on file to support type-signed quality evaluation scoresheets. Low Agree Pamela Humphries, Chief Officer (Place) The Chief Officer (Place) will email Enterprise Projects Team/City Deal Team to remind them of the need to comply with corporate expectations and for this particular action to ensure all emails are retained on file to support type signed quality evaluation scoresheets. The Chief Officer (Place) will also raise the recommendation at the City Deal and Ravenscraig Steering Group on 13 March 2025. January 2025 March 2025 Page 45 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 4 3. Action Plan (continued) Glasgow City Region – City Deal 0750/2025/001 Ref Finding 2 There is scope to further enhance the process for documenting the capitalisation of salary costs for individual projects within the City Deal Programme. A decision has been made in accordance with Council policy, to capitalise 100% of salaries and associated costs incurred for the City Deal team against City Deal projects from 2024/25 onwards. The percentage of each team member’s time allocated to individual City Deal projects are collated and used as the basis for charging salaries to each project each period. The City Deal Manager reviews the allocations of staff time apportioned to individual City Deal projects for each City Deal staff member on a six-monthly basis and to use this process to inform the 2-to-5-year capital expenditure forecast. The first, and most recent review was carried out in September 2024 with the revised apportionments being backdated to Period 1 and the intention is that compensating adjustments between projects will be made across the remaining periods in this financial year. There has been a period of transition this year to embed the new process fully and we are satisfied that in total, the correct amount has been reflected in grant claims so far this year. However, to further improve the accuracy and timeliness of recording and monitoring of costs against each City Deal project, we consider there is a need to: • clearly record the rationale to support any change to a Team members’ % allocation to projects at each review; • ensure that when the review of staff time results in a change to the % allocation that it is clear whether this affects the full year to date, or only the period going forward and that salary calculations accurately reflect this; and • ensure that backdated adjustments to salaries charged to City Deal projects are made in full at the earliest opportunity to ensure accuracy in the Council’s financial ledger. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Control of ongoing capital expenditure for individual projects may be compromised. Expenditure may not be claimed in a timely basis and/or in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant award. The Chief Officer (Place) should consider the further improvement actions detailed in the finding above and amend the process for recording and monitoring capitalised salaries as appropriate. Low Agree Pamela Humphries, Chief Officer (Place) The Chief Officer (Place) will ensure that the City Deal Manager implements, in full, the 3 improvement actions detailed in the finding above to amend the process for recording and monitoring capitalised salaries to further improve the accuracy and timeliness of recording and monitoring of costs against each City Deal project. These improvement actions have also been agreed with Finance. The Chief Officer (Place) will also raise the recommendation at the City Deal and Ravenscraig Steering Group on 13 March 2025. January 2025 March 2025 Page 46 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 5 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT DEVOLVED SCHOOL MANAGEMENT Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Findings and Recommendations 3. Action Plan Issued to: Chief Officer (Education South) (points 1, 2, 4, and 5), Chief Officer (Finance) (point 3 only) Copied to: Business Finance Manager (Resource Solutions), Senior Education and Families Manager, Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive Headlines In line with Scottish Government requirements, the Council has developed a documented Devolved School Management (DSM) scheme which sets out the financial processes for funding schools, provides details of the budgets and financial decisions which have been delegated to Heads of Establishment and includes details of the formulas and basis for allocating individual delegated budgets to schools. This audit sought to review the adequacy and effectiveness of these arrangements. Based on the results of our work, we have categorised this audit as offering ‘reasonable assurance’, as the DSM scheme is largely consistent with Scottish Government guidance and best practice, and the arrangements in place to provide good quality and timely financial reporting are generally sound. Some issues, non-compliance or scope for improvement were identified which may put at risk the achievement of objectives in the area audited. In particular, although the DSM scheme states that the Council’s General Contract Standing Orders (GCSOs) should be followed, expected procurement practices within Education Establishments are not always being followed and there is scope for these to be further developed and strengthened to ensure full compliance with procurement regulations and the GCSOs. We have raised several other issues and made recommendations for management consideration at section 3 of the audit report as follows: • compliance, by individual establishments, with the Council’s DSM arrangements should be periodically assessed to identify whether the core requirements of the scheme are being adhered to and to identify areas for improvement. • financial monitoring arrangements need to be applied more consistently across all schools to enable Heads of Establishment to make informed decisions and, where remedial action is required in relation to the management of school budgets, this should be identified, recorded and monitored, and • DSM training and awareness raising needs to be extended to existing Heads of Establishment and more widely to key stakeholders who utilise or influence DSM. The Council’s DSM scheme is currently undergoing a review, with a view to the revised scheme being in place from the start of the 2025-26 academic year. Internal Audit Opinion Reasonable assurance Organisational Impact Moderate Report status FINAL Audit ref 0450/2025/001 Date issued 31/01/2025 Audit Team Susan Whyte, Lesley Armstrong and Paula Hendry Page 47 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 6 1. Executive Summary Objectives The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s approach and management arrangements relating to the implementation of the Council’s Devolved School Management (DSM) arrangements. The work was designed to offer an opinion on the following: (1) Are the Council’s DSM arrangements consistent with national expectations and recommended good practice? (2) Have those with roles and/or responsibilities in operating the DSM arrangements received appropriate training to ensure they have a sound awareness and understanding of roles, responsibilities and key expectations? (3) Do the Council’s DSM arrangements ensure effective/good quality and timely financial reporting and where necessary, is appropriate remedial action identified and progressed, to deliver sound financial control against agreed budgets? (4) Are schools complying with key expectations regarding procurement? (5) Is the operation of the Council’s DSM arrangements subject to appropriate monitoring to ensure compliance with key expectations and periodic review/evaluation of their effectiveness and whether they are delivering intended outcomes? To facilitate this, audit work was undertaken across five establishments (2 secondary schools, 2 primary schools and 1 additional support needs (ASN) school), including sample testing, issue of questionnaires and discussion with the Heads of Establishment and Administration and Finance Assistants (AFAs) and other key Education and Finance staff. This engagement has been conducted in accordance with the ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Standards’. The Internal Audit section reports formally on conformance with these standards to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 2. Findings and Recommendations Number and category of recommendations raised High Medium Low 1 3 1 Key areas requiring management action (High) The following key area requiring urgent management action has been identified: • Expected procurement practices within Education Establishments are not always being followed and there is scope for these to be further developed and strengthened to ensure full compliance with procurement regulations and the GCSOs. Good practice identified We noted the following areas of good practice during the audit: • The Council has a documented DSM scheme which is reviewed and updated at a minimum every three years following consultation and engagement with a range of different stakeholders including Heads of Establishment, HR and Finance. As part of the review process, the Council’s scheme is compared against other local authorities. • Formal training on DSM is available to new or aspiring Heads of Establishment and, as part of this, a detailed manual is provided which includes a copy of the current DSM scheme, the Council’s Financial Regulations and GCSOs. • AFAs have been provided with extensive training over the last two years to empower them to provide high quality and sufficiently detailed financial information and guidance on the financial aspects of the DSM scheme to Heads of Establishment. • Standard financial monitoring reports are produced, and these provide detailed information on both delegated and non-delegated budgets to assist Heads of Establishment to manage their budgets and make informed decisions. • AFAs meet on a regular basis with Heads of Establishment to discuss financial monitoring reports, staffing issues and any other financial issues impacting on devolved budgets. Page 48 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 7 Other areas for improvement (Medium) A number of other areas for improvement were also identified: • compliance, by individual establishments, with the Council’s DSM arrangements should be periodically assessed to identify whether the core requirements of the scheme are being adhered to and to identify areas for improvement; • financial monitoring arrangements need to be applied more consistently across all schools to enable Heads of Establishment to make informed decisions and, where remedial action is required in relation to the management of school budgets, this should be identified, recorded and monitored; and • DSM training and awareness raising needs to be extended to existing Heads of Establishment and more widely to key stakeholders who utilise or influence DSM. Page 49 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 8 4. Action Plan Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Ref Finding 1 Expected procurement practices within Education Establishments are not always being followed and there is scope for these to be further developed and strengthened to ensure full compliance with procurement regulations and the GCSOs. The annual procurement report produced by Asset and Procurement in December 2021 identified significant levels of non-contracted and non-compliant spend across Education and Families. As a result, a plan which outlines actions required to improve procurement procedures across Education and Families was developed by the Service. The main action currently being progressed within this plan focusses on ensuring that levels of non-contracted spend across the Service are significantly reduced and that appropriate frameworks and contracted suppliers are in place. Updates on progress in relation to the plan are presented regularly to the Education and Families Resources Group along with details of the reducing rates of non-contracted spend. However, from our review of the plan, we noted that it does not currently include details of responsible officers or consistently provide details of progress in relation to all ongoing/outstanding actions and explanations for areas where there is lack of progress or where target deadlines have not been met. We also noted occasions where actions have been highlighted as complete within the plan despite still being underway, completion dates not being recorded accurately, and revised or updated target dates not being identified where original target dates have passed. We were pleased to note that the Service has and continues to progress a variety of actions to review and address the levels of non-contracted spend including developing Buyers Guides and procurement guidance notes, establishing a single point of contact for review of all new suppliers and implementation of awareness sessions for all Heads of Establishment. Although we recognise that considerable progress has been made within the Service, we have noted a number of areas where scope for improvement remains including: • Buyers Guides and procurement guidance notes continue to be developed but are not yet fully established and do not therefore cover all key aspects of procurement processes. From our testing, we noted that these guides are not always being properly and fully referred to/utilised by relevant staff within Educational Establishments prior to purchasing decisions being made. • a contract register has been established by the Education and Families procurement team and can be accessed by Heads of Establishment, however, it does not currently include details of all approved suppliers on either Education and Families or Corporate procurement frameworks; • awareness sessions on procurement expectations have recently been provided to Heads of Establishment, however, these have not been extended to other staff with procurement responsibilities. We were advised that Education and Families are currently consulting with the Corporate Procurement Team to provide more detailed procurement training, however, arrangements for providing this training, including dates or the staff to be offered this training, had not been confirmed at the time of our audit fieldwork; and • arrangements to identify and monitor aggregated spend with individual suppliers across the Service have not yet been fully established. From review of a sample of 25 invoices selected from the five schools reviewed, we noted numerous occasions where agreed procurement procedures were not being followed and where purchases were therefore not compliant with the Council’s GCSOs and could therefore not always clearly demonstrate best value, including: • where frameworks were used, there was generally a lack of appropriate documentation to confirm the rationale for selection of the supplier and there was one occasion where the items purchased were not in accordance with the specification or type of goods included in the framework. • for purchases below £5,000, there was often a lack of evidence retained to demonstrate that the supplier selected secured best value. • for purchases between £5,000 and £50,000, where the supplier was not on a framework, there was no evidence that five competitive quotes had been sought prior to selection of the supplier used; and • although there is guidance available which confirms that individual establishments are required to retain a Register of Quotations and Contracts, none of the Heads of Establishment from the five schools reviewed were aware of this and were therefore not currently maintaining these registers. (Continued over page) Page 50 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 9 3. Action Plan Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Where accurate and consistent information on progress of improvement actions is not recorded, there is an increased risk that improvements may not be fully or promptly implemented and/or that areas where progress is not being made as expected may not be identified and followed up in an effective or timely manner. Schools may fail to comply with the Council’s GCSOs or procurement regulations/legislation, and as a result fail to achieve best value and incur unnecessary additional costs. Procurement opportunities and subsequent budget savings may be missed and procurement thresholds identified in the GCSOs could be exceeded due to aggregated spend. Without appropriate procurement training and/or guidance, there is an increased risk of errors and inconsistent procurement practices being adopted. The Chief Officer (Education South) should: (1) review and consider updating the current procurement improvement plan to reflect the issues noted in the finding to facilitate better monitoring of progress. (2) ensure that comprehensive procurement guidance and procedural notes, for use by officers within Education establishments, are developed which clearly set out the processes to be followed when undertaking procurement. (3) continue to develop and update the contract register to ensure that this provides a comprehensive list of all contracted suppliers which are permitted for use by the Service. (4) identify all staff within the Service who are involved in making procurement decisions and ensure that these staff are provided with appropriate procurement training relevant to their respective roles; and (5) ensure that spend analysis reports are produced and reviewed on a regular basis to enable identification of procurement opportunities. This should include an analysis and identification of instances where aggregated spend across the Service with individual suppliers exceeds procurement thresholds detailed in the GCSOs to ensure appropriate action is taken promptly. High Agree Barry Smedley, Chief Officer (Education South) (1) The Service continues to review the Education and Families procurement improvement plan and will update it to incorporate the Internal Audit findings. August 2025 (2) A staff guidance document which summarises procurement and purchasing instructions and procedures will be prepared and finalised by March 2025. March 2025 (3) The Education and Families contract register has been completed which includes all known approved suppliers. The register will continue to be updated if new suppliers are approved, or existing suppliers removed. January 2025 (4) The Service will identify all Education and Families posts which are involved in procurement and purchasing activity by February 2025. This is likely to be in excess of 500 employees including senior school staff, HQ staff and administrative support, therefore, training will be prioritised based on responsibility, risk and available resources. February 2025 (identifying staff) June 2025 (provision of training) (5) The Service will continue to prepare and discuss procurement/spend analysis reports, including recommendations for future actions, within relevant management teams and working groups. February 2025 Page 51 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 10 3. Action Plan (continued) Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Ref Finding 2 Compliance, by individual establishments, with the Council’s DSM arrangements should be periodically assessed to identify whether the core requirements of the scheme are being adhered to and to identify areas for improvement. Whilst the DSM Scheme is formally reviewed every three years, Education and Families management do not currently have any arrangements in place which specifically assess the effectiveness of, and compliance with, existing DSM arrangements within individual establishments. For the sample of five schools reviewed, and from analysis of the questionnaire issued by Internal Audit, Heads of Establishment confirmed that the Service do not currently require them to undertake any self-evaluation on their compliance with the DSM procedures and do not have regular discussions with Education and Families Managers (EFMs) around the school’s compliance with the Council’s DSM and financial management arrangements. We noted that there are regular meetings between EFMs and individual Heads of Establishment to discuss a range of issues including school improvement plans, curriculum issues, risk assessments etc. At the time of the audit, these meetings did not extend to discussions regarding financial issues, budgets and school funds, however, we understand that these topics are to be incorporated into future discussions and details of issues arising recorded within recently introduced link visit forms. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Where arrangements to periodically monitor compliance with, and assess the effectiveness of, the Council’s DSM arrangements are not in place, individual school establishments may not be adhering to the expected DSM arrangements or required financial controls and any areas of non- compliance may not be identified and appropriate action promptly taken to rectify this. This could subsequently lead to poor decision making and financial management and non-adherence to agreed procedures. The Chief Officer (Education South) should ensure that appropriate arrangements are established to periodically review and assess compliance with DSM arrangements by individual Heads of Establishment. This should include identifying and implementing improvements where required and undertaking monitoring to ensure that identified improvements are being effectively implemented. Medium Agree Barry Smedley, Chief Officer (Education South) The Service will update the link visit form for the start of the new academic term in August 2025 to include a section on Resource Management which will incorporate a specific question on adherence to DSM instructions and procedures. The link visit form also includes a section to note actions agreed by the respective Education and Families Manager and Head of Establishment. August 2025 Page 52 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 11 3. Action Plan (continued) Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Ref Finding 3 Financial monitoring arrangements need to be applied more consistently across all schools to enable Heads of Establishment to make informed decisions, and where remedial action is required in relation to the management of school budgets, this should be identified, recorded and monitored. Since the retirement of the SEEMIS system and the movement of AFAs from Education and Families to Finance, AFAs are now required to produce a number of financial monitoring reports for each individual school establishment across the Council every four weeks. These reports provide detailed financial management information to assist Heads of Establishment to make informed spending decisions. In addition to the financial reports produced, AFAs meet with each of the Heads of Establishment on a regular basis to discuss individual school budgets and, where necessary, agree any potential remedial action required in relation to issues arising. Although there are documented procedures available which provide guidance on producing these monitoring reports, we noted that guidance has not been developed for one of the reports and the budget monitoring report guidance has not been updated to reflect details of all current standard reports which now require to be produced. From our review of the arrangements in place within the sample of five schools selected, we noted that there was evidence of the standard financial reports being prepared and of regular meetings taking place between AFAs and Heads of Establishment. However, there were some areas where all expected practices were not being followed consistently: • although some of the expected standard financial reports were being issued to Heads of Establishment on a four-weekly basis, we noted that all expected financial monitoring reports were not being consistently issued to any of the five schools reviewed. • summary notes outlining the outcome of meetings between AFAs and Heads of Establishment, including any potential remedial action required, do not currently appear to be prepared on a consistent basis by all AFAs. • we were advised that financial issues arising, such as projected over or under spends and any remedial action required, are discussed with Heads of Establishment who are subsequently expected to put in place plans to address these financial issues. Details of these plans or remedial action are, however, not formally recorded or documented. For one of the five schools reviewed, there appears to be a recurring overspend, and we were advised that this issue has been escalated to senior management within Finance, however, there is no evidence of this being flagged to Education and Families for consideration of remedial action; and • whilst high level governance arrangements, including reporting of year end balances to Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings and Section 95 Officer review and authorisation of requests for additional funding submitted by individual schools are in place, arrangements to ensure that financial issues, or remedial action required, in relation to individual schools, need to be further developed. Implication Recommendation Priority Where remedial action relating to financial management issues within individual schools is not identified, recorded and monitored, there is an increased risk of these issues not being adequately or promptly addressed, and of financial issues arising which are more challenging to resolve. If Heads of Establishment are not provided with effective, good quality and timely financial information, they may be unable to determine the funds available to them and may therefore be unable to make fully informed and sound spending decisions. The Chief Officer (Finance) should: (1) review the existing standard financial reports and, through consultation with Education and Families, determine what financial information is required to enable Heads of Establishment to discharge their financial management duties. (2) ensure that guidance notes are available for all standard financial monitoring reports which require to be produced for schools and ensure that these reflect current procedures and requirements. (3) ensure that AFAs consistently record details of discussions with Heads of Establishment, including details of issues arising and remedial action agreed; and (4) in conjunction with Education and Families, establish a threshold above which adverse financial performance should be escalated, and thereafter develop arrangements to facilitate monitoring and reporting on this. These should include: • development of an exception report by Finance for distribution to Education and Families. • an appropriate forum for Education and Families to consider and discuss the above report; and • an appropriate mechanism for monitoring and tracking agreed actions to ensure that agreed remedial action is progressed. Medium Page 53 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 12 3. Action Plan (continued) Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Management response Implementation Date Agree Scott McCrossan, Business Finance Manager (1) In consultation with Education and Families, Finance will review the suite of standard financial reports to determine what financial information is required to ensure Heads of Establishment can discharge their financial management duties and responsibilities. June 2025 (2) Finance will ensure appropriate guidance notes are available which outline the procedures and processes which AFAs will follow during the preparation of the standard financial monitoring reports. June 2025 (3) Finance will develop a financial management pro-forma which will record key periodic financial information including management commentary concerning specific issues arising, coupled with the agreed mitigations and associated actions that were discussed and agreed between AFAs and Heads of Establishment. This will also include the appropriate sign-off from both the AFA and Head of Establishment. June 2025 (4) Linked to Recommendation 3, the aforementioned pro-forma will act as an important tool in reporting the financial performance of each establishment and in particular if a school/nursery has a financial matter or issue that requires escalation to the Education and Families SMT or cluster Education and Families Manager. Accordingly, Finance will agree an exception reporting mechanism, including appropriate thresholds, and reporting requirements, with the Education and Families SMT. September 2025 Page 54 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 13 3. Action Plan (continued) Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Ref Finding 4 DSM training and awareness raising needs to be extended to existing Heads of Establishment and more widely to key stakeholders who utilise or influence DSM. Arrangements to provide training to new and/or aspiring Heads of Establishment are currently in place through an annual induction training programme operated within Education and Families. This training includes a session which covers DSM including budgeting, finance and procurement, and Heads of Establishment are also provided with a detailed manual following these sessions. We noted that the weekly Education and Families newsletter issued in September 2024 advised existing Heads of Establishment that they could attend any aspects of the induction sessions they felt would be beneficial if required. We noted, however, that: • the Council’s current DSM scheme states that a DSM training plan and calendar will be prepared each year, however, this not been developed or implemented since the new scheme was introduced in 2022. • informal training is available to Heads of Establishment through the ongoing support by, and regular meetings with AFAs, however, there is limited formal refresher training for existing Heads of Establishment. • Scottish Government good practice identifies that training opportunities should be made available to elected members and any other appropriate staff who utilise or influence DSM decisions. Currently training on DSM is primarily provided to AFAs and new or aspiring Heads of Establishment and is therefore not specifically provided or made available to elected members or other relevant stakeholders; and • attendance at the Head of Establishment induction training sessions, including the DSM aspects, although recommended is not currently mandatory. As a result, arrangements to ensure that all relevant staff have attended training in relation to DSM or to offer alternative training sessions for staff who were unable to attend the induction sessions on DSM are not currently in place. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Where relevant officers and stakeholders who use or influence DSM decisions are not aware of, or do not fully understand, their roles and responsibilities, there is an increased risk that aspects of DSM may not be undertaken in line with corporate expectations and good practice which could result in poor decision making and/or financial control. The Chief Officer (Education South) should: (1) ensure that all relevant officers within Education and Families and/or key stakeholders who utilise or influence the DSM scheme are identified and that appropriate training on all relevant aspects of the DSM scheme, tailored to their respective roles, is developed and subsequently rolled out. Refresher training should be delivered on a periodic basis to ensure stakeholders remain appropriately informed; and (2) consider whether attendance at DSM training should be mandatory for all new and existing Heads of Establishment. If considered mandatory, arrangements for monitoring attendance and taking appropriate remedial action should be established. Medium Agree Barry Smedley, Chief Officer (Education South) (1) The Service will identify relevant officers within Education and Families and key stakeholders and will develop and deliver DSM training appropriate to their need on a priority and risk-based manner. This will take the form of awareness raising sessions, formal training and refresher training. May 2025 (2) It is agreed DSM training will be mandatory for new Heads of Establishment. The approach to both recommendations (1) and (2) will be outlined in the updated DSM scheme. The updated DSM scheme is scheduled to be submitted to the May 2025 Education and Families Committee for scrutiny and approval. May 2025 Page 55 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 14 3. Action Plan (continued) Devolved School Management 0450/2025/001 Ref Finding 5 There is scope for further enhancement to the DSM arrangements to better comply with good practice expectations. The Scottish Government has published a DSM Self-Evaluation Toolkit which provides details of expected and recommended good practice. We reviewed the Council’s DSM scheme against these good practice expectations and, whilst the Council’s scheme and arrangements are largely in line with these requirements, we noted some areas where there is scope for improvement including: • Local Authorities are expected to publish the DSM scheme on both the Council’s external facing website and individual school websites, however, we confirmed that the current scheme is not published on the Council’s website or consistently on individual school sites, in line with this expectation. • a summary of the Council’s scheme, providing stakeholders with summary information is not currently produced; and • although there are arrangements in place for regular engagement and for sharing information with a range of stakeholders, including Heads of Establishment, it is not clear that the current arrangements specifically enable periodic engagement with parents or pupils in relation to DSM arrangements and, in particular in relation to resourcing decisions such as budgets and staffing models. We also reviewed the Council’s DSM scheme against the Scottish Government DSM Framework Guidance (June 2019) which provides details of suggested format and content of local authorities’ DSM schemes. We confirmed that the Council’s current DSM scheme is largely in line with the requirements set out in this guidance, however, a small number of areas were identified where details and information included in the scheme could be further expanded to provide additional information and enable the Council’s scheme to more fully comply with the Framework document including: • details of the Council’s local context and information on the wider Council finances and/or links to relevant parts of the Council website where this information is already documented. • training plan and/or information confirming DSM training arrangements for relevant staff. • details of, or links to, available local or national leadership programmes which are available to Heads of Establishment. • specific reference to GIRFEC, or the role which the Council plays in relation to this; and • details of the cluster approach used to enable Heads of Establishment to work together, share and maximise resources and influence outcomes across geographical areas. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date The Council’s DSM arrangements and documented scheme may not fully comply with good practice, resulting in an increased risk of non-compliant practices being adopted and/or of sufficiently detailed information and guidance not being available to assist all stakeholders who require to understand and use the DSM scheme. The Chief Officer (Education South), as part of the current review of the Council’s DSM scheme, should: (1) consider the issues highlighted in the finding above and incorporate them, as appropriate, into the Council’s revised DSM scheme; and (2) once approved, ensure that the DSM scheme is clearly published and made available on both the Council and individual establishment websites. Low Agree Barry Smedley, Chief Officer (Education South) The Service will incorporate the Internal Audit recommendations (1) and (2) into the DSM review process. The updated DSM scheme is scheduled to be submitted to the May 2025 Education and Families Committee for scrutiny and approval. May 2025 Page 56 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 15 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT Housing Asset Management Planning Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Findings and Recommendations 3. Action Plan Issued to: Chief Officer (Housing Management), Investment Manager and Business Strategy Manager Copied to: Depute Chief Executive and Chief Executive Headlines This was a high-level review designed to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s approach and management arrangements relating to the implementation of the Council’s strategic framework for housing asset management activities and the extent to which planned outcomes were being delivered. The Council’s Housing Asset Management Plan (HAMP) 2021-26, ‘Homes Fit for the Future’, was approved by the Housing and Regeneration Committee in February 2021. The HAMP, which has identified four key priorities to guide decision making and investment on the Council’s housing assets, provides the strategic framework for asset management activities and investment over the five-year period and details how the Council will address current housing challenges. The HAMP includes an action plan which contains 15 strategic actions, with 43 milestones, each with a target and completion timescale and is monitored through completion of a progress report and discussion at HAMP Steering Group and HAMP Board. An annual update on progress is also reported to Committee. Our work involved a comparison of the HAMP to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s recommended guidance ‘Integrated Asset Management – Recommended Practice’ (February 2023) and a review of the HAMP action plan and governance arrangements in place for monitoring and reporting on the progress of this plan. Based on the results of our work, we have assessed the audit as providing ‘substantial assurance’ as we consider that the Council’s management arrangements relating to the implementation of the Council’s housing asset management activities are adequate and operating effectively. In particular, we were pleased to note that the Council’s approach to housing asset management is generally consistent with recommended good practice, the HAMP includes an action plan which contains strategic actions and milestones with targets and completion timescales and there are appropriate governance arrangements in place for monitoring and reporting on progress of the milestones contained in the action plan. We have identified one minor area where we consider that there is scope for improvement and this is detailed at section 3 of the report for management consideration. Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Organisational impact Minor Report status FINAL Audit ref 0650/2025/001 Date issued 15/11/2024 Audit Team Jacquie Howden and Lesley Armstrong Page 57 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 16 1. Executive Summary Objectives This was a high-level review designed to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s approach and management arrangements relating to the implementation of the Council’s strategic framework for housing asset management activities, and the extent to which planned outcomes were being delivered. In particular, we sought to answer the following questions: • Is the Council’s general approach to housing asset management planning consistent with recommended good practice (as outlined by the Scottish Housing Regulator)? • Has the HAMP been converted into a high-level project plan which establishes planned actions, timescales and intended outcomes? o Is the project plan broken down into manageable actions and/or workstreams and relevant project milestones which are meaningful to allow accurate and frequent tracking of progress? o Has the Council identified planned outcomes and appropriate/relevant performance information/outcomes against which to track progress? • Is progress against the plan regularly monitored and reported to senior management and elected members and do progress reports include: o details of progress against pre-defined criteria on cost, time, quality and key milestones. o reports on individual work packages, planned actions and workstreams. o resources and funding used to date (including against expectations and progress). o details of any changes to previously approved actions, plans, timescales and/or milestones; and o confidence in forward plans? • Have any issues which are impacting (or are likely to impact) on successful delivery (on the achievement of planned deliverables/outcomes to time or budget) been discussed and remedial actions identified? • Are the Council’s housing asset management planning activities on track to deliver the intended benefits and/or planned outcomes? Work undertaken included a comparison of the HAMP to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s recommended guidance ‘Integrated Asset Management - Recommended Practice’, a critical appraisal of the HAMP action plan, discussions with the Service to establish the arrangements for monitoring and reporting on the action plan and a review of a sample of milestones to consider whether they were SMART and the current status was justified. This engagement has been conducted in accordance with the ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Standards’. The Internal Audit section reports formally on conformance with these standards to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 2. Findings and Recommendations Number and category of recommendations raised High Medium Low 0 0 1 Key areas requiring management action (High) There were no key areas requiring urgent management action identified during the audit. Page 58 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 17 Good practice identified We noted the following areas of good practice during the audit: • The Council’s Housing Asset Management Plan (HAMP) 2021-2026, which was approved by the Housing and Regeneration Committee in February 2021, provides the strategic framework for asset management activities and investment over the five-year period. It aligns closely with The Plan for North Lanarkshire and other key strategies, policies and plans, including the Local Housing Strategy and capital investment programme. • The HAMP identifies four key priorities and contains an action plan which sets out clearly defined strategic actions, together with associated milestones, targets, timescales and a nominated lead team responsible for progressing each action. • There are appropriate governance arrangements in place for the HAMP consisting of a HAMP Board comprising of relevant Chief Officers, which is responsible for providing strategic oversight to the ongoing development and delivery of the HAMP and a HAMP Steering Group comprising of senior managers from relevant Services/Teams, which is responsible for the ongoing management of the HAMP. • A report is submitted annually to the Housing Committee providing an annual review of the progress achieved over the period in delivering the strategic actions and milestones contained in the HAMP action plan. Other areas for improvement (Medium) There were no other areas for improvement identified. Page 59 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 18 3. Action Plan Housing Asset Management Planning 0650/2025/001 Ref Finding 1 There is scope to further enhance the governance and monitoring arrangements for the Housing Asset Management Plan. The Council’s Housing Asset Management Plan (HAMP) 2021-26, ‘Homes Fit for the Future’, was approved by the Housing and Regeneration Committee in February 2021. The HAMP has identified four key priorities to guide decision making and investment on the Council’s housing assets and includes an action plan which contains 15 strategic actions, with 43 milestones, each with a target and completion timescale and is monitored through completion of a progress report and discussion at HAMP Steering Group and HAMP Board. Preparations for the HAMP 2026-2031 are due to commence before the end of the year. From our review of a sample of the milestones contained in the action plan, we consider that they are generally SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely), are clearly linked to the priorities and strategic actions contained in the action plan and have defined timescales which appear achievable and timely. We did, however, identify a small number of milestones which we consider could be more specific (i.e. by more clearly explaining what is to be achieved) and have better targets for measuring the success and outcome of the associated milestone. The governance arrangements for monitoring the progress of the HAMP involve responsible officers updating a HAMP status report and risk register with details, for each milestone, of progress to date, a BRAG status of target against timescale (blue, red, amber or green) and any issues arising. The updated report is discussed by the HAMP Steering Group, which comprises of senior managers from relevant Services/Teams and is responsible for the ongoing strategic management of the HAMP. After these meetings, a status/exceptions report, which provides a high-level overview of progress and a detailed update on actions and risks marked as red or amber, is presented to the HAMP Board for discussion. The governance framework for the HAMP, which outlines the roles, responsibilities, membership and meeting frequencies for each of the relevant groups states that the HAMP Board and Steering Group will meet quarterly, however, we were advised by the Service that this had been moved to six monthly given the advanced progress of the HAMP action plan. We noted that that Governance Arrangements document had not been updated to reflect this amended timescale. From our review of the minutes of each meeting, we noted that the HAMP Board has not formally met since May 2023 and the HAMP Steering Group since November 2023. We were informed by the Service that the next meeting of the HAMP Board and HAMP Steering Group will be a joint meeting to be held in early December, during which the timing of future meetings is expected to be discussed and a revised frequency agreed. We undertook a review of the status report, exceptions report to the HAMP Board and the annual report to elected members and confirmed that they contain all of the details and actions per the HAMP action plan and generally provide sufficient detail on progress made to date. We did, however, identify a few areas where we consider that the reports could be improved to provide enhanced information on each action and facilitate better progress monitoring, focussing on the current outcome and updated timescale, including: • updating the action plan status report to include details of the percentage of progress, the rationale for the BRAG status (i.e. whether due to cost, timescale, scope or benefits), any issues identified and any delays to target timescales; • in instances where the original target has been achieved but additional/alternative work is being undertaken to progress the milestone, clearly indicating new/updated targets, together with details of any impact on target timescales and/or cost; • clearly indicating where target timescales have passed or slipped, together with details of any amended target timescales; and • details of expected cost and quality and updates to actual costs and quality (or reference to where this can be found), particularly where overspends are anticipated, to ensure transparency and enable appropriate decisions to be made. Page 60 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 19 4. Action Plan (continued) Housing Asset Management Planning 0650/2025/001 Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date If governance and monitoring meetings are not held regularly, there may be insufficient management oversight which could result in a delay in highlighting and dealing with potential issues. If milestones are not SMART and/or reporting mechanisms do not clearly state progress, there may be a failure to deliver outcomes for milestones as intended. The Chief Officer (Housing Management) should: (1) review the governance arrangements for the HAMP and determine the appropriate frequency for meetings of the HAMP Steering Group and HAMP Board, ensuring that the Governance Arrangements document is updated to properly reflect this and that meetings are held on a timely basis in line with agreed timeframes. (2) for the HAMP 2026-2031: • ensure that all strategic actions and associated milestones are SMART, by more clearly indicating what is being measured and how each will contribute to the delivery of the individual strategic actions contained in the HAMP and having more clearly defined targets to measure the success/outcome of the milestone; and • review the status report, exceptions report to the HAMP Board and the annual report for elected members and consider the suggestions highlighted in the finding above with a view to providing enhanced information on each action and facilitating better progress monitoring. Low Agree Stephen Llewellyn, Chief Officer (Housing Management) (1) We will review the governance arrangements for the HAMP and plan to discuss this at a special HAMP Board/Steering Group meeting on the 4 December 2024, in which the appropriate frequency for meetings of the HAMP Board and Steering Group will be determined. This will be recorded in an updated Governance Arrangement document which will be relevant for the remaining duration of the current HAMP. (2) In developing the new HAMP and associated reporting documentation we will take cognisance of the recommendations made. December 2024 December 2025 Page 61 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 20 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT HOUSING RENTS Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Findings and Recommendations 3. Action Plan Issued to: Chief Officer (Finance) and Chief Officer (Housing Management) Copied to: Business Finance Manager (Resource Solutions), Housing Solutions Manager, Chief Executive and Depute Chief Executive Headlines The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the key controls and management arrangements associated with aspects of housing rents, including amendments to housing stock, rent charges on eligible properties, rent refunds, reconciliations to the financial ledger and administration of the Rent Assistant Fund (RAF). The Council is Scotland’s largest local authority landlord with a current housing stock of approximately 36,000 properties and the approved budget for the Housing Revenue Account for 2024/25 was £174 million, with £161 million (92%) being funded by rental income from tenants. Based on the results of our work, we have categorised this audit as offering ‘substantial assurance’, meaning that we are satisfied that the controls are adequate, operating effectively and being consistently applied to support the achievement of relevant objectives. In particular, we were pleased to note that there is an adequate process in place for adding and removing housing assets from Housing Services Management System (HSMS) and reconciling housing stock, there is a clear rationale for determining rent charges based on size and type of property with annual checks to ensure that the rent increase has been fully and accurately applied to individual properties, regular reconciliations are undertaken between HSMS and the Council’s financial ledger and rent refunds are properly requested, checked and authorised prior to payment. We have, however, identified one area where we consider that there is scope for improvement and have made some recommendations which are detailed in section 3 of this report. This relates to a need to improve the processes, guidance and documentation for the Rent Assistance Fund (RAF). Internal Audit Opinion Substantial assurance Organisational Impact Minor Report status FINAL Audit ref 0200/2025/003 Date issued 13/01/25 Audit Team Jacquie Howden and Lesley Armstrong Page 62 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 21 1. Executive Summary Objectives The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the key controls and management arrangements associated with key aspects of housing rents. In particular, the audit sought to address the following issues: • Are all amendments (additions and deletions) to housing stock (e.g. new builds, buy back, demolitions, nil rent properties, etc), and the corresponding rent charges, monitored regularly, and accurately and promptly updated in the HSMS system? • Are there effective controls in place to ensure that appropriate rents, in line with approved Council policies, have been set for all eligible properties and are being applied in a fair and consistent manner? • Are there effective controls in place to ensure that refunds are correctly calculated, properly recorded, appropriately authorised and only processed on accounts with credit balances? • Are there effective controls in place to ensure that applicants of the Tenant Rent Assistance Fund are treated consistently and in line with approved guidance/eligibility criteria? and • Are the Housing Rents records reconciled to the Council’s General Ledger on a regular basis to ensure that accurate and complete financial information relating to housing rents is maintained? Our audit work involved substantive testing on a sample of rent accounts and rent refunds to demonstrate whether the key controls were operating effectively. The review did not consider, nor did it provide assurance on, the adequacy and effectiveness of arrangements relating the management of rent arrears. This engagement has been conducted in accordance with the ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Standards’. The Internal Audit section reports formally on conformance with these standards to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 2. Findings and Recommendations Number and category of recommendations raised High Medium Low 0 1 0 Key areas requiring management action (High) No key areas requiring urgent management action have been identified. Good practice identified We noted the following areas of good practice during the audit: • HSMS automatically calculates the points value attached to individual properties, based on property composition details held on the system, and applies the appropriate weekly rental charge according to the points value and the rent matrix held on the system. • the rent matrix held on HSMS is properly updated to reflect approved percentage rent increases, and a £2 per week change restriction in place as part of the transition arrangements to the amended rent charging process. • the Income Manager undertakes a range of checks, in accordance with a year-end action plan, to ensure that the rental increase has been correctly applied by the HSMS system to all eligible properties. • the Income Manager runs a quarterly report of all nil-rented properties and issues this to localities to review and either complete with reasons for the nil-rented status or advise where rent should be reinstated for each property on the list. • amendments to standing data which impact upon billing/liability are processed by relevant staff and related rental charges are appropriately amended. • requests for refunds are only assessed upon submission of a fully completed application form by the tenant and are only approved where an overpayment on the tenant’s rent account has been verified. • reconciliations between HSMS and the Council’s financial ledger are undertaken on a regular basis and any differences are investigated and actioned as appropriate. Other areas for improvement (Medium) One other area for improvement was identified as follows: • There is a need to improve the processes, guidance and documentation for the Rent Assistance Fund (RAF). Page 63 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 22 3. Action Plan Housing Rents 0200/2025/003 Ref Finding 1 There is a need to improve the processes, guidance and documentation for the Rent Assistance Fund (RAF). The Council operates two funds, under the umbrella of a Rent Assistance Fund, to assist council tenants who are either on low incomes or Universal Credit (UC) with rent arrears. The first element, a Universal Credit Assistance Fund (UCAF), established in 2019, is intended to assist all new UC claimants who have rents arrears due to the five-week in-built waiting period set by DWP between application for UC and payment. The second element, established in 2023, is intended to assist tenants with no benefit entitlement who are experiencing financial hardship and rent arrears due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. As part of our review, we discussed the process for both funds with Housing management and reviewed the application form and associated documentation. We were pleased to note that both funds require tenants to complete an application form, which is initially assessed by an Income Maximiser or Housing Adviser and is subsequently reviewed by the Housing Operations Manager who approves or rejects the award, recording the rationale for their decision and signing and dating the application form. However, we consider that there is scope to improve the process and documentation held as follows: • whilst the application forms and various committee reports outline the eligibility criteria and conditions for approving awards, there are no written procedures or guidance for either fund which outline the full criteria for the fund, application process, evidence required to support the application, how applications are assessed and checked for eligibility, how the value of award is determined, any independent checks/authorisation or how awards are paid; • the application form for the low-income element of the RAF does not contain a declaration that the information provided by the tenant is accurate and does not require to be signed or dated by the tenant. • there is no documentation (e.g. proforma) for either fund for use by the Income Maximisers/Housing Advisors which details the eligibility checks required to be undertaken, confirms that the appropriate checks were undertaken and by whom and records the outcome of those checks to ensure that applicants are entitled to an award and are treated consistently. • the rent accounts for tenants who have been awarded a UCAF payment are not subsequently reviewed once their UC payment has been received to confirm whether any backdated rent payment has been made to their rent account (either by the tenant or directly from the DWP), therefore putting it in credit to determine whether the amount actually awarded was more than that required and should therefore be fully or partly recovered. Implication Recommendation Priority If application forms do not contain a declaration that the information provided is accurate and are not signed by the tenant, it may be difficult to hold them to account if the information provided is subsequently confirmed to be false. Without clear procedures/guidance and associated documentation, applications for each fund may not be assessed, and/or management may not be able to demonstrate that they were assessed, on a consistent basis which could result in management being unable to make informed decisions. If tenants are provided with higher value awards than that required, the Service may be unable to assist other tenants and/or there may be an increased and unnecessary strain on the funds available. The Chief Officer (Housing Management) should ensure that a review of the process and associated documentation for assessing applications for UCAF or low-income RAF and making award decisions is undertaken. This review should include, but not be limited to: • updating the application form for the low-income element of the RAF to include a declaration that the information provided is accurate and a requirement for the tenant to sign it. • review of the UCAF application to determine whether it requires to be updated as a result of the change from loan to grant. • preparation of procedures/guidance for both funds, which should include the aspects highlighted in the finding above and thereafter, be distributed to relevant officers. • creation of a proforma which details the checks required to be undertaken by the Income Maximiser/Housing Adviser when assessing application forms and the actual checks undertaken and outcome of those checks; and • for tenants awarded a UCAF payment, the introduction of a review of rent accounts once the UC payment has been received to confirm whether any backdated rent payment has been made to their rent account (either by the tenant or directly from the DWP), determine whether the amount actually awarded was more than that required and recover the appropriate amount from the tenant’s rent account. Medium Page 64 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 23 3. Action Plan (continued) Housing Rents 0200/2025/003 Management response Implementation Date Agree Stephen Llewellyn, Chief Officer (Housing Management) We agree with the recommendation contained within the report and note the contents of the audit. A review of the process and associated documentation for assessing applications for UCAF and low-income RAF and making award decisions will be undertaken, but not limited just to, the bullet points contained with the recommendation section of the audit report. The review will be undertaken immediately and led by Audrey Johnstone, Housing Solutions Manager, with full implementation of proposals resulting from the review being rolled out by September 2025. September 2025 Page 65 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 24 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT USE OF PURCHASE CARDS Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Findings and Recommendations 3. Action Plan Issued to: Chief Officer (Finance) (points 2(1), 2 and 4), Chief Officer (Education and Families – South) (point 2(2) only) and Chief Officer (Community Operations) (point 3 only) Copied to: Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive Headlines The Council supplements its standard procurement arrangements via the use of a number of Council purchase cards. Purchase cards are either physical or virtual in nature. Physical cards operate similarly to credit cards while virtual cards represent a trade account which has been set up with specific contracted suppliers. Purchase cards are permitted as a mechanism that allows for the efficient payment for goods and services that meet certain criteria and are best suited for high volume low value purchases. This area was last reviewed in 2021, when it received a limited assurance audit opinion. This audit focused on assessing whether the Council has established appropriate written policies and procedures designed to ensure effective control over the use of purchase cards, and whether the procedures being followed consistently and operating effectively. Based on the results of our work during this audit, we have categorised this audit as providing ‘reasonable assurance’ meaning that there is generally a sound system of governance, risk management and control in place. We are satisfied that, in general, purchase cards are being used for legitimate purposes, card limits appear appropriate and there are adequate levels of record keeping in place. A revised Policy on the Use of Purchase Cards was issued in October 2022, and it is our assessment that if fully implemented the Policy provides a robust control framework for the operation of purchase cards. We have however identified some areas of non-compliance which are detailed at section 3 of the audit report, which include: • key control aspects assigned to Finance within the Use of Purchase Cards Policy need to be fully implemented. • a need for full compliance with all aspects of the Purchase Card Policy by all physical purchase cardholders. Internal Audit Opinion Reasonable assurance Organisational impact Moderate Report status FINAL Audit ref 0200/2025/001 Date issued 16/01/24 Audit Team Euan Campbell, Lesley Armstrong and Paula Hendry Page 66 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 25 1. Executive Summary Objectives The purpose of this audit was to assess the adequacy of design and operating effectiveness of key controls associated with the council use of purchase cards. In particular, we considered the following: • whether the Council has established appropriate written policies and procedures designed to ensure effective control over the use of purchase cards • whether the procedures actually operated are consistent with written policies and procedures and are operating effectively. • whether there are appropriate controls in place over the issue of Council purchase cards and whether such cards issued are held securely. There are currently 26 purchase cards in use across the Council which covers 4 establishments (3 secondary schools and one children’s home). Sample testing of how cards were operating was based on one physical cardholder at each establishment and a random sample of 5 catering facilities for virtual cards. This engagement has been conducted in accordance with the ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Standards’. The Internal Audit section reports formally on conformance with these standards to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 2. Findings and Recommendations Number and category of recommendations raised High Medium Low 0 2 2 Key areas requiring management action (High) No areas requiring urgent management action were identified. Good practice identified We noted the following areas of good practice during the audit: • Finance has developed a Use of Purchase Card Policy, which is the council documented approach to utilising purchase cards. • In general, transactions were logged appropriately on transaction logs within each establishment. • In general, evidence was readily available in the form of invoices, receipts and delivery notes for transactions made on physical and virtual purchase cards. • In general, card expenditure has been reconciled to bank statements. Other areas for improvement (Medium) A number of other areas for improvement were also identified: • Key control aspects assigned to Finance within the Use of Purchase Cards Policy need to be fully implemented. • A need for full compliance with all aspects of the Purchase Card Policy by all physical purchase cardholders. Page 67 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 26 3. Action Plan Use of Purchase Cards 0200/2025/001 Ref Finding 1 Key control aspects assigned to Finance within the Use of Purchase Cards Policy need to be fully implemented. Internal Audit last reported in this area in 2021 when we recommended the need for a formal review of the then pilot purchase card scheme to be undertaken to ensure that robust and appropriate controls are established and thereafter implemented. Our findings at that time also identified the need to ensure that the oversight of the operation of purchase cards had clear ownership and responsibility be assigned to an appropriate Service area. We were pleased to note that Finance undertook this review, and the Policy on the Use of Purchase Cards (the Policy) was updated in October 2022. It is Internal Audit’s assessment that if fully implemented the Policy provides a robust control framework for the operation of purchase cards. The updated Policy states that the Treasury section within Finance is responsible for undertaking the systems administrator role for these cards. We confirmed during our fieldwork that this has not been actioned, with this role currently remaining with the Creditors section (our position remains as per the last audit where we do not consider this to be the most appropriate team for undertaking this role). Additionally, the Policy states that the system administrator is responsible for conducting an annual check on all active cards to ensure that they are still required, that there remains a business need and that the limits remain appropriate. To date no such review has taken place. As part of our fieldwork, we undertook such a review and noted that card limits generally appeared appropriate. However, although all purchase cards are held securely in safes at schools rather than by the employee, we did identify that 9 of the 26 cards designated as active are in the names of employees who are either no longer in the role for which they were assigned the card (4) or are no longer employed by the Council (5). We also noted that the location assigned to one employee was incorrect, which may lead to expenditure incurred being, or having been, allocated against the wrong cost centre. Details of these cardholders have been provided to the service. Part 10 of the Policy sets out the responsibilities of relevant Accountants with the Finance team. This includes reference that they should be undertaking a compliance/monitoring role including checking reconciliations have been completed, signed by the card holder and line manager and that the purchase appears legitimate. Our testing confirmed that this aspect of the control environment is not, and has not, been undertaken. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Inadequate control over the administration of purchase cards and monitoring of associated expenditure may lead to expenditure being incurred which is inappropriate and/or fraudulent. In the absence of adequate management checks and reviews, there is the potential that card limits are positioned at an incorrect level and impact the services ability to meet intended outcomes. The Chief Officer (Finance) should ensure that: (1) the Policy expectation for Treasury to undertake the system administrator role is implemented with all key responsibilities of that role being fully undertaken, including an annual review of all active cards. (2) prompt action is taken to cancel the active cards per Appendix 2 that are no longer required; and (3) ensure that relevant Accountants and their teams are aware of their responsibilities as outlined in the Policy and that steps are taken to ensure compliance with these important aspects. Medium Agreed: Kathleen Shearer/ Veronica Roberts, Business Finance Managers (1) We acknowledge the policy intention indicates Treasury would be ‘System Administrators’, however, this position remained under consideration whilst Finance implemented its new service structure in 22/23. Also, in light of the low level of activity through these cards and other purchasing development activity such as P2P (Purchase-to-Pay) & potential for e-invoicing, the responsibility for purchase cards did not transfer. As P2P will go live soon, the Service will undertake a further review of the appropriateness of purchase cards including whether the roadmap for purchasing as an organisation should include further rollout of this method of purchasing. Subject to the review, the policy will be updated to reflect requirements including clearly outlining the qualifying criteria and responsibilities of all across the organisation, ensuring that appropriate and robust controls are established and implemented. Any future policy will also reflect requirements in respect of virtual cards. (2) In respect of cards no longer required, these will be cancelled immediately. (3) The review will consider the respective responsibilities including the role of Accountants/ Finance teams and other teams, as appropriate, and ensure compliance with requirements. As an interim measure relevant Finance Teams will be asked to establish areas of purchase card activity and periodically review until any new arrangements are established. June 2025 January 2025 January 2025 Page 68 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 27 3. Action Plan (continued) Use of Purchase Cards 0200/2025/001 Ref Finding 2 A need for full compliance with all aspects of the Purchase Card Policy by all physical purchase cardholders. Physical cards operate on a chip and pin basis, the balance on the cards is paid monthly and officers are responsible for ensuring that the terms of the scheme/Purchase Card Policy are fully complied with. The Purchase Card Policy dictates that all transactions must be recorded on a transaction log with supporting documentation for the transaction (e.g invoice or receipt) retained for 7 years to support the purchases made. Thereafter, monthly reconciliations of the transaction log and monthly card statement require to be undertaken and signed by the cardholder as well as their line manager to mitigate the risk of errors and/or fraudulent transactions. For physical purchase cards, we identified that in practice, these reconciliations are carried out by either the AFA or Senior Clerical Staff within each establishment. Physical purchase cards are currently in use in three secondary schools and one children’s home and testing covered a sample of cardholders from all establishments. While we found that in general the requirements outlined in the Policy are being complied with at the majority of these establishments, there was one secondary school (High School A) where transaction logs are not being prepared/maintained, bank statements are not held on file and receipts are not being retained. For the cardholder from High School A included in our sample, there was no evidence/documentation held to support the transactions and as such we are unable to provide assurance over the validity and legitimacy of transactions made. We understand that no cardholders at High School A undertake a reconciliation of their purchase card activity to their purchase card account statement. A compensatory control is exercised, in part, whereby the Administration and Finance Assistant (AFA) for High School A obtains a download from the ledger and thereafter requests receipts from the named cardholders to check the validity of the transactions. There is no evidence of any further review by the cardholder’s line manager. In addition, we noted that while a bank reconciliation is performed for High School B, checks are only being undertaken in one direction which resulted in there being several transactions appearing on the bank statement which were not listed on the transaction log. All but one of these missing transactions have since been identified and reconciled. All cardholders are required to sign a declaration confirming that they have read and understood the Policy when allocated a card. We discussed the awareness of key aspects of the Policy with a sample of cardholders and as well as non-compliance with the aspects around the recording of transactions, etc noted above, we also identified varying levels of awareness of several aspects in relation to the process for reporting suspected fraud, lost cards and steps to be take when a cardholder leaves their post. Further refinement was made to the Policy in 2022 but does not appear to have been issued to relevant stakeholders. The Policy states that the cards are specific to the employee and no-one else must use it nor have access to it. For the sample of cardholders selected, we reviewed the use of each card and identified one establishment (High School B) where we consider that the purchase cards are being used as communal cards. At this school the Deputy Head Teacher’s card is being used by a number of different staff within the school with the cardholder notionally authorising the transactions. We consider that this practice has the potential to increase the risk of unauthorised and/or fraudulent transactions. While our review of a sample of transactions across the establishments did not identify any inappropriate, fraudulent or prohibited transactions, there was one transaction which we consider is not wholly appropriate. This relates to a transaction made by High School B to pay the deposit to a hotel for the school’s 6th year prom and we understand that the reasoning behind this transaction is that the hotel would not accept a cheque as a form of payment. The income for this transaction is held in the school’s establishment fund and we understand that the school intend to reimburse their delegated school budget via a miscellaneous income transaction. At the time of our fieldwork this had not yet been completed. (continued over page) Page 69 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 28 3. Action Plan (continued) Use of Purchase Cards 0200/2025/001 Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Unless adequately and effectively controlled, there is a risk that expenditure incurred using purchase cards may be inappropriate expenditure and/or fraudulent. In the event of cardholders not being given sufficient sight of the purchase card policy, there is a risk that policy and procedure is not followed adequately. In the event of insufficient management oversight there is a possibility that cards may be used for inappropriate purposes which has the potential to impact the council ability to achieve best value and have a negative reputational impact. (1) The Chief Officer (Finance) should ensure that: a. the current Use of Purchase Cards Policy is issued to all cardholders and their respective line managers, and that roles and responsibilities are re-emphasised. b. in conjunction with Education and Families, revised arrangements at High School A are implemented to ensure full compliance with all aspects of the policy; and c. in conjunction with Education and Families, an instruction is issued to cardholders reinforcing that the sharing of cards is prohibited. A review of current cardholders should be undertaken to determine the most appropriate individuals requiring a purchase card with the necessary arrangements being made as appropriate to request new cards and cancel any no longer required. (2) The Chief Officer (Education and Families - South) should ensure that High School B is instructed to take prompt action to transfer monies collected (and held in the establishment fund account) for the school prom to the Council for allocation against their delegated school budget. Medium (1) Agree Kathleen Shearer/ Veronica Roberts, Business Finance Managers The Service will communicate purchase card policy requirements and remind everyone of their roles and responsibilities. This will include reinforcing that sharing of cards is prohibited. Finance will engage with Education and Families around High School A compliance requirements. (2) Agree Jennifer Ohara, Education & Families Manager A written instruction will be issued to the High School B Headteacher confirming the action they have to take in accordance with the recommendation. January 2025 January 2025 Page 70 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 29 3. Action Plan (continued) Use of Purchase Cards 0200/2025/001 Ref Finding 3 Reconciliations for virtual cards need to be undertaken on a timely basis. The Use of Purchase Cards Policy states that for all transactions made using a purchase card there should be an entry recorded on the establishment’s transaction log and there should also be a corresponding entry on the monthly bank statement for this card. The monthly reconciliation of these two sources is a key control in mitigating the risk of errors and fraudulent transactions. For virtual purchase cards, these reconciliations are carried out by the Facility Support Services (FSS) team against the transaction log maintained by catering staff. At the time of our fieldwork, in October 2024, we established that reconciliations of virtual card spend had not been performed since March 2024. This lack of timeous reconciliation means there is potential for a significant number of issues to have gone unnoticed in the 8-month period where reconciliations were not being performed. We understand that the backlog was as a result of robotic process automation (RPA) processes no longer being operational as well as resource issues due to staff vacancies within the team. As a result of our audit testing, the FSS team allocated resource to address this, and we note that the backlog has now been addressed. Whilst we acknowledge that action has been taken by the Service to mitigate the risk of outstanding reconciliations, it is important that this process continues to be undertaken promptly, on a monthly basis. Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date If reconciliations are not undertaken regularly, there is an increased risk that errors and fraudulent payments will not be identified promptly which can result in a delay in corrective action being undertaken, causing unnecessary budgetary strain. The Chief Officer (Community Operations) should remind Facility Support Services of the need to ensure that the reconciliation of virtual cards is completed promptly at the end of each period and that the RPA solution is fully explored to assist with the efficiency of this process. Low Agree Gillian Finnigan, Assistant Business Manager As indicated in the finding above, the backlog of reconciling cards arose as a result of a staff vacancy (reconciliation officer). The distribution of this workload has since been reviewed and the vacancy filled. The service does not anticipate any further issues with promptly reconciling payment cards and will continue to monitor on a regular basis. In addition, as part of a previous digital sprint, the RPA process will be explored and implemented. FSS will escalate this request with Business and Digital colleagues. January 2025 June 2025 Page 71 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 30 3. Action Plan (continued) Use of Purchase Cards 0200/2025/001 Ref Finding 4 There is scope to further enhance the Policy and consideration to wider roll-out of purchase cards. As referenced at finding 1 above, Internal Audit’s consideration of the current Use of Purchase Cards Policy determined that if fully implemented the Policy provides a robust control framework for the operation of purchase cards. However, we noted that this Policy is heavily focussed on the physical card element of the purchase card scheme and does not provide sufficient detail around arrangements/expectations for the use of virtual purchase cards. In particular, the Policy does not clearly detail: • the application process and how the business need for virtual cards is identified. • the differing scope of use of virtual cards and additional controls in place around pre-approved products from pre-approved suppliers. • the entirely separate reconciliation process that exists for virtual purchase cards and the role that the Facility Support Services (FSS) Team undertakes around this. • the expectations placed on catering staff and the FSS team with regards to records management/ how transactions should be recorded and maintained; and • the transaction limits that are imposed on virtual cards/ suppliers. We also noted some minor additions that would further enhance the policy, including: • the Policy currently states that cards must be kept in a secure location. Our testing identified that, in practice, physical cards are generally held in a secure safe in the establishment when not in use and when required the card is signed out and back in by the relevant member of staff. Additional information within the Policy as to this requirement would be beneficial; and • reference is made within the Policy to the need for the cardholder to keep a log of all transactions made through the card by completing a “NLC Record of Monthly Purchase Card Transactions” and indicates that a template is provided at Appendix 4, however there is no corresponding template attached to the document to facilitate completion by cardholders. Such a template would assist in ensuring adequate, sufficient and consistent information regarding transactions is prepared and retained for all cards. The use of purchase cards was introduced as a pilot in 2018. A review of the pilot was undertaken by Finance in 2022, and it was concluded that the pilot had been a success as one of the purposes of this initiative was to reduce the volume of invoices for low value purchases going through creditors. The updated Policy references both this and the further benefits that purchase cards provide, including assisting the Council to progress the efficient government and e-commerce agendas. It goes on to state that purchase cards will only be issued where there is a clear business benefit or need. Through a review of documentation and testing undertaken, we noted however that despite these references in the revised Policy there have been no further establishments added to the scheme, and these remain as was at the time the pilot was introduced Implication Recommendation Priority Management response Implementation Date Unless there is a clear statement outlining all expected responsibilities and actions, cardholders and those persons responsible for overseeing and monitoring use of the cards may not be fully aware of, and carry out, the necessary tasks. By not promoting and extending the use of purchase cards beyond the initial establishments, the benefits associated with the scheme are limited and not being fully realised. The Chief Officer (Finance) should give due consideration to: (1) the further enhancements referenced in the finding above, including additional relevant detail in respect of virtual purchase cards and determine whether these should be incorporated into the Policy; and (2) whether the purchase card scheme should be promoted and communicated to other Services, clearly outlining the qualifying criteria and responsibilities associated with the cards, thus ensuring that the benefits associated with the scheme are fully realised. Low Agree Kathleen Shearer/ Veronica Roberts, Business Finance Managers As outlined in the response to recommendation 1 above, Finance will undertake a full review of the use of purchase cards and the associated policy. Any updated policy will consider any scope to enhance the policy and incorporate suggested additional details, as outlined above, as appropriate. As indicated in our response to recommendation 1 above, this review will also consider whether purchase cards should be promoted to other Services or whether there are other appropriate purchasing channels which are more efficient and deliver better value for the Council. June 2025 Page 72 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 31 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT SCHOOL H - SCHOOL FUNDS Contents 1. Background 2. Work undertaken by Internal Audit 3. Findings arising from Internal Audit work 4. Conclusions arising from Internal Audit work 5. Recommendations Issued to: Chief Officer (Education and Families (South)); Acting Chief Officer (Education and Families – North)) and Senior Education and Families Manager Copied to: Chief Executive and Depute Chief Executive Headlines This report presents Internal Audit’s findings in response to concerns raised with Internal Audit by the Chief Officer (Education and Families – North) about the operation and administration of the establishment funds (school funds) at School H. The Head Teacher at School H advised the Chief Officer (Education and Families – North) that there appeared to be potential discrepancies between the cash book balance and bank statement balance in both the Primary and Nursery’s school funds, with the bank balance of both accounts being higher than the balance recorded in the Primary and Nursery fund cash books. The Chief Officer (Education and Families – North) discussed this with the Education Change Officer, who in turn raised the issue with Internal Audit. In October 2024, Internal Audit visited the school and met with the Head Teacher and Senior Clerical staff to obtain a general understanding of the relevant financial management arrangements within the school, including how the school funds operate on a day-to-day basis and the record keeping arrangements in place. As part of the work undertaken, we reviewed the supporting records held for the school funds for the period 1 August 2023 to 31 August 2024. Our findings and conclusions arising from this work are detailed in sections 3 and 4 of this report. Based on the results of our work, we have established that the Council’s Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures are not being fully adhered to at the school and, as such, current arrangements are deficient in some areas. From our review of the school fund records maintained, we consider that they do not fully and properly reflect all income received and expenditure incurred from the school fund, however, discussions with the clerical staff indicated that they thought that the records held were appropriate and sufficient. This has highlighted the need for a clear understanding of the expectations for the administration of school fund accounts and specific training to assist with this. Additionally, for the period reviewed, we did not identify any evidence to indicate misappropriation of funds, and the discrepancies identified are considered to be as a result of incorrect recording of transactions. We also identified a lack of expected involvement with, and oversight of the operation of the school funds by previous Head Teachers and senior staff within the school. However, we acknowledge that the current Head Teacher had only taken up post in April 2024 and once she had familiarised herself with the school fund element of the school’s financial arrangements flagged her concerns to Education and Families HQ. We have made recommendations at section 5 where we consider that immediate actions are required to urgently improve the control environment. Over the course of the last two years, there have been repeated audit outputs, detailing the outcome of reviews/investigations regarding anomalies and issues arising relating to the management of school funds and recommendations made in respect of this. As a result, Education and Families committed to developing and implementing a framework for assessing individual establishments compliance against expected procedures. Internal Audit reviewed these arrangements and reported, in October 2024, that whilst we were pleased to note a framework had been devised, it was lacking in detail and limited checks had been undertaken by the Service. Further recommendations were made, and the Service has committed to a range of actions to further develop their compliance framework. Progress on action taken with regards to those recommendations will be reviewed as part of Internal Audit’s follow-up process. The findings from this report further reinforces the importance of an appropriate, balanced framework for assessing compliance with establishment fund procedures. Report status FINAL Audit ref 0450/2025/003 Date issued 10/12/2024 Audit Team Euan Campbell, Lynn McCrum and Paula Hendry Page 73 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 32 1. Background 1.1 The ‘Financial Procedures Manual’ sets out the financial administration procedures and processes required at each educational establishment in North Lanarkshire. It is used in conjunction with the Devolved School Management (DSM) Policy, standard circulars issued by Education and Families HQ, the Councils Financial Regulations and Contract Standing Orders. 1.2 DSM devolves specified decision-making powers to heads of establishment in managing the budget delegated to them. Head Teachers have management responsibility for the control and spending of their establishment’s delegated budget and are expected to do this prudently, taking account of local priorities and best value principles. 1.3 In addition to the delegated school budget, many educational establishments also operate ‘Establishment Funds’, otherwise known as ‘School Funds’, which are used to enhance the educational experience provided by the school. Funds are typically generated via donations and fundraising events and are generally spent on extra-curricular activities (e.g. school trips) and/or the provision of additional books, materials and equipment, etc. 1.4 Although ‘School Funds’ are not Council funds, the Council does have a responsibility to ensure adequate stewardship of all funds which are set up for the benefit of educational establishments. An ‘Establishment Fund’ procedures manual is in place to provide guidance and expected practice to schools in the administration of these funds. This includes key aspects such as expected procedures and processes to be followed regarding income and expenditure, monthly reconciliations of cash and bank, completion of a year- end income expenditure statement, independent checks of records and submission of these to Education and Families HQ. The procedures manual was recently reviewed, updated and re-issued to all Heads of Establishments in November 2023. 2. Work undertaken by Internal Audit 2.1 Internal Audit visited the school in October 2024 and met with the Head Teacher and Senior Clerical staff to obtain a general understanding of the relevant financial management arrangements within the school, including how the school fund operates on a day-to-day basis and the record keeping arrangements in place. 2.2 We gathered and reviewed the records held within the school for the school fund (school and nursery) for the period 1 August 2023 to 31 August 2024. We also observed clerical staff performing a cash count of all monies held in the safe. 2.3 From the supporting documentation obtained (manual cash books; electronic cash book; cheque books and bank statements), we reconciled and re-created a cash book that is reflective of the information captured on the respective bank statements, for both the Primary and Nursery school funds for the periods August 2023 – September 2024. 2.4 Thereafter, we briefed the Senior Clerical Assistant on how to accurately record all income and expenditure transactions, prepare monthly bank and cash reconciliations, categorise income and expenditure and prepare an Annual Statement of Income and Expenditure. Page 74 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 33 3. Findings arising from Internal Audit’s work General school fund arrangements 3.1 The Head Teacher, who has overall responsibility for the oversight of the school funds for both the Primary and Nursery, took up post in April 2024 and had only recently familiarised herself with the school fund element of the school’s financial arrangements. 3.2 Additionally, the clerical staff who undertake the day-to-day administration of the school funds were not aware of the ‘Establishment Fund’ procedures or the records which require to be maintained and thereafter submitted to Education and Families HQ. Based on our discussion with staff, it appears that the clerical staff have been recording school fund transactions in a way they thought appropriate and have highlighted themselves the need for a clear understanding of the expectations for the administration of school fund accounts and specific training to assist with this. 3.3 Although attempts are made to keep the handling of cash income to a minimum, there are occasions where cash is collected by the school, such as school trip payments or purchasing uniforms via the school. These monies are collected by teachers who will count and either note down which child these monies relate to or provide a uniform order form together with the appropriate monies. Upon this reaching the school office, the money is counted again by both office staff and for school trips a spreadsheet is maintained by clerical staff to track how much has been paid by each child. The source documentation prepared by class teachers relating to these transactions is not retained. 3.4 A cash book (electronic and manual) is maintained to record income and expenditure. However, several issues were identified with these records including: • the cash books are written up sporadically and are not updated as and when income is received and cheques are written. Often the dates entered in the cash book are the dates the cash book is written up rather than the date of occurrence of the transaction; and • the cash book is simply a list of income and expenditure and doesn’t allow for income and expenditure to be easily grouped or categorised. 3.5 The school is not complying with many aspects of the Council’s expected practice for the operation and management of the school fund including: • monies not always being banked intact (i.e. all income received is banked in full, with no expenditure met from income collected); • no monthly reconciliations being undertaken to the cash and bank balances held. • no oversight of the school funds either by the Head Teacher or a member of the Senior Management Team in the school; and • no annual statement of income and expenditure associated with the school funds being completed, audited and/or submitted to Education and Families HQ. 3.6 In addition, while an Independent Reviewer’s report has been prepared and was submitted to Education and Families HQ in January 2024, the checklist completed by the Independent Reviewer references review of bank reconciliations and the Annual Statement of Income and Expenditure, neither of which have been prepared in recent years. 3.7 Both the Primary and Nursery changed their bank accounts for school funds from the Bank of Scotland to the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2019. Clerical staff within the school provided us with a copy of the last bank statement held for the Bank of Scotland accounts for both the Primary and Nursery (dated January 2020). Both statements show a credit balance (£425.57 in the Primary School account and £36.22 in the Nursery account) and Clerical staff advised that no further statements have been received since this date. We understand that these accounts remain open, but we have been unable to verify the current balances within them. Discrepancies in monies banked 3.8 Following a review of the cash book and bank statements for the period 1 August 2023 – 31 August 2024, we identified the following: • As at 31 August 2024, the Primary School cash book balance was £2,016.61 less than that shown on the corresponding bank statement and the Nursery cash book was £1,234.22 less than that shown on the corresponding bank statement. This appears to be a historic issue due to the incorrect recording of transactions (as noted below); • The cash books for both the Primary and Nursery record bank charges despite these being paid centrally by the Council’s Treasury Management section and, while the school receive notification by the bank of these charges, they are not debited on the school fund bank accounts; Page 75 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 34 3. Findings arising from Internal Audit’s work (continued) Discrepancies in monies banked (continued) • Staff are sometimes reimbursed for expenses incurred, in cash, using income collected for school funds. The manual record of cash paid in and out fully records all income received and cash paid out, however, whilst the expenditure is correctly recorded in the main cash book, the cash book entry for income only reflects the balance of the income collected after the expenditure has been paid out. As such, the overall cash book does not reflect the full income received and the income is understated by the amount of expenditure paid out in cash. • Due to the cash book not being written up at the time transactions occur, there were two iPay impact transactions which were on the Primary School’s bank statement (June 2024) which had not yet been recorded in the cash book at the time of the audit review (September 2024), and • There were two instances of keying errors where the amount entered on the cash book for the Primary School differs from the amount debited on the corresponding bank statement. 4. Conclusions arising from Internal Audit’s work 4.1 The school are not following the Council’s ‘Establishment Fund’ Procedures and do not have adequate processes in place for recording or reconciling income and expenditure pertaining to the school fund. In particular, not all income was recorded in the cashbook, income and expenditure is not updated as and when it occurs, cash is not being banked intact, staff reimbursements are being duplicated as they are deducted from income and also recorded in the cash book as expenditure, and bank charges are incorrectly being recorded in the cash book. 4.2 We consider the current arrangements within the school to be deficient in a number of areas. From our review of the school fund records maintained, we consider that they do not fully and properly reflect all income received and expenditure incurred from the school fund, however, discussions with the clerical staff indicated that they thought that the records held were appropriate and sufficient. This has highlighted the need for a clear understanding of the expectations for the administration of school fund accounts and specific training to assist with this. 4.3 For the period reviewed, we did not identify any evidence to indicate misappropriation of funds, and the discrepancies identified are considered to be as a result of incorrect recording of transactions. 4.4 There has been a lack of oversight and involvement in the management of the school funds from previous Head Teacher’s and senior management. Page 76 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 35 5. Recommendations 5.1 Recommendation 1 Education and Families should, as a matter of urgency, ensure that action is taken to improve the control environment surrounding the arrangements for recording and handling of cash at School H. This should include: (1) reinforcing to the Head Teacher that she has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures are fully adhered to and that there are proper controls in place for the collection and recording of income and expenditure associated with the school fund and regular monitoring thereof. (2) ensuring that all persons involved in the day-to-day operation of the school fund have been provided with a copy of the Educational Establishment Fund Procedures, are aware that all aspects require to be fully complied with and are provided with appropriate training in this respect. (3) undertaking a visit, before the end of the financial year (31 March 2025) to validate that the Establishment Fund Financial Procedures are fully adhered to, with specific reference to ensuring: • a school fund cash book is maintained which records, and categorises, all cash, cheque and online (via iPayimpact) income and expenditure timeously, as and when it occurs. • bank charges are not included on the cash book. • all monies collected are banked intact. • reimbursements of expenses paid by staff members are made by cheque. • monthly reconciliations of the school fund cash book to the relevant bank account are undertaken using the current bank statement and thereafter signed by a member of the school’s Senior Management Team to evidence that they have been checked. • at least monthly, any cash held on the school premises is reconciled to the cash balance as shown in the school fund cash book. • all income received is counted and agreed by 2 people and agreed to supporting records (i.e. payment cards. class records etc), which are thereafter retained. • all cash received is held securely in the safe until uplifted by Security Plus at least once per week, and • all income is supported by a receipt or voucher and details of these are recorded in the school fund cash book. Management response (including responsible officer and timescale for any planned actions) (1) The link EFM will write to the Headteacher, confirming the responsibilities and actions expected of the headteacher in relation to school funds as outlined in recommendation 1(1). This letter will be forwarded following the conclusion of the audit process (December 2024). (2) The link EFM will also seek confirmation from the Headteacher that the Headteacher and relevant staff have access to the Establishment Fund Procedures. This action will be undertaken following the conclusion of the audit process. (December 2024) (3) The link EFM will forward the list of key actions listed in (3) above to the Headteacher (December 2024) and will seek confirmation prior to the end of the financial year that the actions in the recommendation are being implemented. (March 2025). The Service is exploring the creation of a support network of experienced practitioners within each cluster who can provide guidance and advice to other Headteachers and school staff. This action will be taken forward by the Senior Education and Families Manager. A decision on the viability of this approach will be taken by the end of the current financial year (March 2025). Responsible Officers: Thomas O’Hagan, Senior Education and Families Manager & Bee Hunter, Education & Families Manager Implementation Date: March 2025 Page 77 of 176
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https://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR-INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docxhttps://nlcgov.sharepoint.com/sites/AUR- INTERNALAUDITFILES/Shared Documents/General/Final Report for ASP/ASP Audit Final Reports.docx 36 5.2 Recommendation 2 Education and Families should ensure that, as a matter of urgency, liaise with the Bank of Scotland to establish the current balance and a list of any transactions from February 2020 to date for both the Primary School and Nursery accounts. Once established, arrangements should be made for any balance remaining to be transferred to the current bank account for the school and nursery and these ‘old’ accounts closed. Management response (including responsible officer and timescale for any planned actions) The link EFM will write to the headteacher, advising that the school should seek clarity from the Bank of Scotland on the existence/value of accounts held by them. If it is confirmed the Bank of Scotland hold funds on behalf of the school, further instructions will be given to the Headteacher to close these accounts and transfer the balances to the school fund account operated by the Royal Bank of Scotland. This instruction will be forwarded following the conclusion of the audit process. Responsible Officers: Thomas O’Hagan, Senior Education and Families Manager & Bee Hunter, Education & Families Manager Implementation Date: December 2024 Page 78 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref FS/ASP/RMFeb25 Date 24/02/25 Risk Management Update From Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) E-mail ScottFr@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07887 914207 Executive Summary This report seeks to support the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in the discharge of the aspect of its remit of monitoring the effective development and operation of risk management in the Council. The report provides commentary of Corporate Risk Register (CRR) developments since the last update in October. The report also provides a high-level overview of Service Risk Registers (SRRs), comparing the current residual risk profile with the profile reported at the August Panel meeting. The report concludes with a summary of the key considerations of the Risk Management Corporate Working Group (RMCWG) within the reporting period. Recommendations The Panel is asked to consider the contents of the report and note: (a) the information provided on developments on the CRR for 2024-25 as detailed in sections 2.1 – 2.6 and Appendix 1. (b) The residual risk profile across SRRs as set out in section 2.7 and Appendix 2, and (c) The summary of the key discussion points of the RMCWG captured from section 2.8. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Item 5 Page 79 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 The Audit and Scrutiny Panel terms of reference include the remit to monitor the effective development and operation of risk management in the Council. This report supports the Panel in discharging that aspect of its remit by providing an overview of how certain requirements of the Risk Management Strategy have been delivered during the reporting period. 2. Report Corporate Risk Register 2024-25 2.1 The current CRR was approved by the Panel in August 2024. Risks are subject to ongoing monitoring and review, with higher scoring risks being subject to more frequent review. Management considers factors such as changes in the operating environment, the effectiveness of existing controls, the development of additional controls and progress of agreed actions to determine whether it would be appropriate to adjust the risk assessment in line with the Risk Management Strategy. 2.2 The CRR is updated to reflect any changes arising from these reviews, and an updated version is included at Appendix 1. There have been no additions to the CRR since the last update, however, some corporate risks have been deferred to SRRs. Developments relating to Corporate Risks since the last update 2.3 National Care Service 2.3.1 This risk has been deferred from the CRR. Whilst uncertainty remains around how the proposals for a National Care Service will develop, any such proposals are likely to emerge in the future. As such this risk will be monitored at Service level for the time being. 2.4 Impact of changes to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) operating arrangements 2.4.1 This risk relates to the impact on the Council following a national procedure change implemented by SFRS in 2023 for the dispatch of firefighting appliances following a fire alarm signal. This applied to property within the Council’s estate and required changes to internal procedures and modernisation of fire detection and alarm equipment. 2.4.2 At the latest risk review, management were comfortable to defer to SRR level, as any necessary adjustments to fire safety procedures had been implemented with employee training and awareness material delivered. In addition, any remaining works required to upgrade fire detection or alarm equipment will be completed by the end of the financial year. 2.5 Ability to deliver the Approved Programme of Work 2.5.1 As previously reported to Panel, as part of the annual review of the CRR, management decided to reframe the Managing Strategic Change risk to better reflect the current position in relation to the management of uncertainty affecting the Programme of Work. Page 80 of 176
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The work is at an advanced stage and the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) meeting considered the revised risk on 30 January 2025. Service risk registers – risks with highest residual scores 2.6 The Council’s Risk Management Strategy requires SRRs to be maintained and reviewed through the support of Service Risk Champions and Risk Facilitators. The table below provides a summary of the changes in residual risk profile across our SRRs during the period. Further detail on the high scoring risks is shown in Appendix 2. Insignificant Low Medium High Very high Total Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Aug 2024 Jan 2025 Chief Executive Services 39 39 53 55 39 37 6 6 0 0 137 137 Education & Families 6 6 17 18 22 21 1 1 0 0 46 46 Adult Health & Social Care 0 1 7 7 13 12 1 0 0 0 21 20 Enterprise & Communities 35 30 134 132 93 86 14 13 0 0 276 261 Other Risk Management Developments 2.7 The RMCWG co-ordinates activities and resources in order to implement the Risk Management Strategy and promote good risk management practice throughout the Council. There was one session of the RMCWG since the last report to Panel, with the key discussion points noted below: Horizon Scanning Census 2022: • From a risk and opportunity identification perspective, determining how can we make the most of the analytical work completed by Business and Digital colleagues on the 2022 Census Data. Page 81 of 176
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Lithium Batteries: • Corporate Resilience Meeting overseeing issue for NLC in terms of response. Interest in the topic growing nationally and a symposium convened in November 2024 which covered learning from recent related events. Active consideration underway of how to use material to prompt risk / opportunity identification across service registers. Corporate Risk Team Update Management Information and Reporting: • Exploring opportunities presented through Microsoft tools to streamline the approach to monitoring compliance with the risk management strategy and the quarterly and annual reports prepared by Risk Champions. ALARM Conference Highlights: • Considering whether Renfrewshire Council's approach to ever-present risks could enhance our risk management practice. • Management information on risk registers presented by use of Microsoft tools. Training • Refreshed "Introduction to Risk Management" module went live in November. Feedback largely positive but RMCWG will continue to monitor feedback to make any necessary refinements. • External Training for Risk Champions scheduled in February. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The Corporate Risk Team will continue to report quarterly to CMT and the Audit and Scrutiny Panel, providing an overview of key developments in risk management and updating on progress in respect of planned improvements to the Council’s risk management arrangements. 3.2 The adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s risk management arrangements will be subject to independent review by Internal Audit, who will report directly on the results of that work to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. 3.3 Effective risk management arrangements assist the Council in achieving planned outcomes and/or help the Council mitigate the impacts of adverse events. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1: Corporate Risk Register 2024-25 Appendix 2: Highest Scoring Service Risk Register Entries Francis Scott, Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) Page 82 of 176
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact because of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If yes, please provide a summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Effective risk management arrangements will enable the Council to manage its risks more effectively, increasing the likelihood of the Council achieving its plans and ambitions by minimising or mitigating potential threats to planned outcomes. A robust risk management strategy lays out the framework and underpins all risk management activity across the organisation. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex-Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☒ No ☒ 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 83 of 176
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Appendix 1 Corporate Risk Register 2024-25 CORPORATE RISKS (Operational) Likelihood Impact Rating Evaluation Change 1. Home support service delivery/ sustainability 5 5 25 Very High No 2. Information security and governance 5 4 20 High No 3. ICT operational capability 5 4 20 High No 4. Enterprise Contract (Mobilisation) 4 5 20 High No 5. Human resources (workforce planning) 4 4 16 High No 6. Public protection 4 4 16 High No 7. Procurement risk 4 4 16 High No 8. Governance, leadership and decision- making 4 4 16 High No 9. Health and Safety 5 3 15 Medium No 10. RAAC 3 5 15 Medium No 11. Business continuity planning 5 3 15 Medium No 12. Terrorism 3 5 15 Medium No 13. Home to school transport delivery/ sustainability 3 4 12 Medium No 14. Resilience planning 2 5 10 Medium No 15. Serious organised crime, fraud and corruption 3 3 9 Medium No CORPORATE RISKS (Strategic) Likelihood Impact Rating Evaluation Change 16. Tackling poverty 5 4 20 High No 17. Power resilience (Black Start) 4 5 20 High No 18. Climate change 5 4 20 High No 19. Digital adoption 5 4 20 High No 20. Financial sustainability 3 5 15 Medium No 21. Digital and IT strategy 4 3 12 Medium No 22. Engagement and consultation 3 3 9 Medium No 23. Improving educational outcomes 3 3 9 Medium No 24. Delivery of approved programme of work (REFRAMED from Managing Strategic Change) 2 4 8 Low New RISKS REMOVED DURING REPORTING PERIOD (Operational) Likelihood Impact Rating Evaluation Change Impact of proposal to create a National Care Service (Deferred to Service Risk Register) 5 5 25 Very High No Impact of changes to SFRS operating arrangements (Deferred to Service Risk Register) 2 4 8 Low No Page 84 of 176
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Appendix 2 Highest Scoring Service Risk Register Entries Risk Number Title Residual Risk Score Service RIA0000372 Inadequate staffing levels or expertise to provide advice and support to the council, its ALEOs and elected members. 20 Chief Executive's RIA0000212 Child Abuse Legislation 20 Chief Executive's RIA0000039 Organisational capacity and retention of staff 20 Chief Executive's RIS0000011 Risk Management 16 Chief Executive's RIA0000020 Failure to implement business change / service redesign thus impacting on stated benefits realisation 16 Chief Executive's RIS0000532 PCI Compliance (HUB) 16 Chief Executive's RIS0000671 Advocacy and Representation for Residents 16 Education & Families RIA0000223 Service failure due to loss in IT capability 20 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000723 Hub Delivery Team staff resources 20 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000709 Impact of staffing issues on service provision 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000712 Decommissioning of B: Drive following Data Migration to Teams 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000395 Inability to provide a service due to staffing/ training/ absence etc. 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000744 Decommissioning of B: Drive and subsequent loss of reliant databases and data 16 Enterprise and Communities RIA0000012 HSMS Maintenance & Development 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000315 Management of Service Users Recorded under MAPPA within the Community (Outed Cases) 16 Enterprise and Communities RIA0000068 Delivery of Property Services 16 Enterprise and Communities RIA0000089 Cost of Living Crisis, Welfare System & Energy Costs 16 Enterprise and Communities RIA0000109 Failure of key unsupported business systems 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000617 General Workforce 16 Enterprise and Communities RIS0000576 Microsoft Teams Migration 16 Enterprise and Communities Page 85 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref BS/TO’H Date 24/02/25 Service Update – School Fund Compliance Arrangements From Barry Smedley, Chief Officer (Education and Families - South E-mail smedleybar@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07919 245004 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to respond to the Panel’s request to provide a report from management following the Panel’s consideration at its meeting in October 2024 of the Internal Audit report on Compliance with Establishment Fund arrangements. During consideration of this report, the Panel concluded that given the repeated audit outputs in this area over the last two years as well as the lack of progress in developing and implementing a framework to confirm individual establishments’ compliance with the procedures, they required information from the Service in order to gain assurance that the weaknesses identified were being appropriately addressed. Appendix 1 provides a summary of the scope, and key findings in relation to the audit report referenced above. The remainder of the report outlines steps already taken by the Service designed to improve the effectiveness of the relevant management arrangements together with an outline of planned future actions Recommendations The Panel is asked to review the actions taken to date and further planned actions in response to previous Establishment Fund audits. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Item 6 Page 87 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 At the October 2024 meeting of the Panel, members considered an audit report in relation to the Services development and implementation of a compliance framework for establishment funds. As a result of the audit findings (which are summarised at Appendix 1), the Panel requested that management provide the Panel with a report updating progress made by the Service in addressing the underlying weaknesses identified. This report fulfils that expectation. 2. Report Previous relevant internal audit reviews 2.1 Internal Audit have reported on a number of occasions in the last two years in relation to work undertaken in response to concerns over the management of school funds. Appendix 1 provides a detailed overview of the most recently completed Internal Audit report in relation to the compliance framework for establishment funds. 2.2 In this report Internal Audit identified: • a need for the Service to further develop the Compliance Framework to clearly document how it plans to effectively monitor schools’ compliance with the Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures and thereafter address issues identified with the individual establishments; and • a lack of information reported to senior management within the Service with regards to educational establishments’ compliance with the Establishment Fund Financial Procedures. Actions taken by the Service in response to previous audit reports 2.3 The strategic responsibility for reviewing Internal Audit reports and implementation of recommendations has been assigned to a recently appointed Senior Education & Families Manager (SEFM) who took up post in October 2024. This officer has extensive financial management and systems experience gained within North Lanarkshire Council which will assist the Service in developing deliverable and sustainable solutions in response to agreed improvement actions. 2.4 The SEFM prepared a report for the Service Senior Management Team (SMT) in December 2024 which summarised the issues previously raised by Internal Audit in relation to Establishment Funds, alongside a number of practicable actions which will improve the overall governance of establishment funds. The SMT approved these recommendations in full which includes a number of the actions highlighted in paragraphs 2.5 to 2.13 below. 2.5 Following discussion with Internal Audit the Service requested establishments provide additional information and compliance evidence in their annual checklist returns for the financial year ended June 2024. 2.6 At a meeting in December 2024, school and nursery heads were formally advised of the importance of each establishment operating their fund in accordance with the approved procedures, and of the ongoing scrutiny both the Service and individual establishments face in relation to management of Establishment Funds. 2.7 Education Managers / Senior Education Managers have been given a briefing on their enhanced governance role in relation to the management of establishment funds. Page 88 of 176
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Further planned actions 2.8 The link visit form which is an online tool used by Education & Families Managers when they attend schools or nurseries will be updated to include a specific question on the adherence by the school/nursery to the Establishment Funds procedures manual. It is anticipated this approach will provide an Education & Families Manager with an early indication of non-compliance issues within an establishment. 2.9 Education & Families Managers will take a lead role in ensuring future Internal Audit recommendations are implemented for their cluster schools/nurseries. 2.10 A summary report detailing the key information and lessons learned from the 2024 annual checklist returns from Heads of Establishment will be presented to the February SMT meeting and shared with Internal Audit. Similarly, summary information in respect of Internal Audit reports will be presented to future SMT meetings, including the findings and actions related to Establishment Funds. 2.11 The Service is engaging with heads of establishment to identify an Establishment Fund ‘critical friend’ within each cluster who can provide operational advice and support to colleagues. The Service will also arrange for the management of Establishment Funds to be an agenda item on future cluster meetings. 2.12 The Service will continue to review Establishment Fund governance and oversight arrangements in the context of available staffing resources. For example, the Service hasn’t historically had a dedicated post to undertake a programme of compliance spot checks and bespoke advice/training across establishments. However, a post of this nature would be prioritised in the future subject to available resources being identified. 2.13 During 2025 refresher training on the Establishment Fund procedures manual will be provided to Education & Families Managers and Heads of Establishment. 3. Measures of success 3.1 School funds are effectively managed in line with expected processes and procedures. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 – Summary of most recent Internal Audit assignment Barry Smedley Chief Officer (Education and Families – South) 5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Page 89 of 176
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Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Future data matching arrangements will be reviewed to ensure the Council remains legally compliant with recent legislative changes. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Page 90 of 176
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Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 91 of 176
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Appendix 1 Summary of recent Internal Audit assignments management of school funds Compliance with Establishment Fund arrangements – October 2024 ASP Internal Audit Opinion: Limited assurance (Amber-Red) The purpose of this audit was to provide assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s approach and management arrangements for reviewing schools’ compliance with expectations around the use and management of school funds, including determining and assessing progress made in developing and implementing the compliance framework. Many educational establishments operate ‘Establishment Funds’ (otherwise known as ‘School Funds’) in addition to their delegated school budget. Although school funds are not Council funds, the Council has a responsibility to ensure adequate stewardship of these monies. As such, there is an Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures manual, which Heads of Establishment have received and are required to adhere to. Over the course of the last two years, there have been repeated audit outputs, detailing the outcome of reviews/investigations regarding anomalies and issues arising relating to the management of school funds and recommendations made in respect of this. Following a request from the Audit and Scrutiny Panel, the Chief Officer (Education and Families - North) presented a report to the February 2024 meeting of the Panel where he committed to the Service developing a framework to review and confirm individual establishments’ compliance with the procedures, including annual compliance submissions and spot checks on a sample of establishments. We were pleased to note that the Service has devised such a framework and that, following an instruction issued to Heads of Establishments, required documentation (compliance checklist, annual Income and Expenditure Statement and Independent Reviewers’ Reports) was submitted to Education HQ by 78% of the educational establishments. However, based on the results of our work, together with our wider knowledge gained from previous Internal Audit work undertaken in this area, we have assessed this audit as providing only ‘limited assurance’. We consider the framework developed by the Service to be lacking in both detail and guidance in respect of the means to measure compliance, address identified areas of non-compliance and report thereon to senior management. In addition, we noted that there have been no detailed checks carried out on the documentation submitted to confirm individual establishments’ compliance, or otherwise, with the procedures. We appreciate, however, that there have been other, more pressing, priorities within the Service and that, as a result, the Service have not had sufficient resources to fully progress these actions. As a result, we consider that until a fully developed compliance framework is implemented, the control environment remains weakened, leaving the Service exposed to potentially significant risk. We have identified areas for improvement, which are detailed at Section 3 of the report and these include: • a need for the Service to further develop the Compliance Framework to clearly document how it plans to effectively monitor schools’ compliance with the Educational Establishment Fund Financial Procedures and thereafter address issues identified with the individual establishments; and • a lack of information reported to senior management within the Service with regards to educational establishments’ compliance with the Establishment Fund Financial Procedures. Satisfactory management responses, including agreed proposed actions have been received from management in response to the recommendations contained in the report. Page 92 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref RB/GR/KH Date 24/02/25 School IT Assets – Age and Maintenance From Katrina Hassell, Chief Officer (Business and Digital) E-mail Hassellk@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096121 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to respond to the enquiry raised within the Audit and Scrutiny Panel meeting of 9th May 2024 “Strategic Performance Framework – Performance Reporting Schedule quarterly performance assurance review” to receive further information on schools-based IT i.e. its age and on-going maintenance. A previous report to the panel, on examining the performance of P3 incident support, advised that “performance has fallen into a pattern that is consistently below the revised target of 85%. This figure tends to be skewed as it is an amalgamation of traditional corporate and schools’ IT incidents (with schools having a range of older technology and many supported on a best endeavour only basis), but still captured within the support statistics”. The report will detail the volume, by age profile, of the IT assets used in schools and describe the support provide by age. It is important to note that any Windows PC older than 6 years will not be supported by the latest version of Microsoft Windows (11) operating system. Device volumes in this category will be collated and reported but importantly it should be understood that these devices will not be viable after October 2025 when Microsoft remove support for their operating system. Recommendations It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny Panel: (1) Acknowledge that Business and Digital are currently exploring scope to establish a cross service working group with the following key purposes: • Investigate the appropriate levels of IT asset that are required for learning and teaching across all education sectors. • Identify the product types that would support a modern and effective pedagogy in the use of technology. • Develop a strategic approach regarding IT asset distribution and refresh. • Establish clear guidelines for the on-going support of educational IT assets, while considering the development of support towards Town and Community Hubs and the future operating model aligned to the Programmes of Work. Item 7 Page 93 of 176
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1. Background 1.1. The investment into the schools IT (user) assets is primarily driven at individual school level through devolved monetary responsibility mechanisms for financial management. This does not include costs associated to IT infrastructure e.g. network equipment etc. traditionally met through capital expenditure. 1.2. Additional financial support to schools for device refresh has been provided via resources made available through Education & Families (E&F) budgets or management of Business & Digital (B&D) capital profiles. These sources are challenged to support other requirements and tend not to be routine by nature. 1.3. The Strategic Capital bidding process 2024 – 2028 included a combined bid for “End User Device” refresh across the whole organisational estate, including schools, corporate, public access computing and mobile devices. This bid totalling £15,153,000 was funded to a value of £4,545,900 (30%); to balance competing priorities and recognising the responsibility of individual schools to maintain their estate (1.1), this funding has prioritised corporate refresh, whilst allocating approx. £1,750,000 across the five years to aid refresh within the school’s estate. 1.4. The previous capital programme included investment into the education sector for refresh of computers of approx. £700,000 in year 2022-2023. 1.5. Education and Families invested approx. £320,000 in the same financial year 2022- 2023. 1.6. The IT resource levels in schools are not driven by a baseline ratio i.e. pupil to computer ratio, staff allocation of devices, and as such budget holders are not directed on a targeted level of IT resource that should be presented within a school. 1.7. Through constraints on financial resource, and subsequent savings programmes, IT technical support levels available to schools have reduced at the same time as volume and complexity of IT resources increased. Typically, this has had most impact in the non-secondary school sector through reduction in peripatetic IT support with reduction in staffing for IT support from 9 FTE in 2013 to 5 FTE in the current year. 1.8. Software vendor support for their products can vary, Microsoft Windows operating system will typically be supported for up to 10 years. Apple equipment has shorter vendor support periods – typically 5 years. 1.9. Direct technical support to schools is presented through the B&D Field Services staff. This section was created from the planned transfer of technical staff from various • Examine on-going reporting facilities to identify support requirements against estate demographics. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (18) Ensure our digital transformation is responsive to all people's needs and enable access to the services they need Programme of Work Digital North Lanarkshire Page 94 of 176
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locations to the management of the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) within the Chief Executive’s Office. 1.10. Indirect technical support to schools is provided from other areas within B&D e.g. online services/management, or through supplier contracts. 1.11. Support guidance to schools is issued through the E&F Newsletter and the Digital Learning and Teaching Guidance. 1.12. The Field Service support to schools is currently being re-structured to support the councils new operating model through Town and Community Hubs and the Programme of Work. 2. Report 2.1 The age of devices can typically be broken down by model type. The national procurement frameworks used to purchase devices is consistently updated. 2.2 The following device age information is taken from the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). 2.3 It should be noted that devices in the 6+ years category will not support Microsoft Windows 11, due for deployment during 2025; the chart illustrates that this is approximately 30% of the school estate. The actual effective use of devices in this category will vary greatly depending on age, the majority in this column are 8-11 years old. Maintenance Support 2.4 Support requirements to address incidents that occur with PC’s will be impacted greatly by the age of a device. 2.5 At present, anecdotal evidence suggests that support staff time is heavily focused on the maintenance of aged devices. The significant number of aged devices, the constraint of available parts and the limitation to improve a device performance due to age has resulted in a best endeavour support to these particularly aged devices. 6 Years+ 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Series1 10773 1563 4748 8989 3904 2413 1644 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Devices by Age Page 95 of 176
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Recommendation is to develop reporting tools that would provide empirical data, to investigate most effective utilisation of support staff against device age. 2.6 The Microsoft Windows 10 operating system has been in use for approximately 10 years. While older computers can continue to run this operating system, the enhancements and demands on hardware have greatly increased. Older computers will suffer performance issues, unlikely to provide the experience required for learning and teaching. 2.7 Schools have endeavoured to “upgrade” computers through additional memory, but experience has shown this to be an ineffective spend. 2.8 A model for support was designed to make most effective use of support staff, enabling focus on viable computers. The following is a summary of the support provided to schools: MS Windows Based Devices: AGE OF DEVICE LEVEL OF SUPPORT NEW- 5 YEARS Primary 5-7 YEARS Secondary 7+ YEARS Tertiary 2.9 Primary Support - backed by manufacturer’s warranty, will include all software and hardware components (where parts are commercially available). Supported software will be subject to those approved through Education and Families procedures. Hardware will be purchased from supported contracts. Standard upgrades e.g. memory will be supported at school cost as will replacement of damaged component parts. Devices will be maintained and updated to ensure full effectiveness and security. 2.10 Secondary Support – Software will continue to be supported so long as vendor support continues including security, management and operating system software. This will include driver support for hardware. Re-imaging of devices will continue where required. Hardware support will be restricted to serviceable parts e.g. power supply, memory, fuses, cables. Physical damage to hardware will not be supported. Cost of parts will be met by schools. 2.11 Tertiary Support – The devices will be permitted to be used so long as the device complies with council policy. In the main this will mean that any security, management or operating system software will be able to run at the latest release versions. Failure of a device to meet these requirements will require disposal of that device. Failure of any hardware component that compromises the security, management or operating system functions will require disposal of the device. No hardware repairs will be carried out on equipment in this age category. Advice will be provided on user responsibility to back up essential data. 2.12 The staffing structure within Field Service has been developed to blend support to education and corporate users, the intent being that staff can support either type of user. This will support the development of the teams as part of the future requirements of Town and Community Hubs and the Programmes of Work. 2.13 Traditionally support levels for education establishments were 23 FTE IT Technicians, 1 located in each secondary schools, and 8 FTE Peripatetic IT Technicians (reduced to 5 FTE within the current savings program). Page 96 of 176
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Non-Microsoft Windows Assets 2.14 Many schools are using Apple based products, typically iPads and some limited specialist use of Apple computers. The CMBD is recording a total of 9765 Apple devices. 2.15 Support capabilities for Apple products is limited, often challenged at both the stage of recruitment of staff, as applicants for posts rarely have any Apple skills, but also through Apple’s limitations on what is offered by way of parts, training etc to NLC staff. 2.16 The Council’s accreditation to maintain Apple products was removed following the curricula decision to focus on Windows PC’s. 2.17 The model of support for these products is as follows: Level of Support definitions: 2.18 Primary Support – backed by manufacturer’s warranty, will include all software and hardware components. Supported software will be subject to those approved through Education and Families procedures. Hardware will be purchased from supported contracts. 2.19 Other than serviceable parts e.g. power supplies, physical damage or non-warranty repairs are unsupported. 2.20 Secondary Support – Software will continue to be supported so long as vendor support continues including security, management and operating system software. 2.21 Other than serviceable parts e.g. power supplies, physical damage or non-warranty repairs are unsupported. 2.22 Tertiary Support – The devices will be permitted to be used so long as the device complies with council policy. In the main this will mean that any security, management or operating system software will be able to run at the latest release versions. Failure of a device to meet these requirements will require that disposal of the device. Failure of any hardware component that compromises the security, management or operating system functions will require that disposal of the device. No hardware repairs will be carried out on equipment in this category. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Success will be measured through the development of a clear strategy for the deployment of IT assets in schools. This will produce an age demographic that provides systems supportive of the objectives for learning and teaching, including achieving suitable volumes of device appropriate for the curriculum. Support levels will be effective in meeting the performance levels expected when supporting a modern IT estate. 4. Supporting documentation N/A Page 97 of 176
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Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business and Digital) 5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 98 of 176
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If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The amount of devices in use has a direct relationship to the cost of the continual device refresh program and to the volumes of support requests received by Business and Digital, hence the contents of this report are considered along with numerous other factors when planning the associated service strategies. Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Page 99 of 176
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Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 100 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref KH/SL Date 24/02/25 Strategic Performance Framework - Performance Reporting Schedule quarterly performance assurance review From Katrina Hassell, Chief Officer (Business and Digital) E-mail HassellK@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096 121 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to bring together a summary of the council’s performance reports in one composite assurance overview to support the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in maintaining strategic oversight and awareness of the council’s performance reporting arrangements in line with the Panel’s remit to provide “independent review of the council’s governance, risk management, performance, and control frameworks”. It also supports the Audit and Scrutiny Panel’s governance and accountability role in terms of ensuring the council can demonstrate Best Value through the existence of robust arrangements for performance reporting and scrutiny. This process monitors reports which have been submitted to council committees (in line with the Strategic Performance Framework - Performance Reporting Schedule) during the previous cycle. This process began following the initial annual Performance Reporting Schedule at the Audit and Scrutiny Panel meeting in February 2023 with implementation of a quarterly performance assurance review report thereafter. This report herewith provides the Panel with the outcome from the latest quarterly performance assurance review that has been undertaken on performance reports previously submitted to council committees during cycle 4 of 2024 (in line with the Performance Reporting Schedule for 2024 to 2025 which was at the Panel meeting in February 2024). Recommendations It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny Panel: (1) Review the composite overview of performance reporting provided in Appendices 1 and 2 to maintain an awareness of each report within the Performance Reporting Schedule for 2024 to 2025, and (2) Identify whether there are any significant issues arising, from the composite performance overview presented in the attached Appendices, that the Panel considers requires additional scrutiny and a further report to be submitted from the respective Chief Officer to a future meeting of the Panel (following review through the Scrutiny Assessment and Prioritisation Process). Item 8 Page 101 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel will recall the report in February 2024 which contained the Strategic Performance Framework - Performance Reporting Schedule. This set out the reporting, review, and scrutiny arrangements for a range of performance information to be considered at each cycle of committee meetings for 2024 to 2025. 1.2 The Strategic Performance Framework comprises performance measurement at three levels (as per the diagram on the right). This aims to collectively provide an overview of performance to help understand the impact of council activities on improving services and outcomes for the people and communities of North Lanarkshire. The measures in this Framework allow for day-to-day activities, and progress towards achieving the long-term vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire, to be regularly monitored, reported, assessed, and scrutinised. 1.3 The supporting Performance Reporting Schedule forms a key part of the Scrutiny Work Programme that underpins the Best Value governance and accountability theme by ensuring the council can demonstrate the existence of robust arrangements for scrutiny and performance reporting. It also aims to fulfil the Audit and Scrutiny Panel’s remit as per the Scheme of Administration to: • Review and monitor the performance of the council in delivering upon its priorities, outcomes, programme of work and targets in the council plan, specifically performance in improving local services and outcomes and in demonstrating Best Value. • Review performance to assess whether intended policy outcomes have been achieved. 1.4 The Strategic Performance Framework comprises a set of non-negotiable standards which Chief Officers are required to apply in all performance reporting that supports the Framework. These standards aim to ensure that performance reporting is: • Aligned - to The Plan for North Lanarkshire to give stakeholders an insight into the performance of council activities both in the short-term and against the long-term ambitions. • Consistent - to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well-established process across each different audience over time. This aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. • Transparent - to allow stakeholders to understand what is being measured, what it means, what level of performance has actually been achieved, and what difference this means in reality for the people and communities of North Lanarkshire. • In context - to avoid the So What? question and provide a coherent narrative to ensure fully informed review, reporting, scrutiny, and decision-making processes. • Balanced - to ensure any text adds value and tells a balanced narrative. Performance reports should identify areas requiring improvement as well as areas The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 102 of 176
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of good performance. Narrative should include reasons for performance levels not in line with targets and the remedial action undertaken to address this. 1.5 The Performance Reporting Schedule shows there is a significant volume of performance information timetabled to be reported to various council committees in each cycle of 2024 to 2025. Cycle 4 2024 reports were reviewed by the Business Management Team in October 2024 to ensure the relevant assurances in terms of performance management arrangements that promote effective use of the council’s resources, performance information being scrutinised at a senior management level, and performance monitoring arrangements in place to effectively address areas of underperformance, identify the scope for improvement, and agree remedial action. 1.6 The volume of performance information in the cycle 4 2024 reports has been reviewed and summarised further in Appendices 1 and 2 attached. It should be noted that the performance information within Appendices 1 and 2 has already been reviewed by Service Committees during cycle 4 of 2024. The purpose of the information presented herewith is therefore to provide Audit and Scrutiny Panel members with a composite, but easily digestible, overview for governance and assurance purposes in line with the specific scrutiny and strategic oversight role of the Panel. 1.7 Should the Panel consider there are any significant issues arising from the composite performance overview which require additional scrutiny, these matters will be reviewed through the Scrutiny Assessment and Prioritisation Process (updated and approved by the Panel in September 2022 and further endorsed in September 2023), prior to being added to the Scrutiny Work Programme for a further report to be submitted from the respective Chief Officer to a future meeting of the Panel. 2. Quarterly performance assurance review 2.1 The Strategic Performance Framework - Performance Reporting Schedule sets out several aspects of performance reporting. As part of this, paragraphs 2.2 to 2.6 itemise the performance reports submitted to cycle 4 2024 committees in accordance with the timetable set out in the Schedule. (1) Chief Officer’s individual Performance Review reports at Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework. (2) Chief Officer service specific performance reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. (1) Chief Officer’s individual Performance Review reports at Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework. 2.2 The Strategic Performance Framework comprises a range of performance indicators from each Chief Officer’s portfolio and the latest results in this respect are aligned to the respective ambition statements in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The seven reports previously submitted to the relevant committee in cycle 4 of 2024 are listed in Table 1 below, along with the corresponding hyperlink for ease of access. Table 1 Report title Committee Date Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results - Housing link to report Housing Committee 6 November 2024 Page 103 of 176
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Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results - Place (housing developments) link to report Housing Committee 6 November 2024 Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results - Place (economic regeneration and growth) link to report Enterprise and Fair Work Committee 8 November 2024 Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results for Employability link to report Enterprise and Fair Work Committee 8 November 2024 Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results - Assets and Procurement link to report Finance and Resources Committee 20 November 2024 Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results for Finance link to report Finance and Resources Committee 20 November 2024 Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire performance update - Quarter 1 (April to June 2024) link to report (p103) IJB Performance, Finance and Audit Committee 23 October 2024 2.3 Each council report was produced in line with a standard template and (a) provides the reader with the current context within which the service is operating, (b) highlights areas of good performance that can be evidenced in the accompanying data, and (c) provides a summary of areas of performance requiring improvement along with narrative that gives an explanation for the level of performance achieved and summarises the remedial action implemented (or to be implemented) to bring performance back on track. 2.4 A short summary analysis for each of the reports is set out in Appendix 1 against the five non-negotiable standards. (2) Chief Officer service specific performance reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. 2.5 This aspect relates to service specific reporting which is required to meet business and/or statutory obligations. This is included in the Performance Reporting Schedule to ensure all the council’s performance reporting arrangements are captured in the one place and the Schedule reflects a one council approach to performance reporting. 2.6 The 11 reports previously submitted to the relevant committee in cycle 4 of 2024 are listed in Table 2 below, along with the corresponding hyperlink for ease of access. A short summary for each of these reports is set out in Appendix 2. While this summary is set out against the five non-negotiable standards it recognises there may also be statutory specific approaches or standards which require to be adhered to. Table 2 Report title Committee Date Scottish Housing Regulator: landlord report 2023/24 link to report Housing Committee 6 November 2024 Housing - annual performance report 2023/24 link to website Published on council’s website 24 October 2024 Page 104 of 176
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Homelessness and prevention - 2023/24 overview and update link to report Housing Committee 6 November 2024 Planning and place performance report 2023/24 link to report Planning Committee 5 December 2024 Education standards and quality - annual report 2023-24 link to report Education, Children, and Families Committee 19 November 2024 Chief Social Work Officer - annual report 2023/24 link to report Education, Children, and Families Committee 19 November 2024 Community payback - annual report 2023/24 link to report Education, Children, and Families Committee 19 November 2024 Social work - quality assurance report 2023/24 link to report Adult Care and Social Work Committee 12 November 2024 Revenue and Benefits update link to report Finance and Resources Committee 20 November 2024 Financial monitoring report - council summary (revenue) link to report Finance and Resources Committee 20 November 2024 Financial monitoring report - council summary (capital) link to report Finance and Resources Committee 20 November 2024 Next steps 2.7 Assurance reviews will continue to be undertaken and reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel on a quarterly basis in order to maintain the measures of success set out in paragraph 3.1. 2.8 The content of the quarterly assurance review reports will be informed by the annual Performance Reporting Schedule for which an updated in respect of 2025/26 reporting is scheduled to be presented to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel meeting in cycle 2 of 2025. 2.9 Reports submitted to the respective committee (in line with the Schedule) will continue to be kept under review by the senior management team of the council so that adherence to the timetable is maintained. This will also seek to ensure the relevant assurances in terms of the efficient and effective operation of the council and that the ongoing delivery of the long-term ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire is underpinned with good corporate governance. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Measures of success include: • Regular oversight and monitoring of performance across the organisation to gain assurances in terms of governance and accountability. • Regular review and challenge processes to scrutinise the performance of the council to ensure effective use of resources and that resources are directed in accordance with agreed policy and according to priorities, while ensuring sound decision making and clear accountability for the use of resources in achieving improved outcomes for service users and the local community. Page 105 of 176
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• Performance monitoring, management, and reporting arrangements that support the demonstration of improved performance in local services and outcomes, and the delivery of Best Value. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix (1) Chief Officer’s individual Performance Review reports at Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework. Appendix (2) Chief Officer service specific performance reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business and Digital) 5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Page 106 of 176
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The Local Government Act 1992 established the role of the Statutory Direction to direct councils in terms of the “publication of information as to standards of performance”. The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 introduced the duty of Best Value; this requires that councils “make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance”. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Implementation of the Schedule, which aims to facilitate effective review and scrutiny processes, contributes to the mitigation of the risk on the Corporate Risk Register for governance, leadership, and decision making. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage Page 107 of 176
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compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 108 of 176
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Appendix 1 (1) Chief Officer’s individual Performance Review reports at Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework. Report title Summary Strategic Performance Framework - latest performance results for Housing November 2024 Housing have 22 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework covering all aspects of the council’s social landlord role. This covers both housing management and housing property functions. As set out in the council’s Local Housing Strategy 2021-26 (approved in November 2021), there are an estimated 157,625 dwellings in North Lanarkshire, with home ownership remaining the predominant tenure and 63% of households owning their own home. The council is the largest local authority landlord in Scotland and almost a third (29.5%) of households rent from a social landlord (23.3% from the council and 6.2% from other social landlords). The Local Housing Strategy 2021-26 recognises that an affordable, warm, and accessible home (that meets individual needs over the course of a person’s life) is the foundation for people to achieve their full potential in all aspects of life, including educational attainment and employment. Housing also plays a crucial role in addressing homelessness, tackling poverty, mitigating the impacts of climate change, improving health and wellbeing, and promoting inclusive growth. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. Consistent The pre-defined template was used to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: In context • Financial pressures continue to be experienced by tenants due to the rise in the cost of living and is a priority for the service. The rent assistance fund, introduced in February 2023, continues to help tenants who may be on low incomes and others who may be on universal credit. It strives to ensure tenancy levels are maintained despite the challenges faced by cost of living increases. Dedicated Income Maximisers help support tenants and identify any additional financial assistance they might be entitled to. Last year the team secured over £18 million in additional income for tenants. Page 109 of 176
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• In 2024, several Scottish local authorities declared a housing emergency in their area in response to the pressures through increased levels of homelessness, rising property prices, and high levels of temporary accommodation use. In May 2024 the Scottish Government declared a housing emergency formally recognising the housing problem. While North Lanarkshire has seen an increase in homeless presentations, the service continues to be managed, and the council has not breached The Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014 and does not use the B&B type accommodation that many local authority landlords rely on to provide temporary accommodation to those experiencing homelessness with a need for temporary accommodation. • Despite the current housing climate, the council’s overall performance and tenant satisfaction levels (reported to committee in November 2023) remain high and compare well with the Scottish local authority average and the Scottish national average which includes performance from local authorities and Registered Social Landlords. Balanced Performance highlights • Overall satisfaction levels in the 2023 survey increased to 86.6%, which is slightly higher than the Scottish national average of 86.5% and significantly higher than the local authority average of 80.3%. • Rent arrears continues to reduce, with a further drop to 7% (from 7.3% and 7.6% in the previous two years). This is below the 9% target and well below the 9.5% Scottish local authority average and only slightly higher than the Scottish national average. • Tenancy sustainment levels increased to 91.5% (from 91% and 90.0% in the previous two years). This is slightly higher than the Scottish national average of 91.2% and the Scottish local authoirity average of 91.1% • The proportion of homes meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard was 84.8% in 2023/24 - an increase from 80.4% and 70% in the previous two years. This compares favourably to the Scottish national average of 84.4% and local authority average of 77.8%. Performance in this area of service was previously reviewed by the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in May 2024 (link to report). • The time taken to complete emergency repairs was 2.8 hours on average compared to a Scottish average of 4.0 hours and the Scottish local authority average of 4.3 hours. Year to date as of August 2024 there has been a further improvement on this timescale to 2.4 hours. • The time taken to complete non-emergency repairs was 6.8 days and compared favourably to the Scottish national average of 9 days and the Scottish local authority average of 10 days. Areas of performance requiring improvement • 95.9% of cases of anti-social behaviour reported in the last year were resolved at the year end and within the targets agreed locally. This compares favourably with the Scottish national average of 94.3% and the Scottish local authority average of 90.9%. The remaining 4.1% of cases were carried forward to the following year and resolved within locally agreed targets in 2024/25. Due to the nature and calculation method of this statutory indicator there will always be several cases outstanding at year end, and a request has been made to the Scottish Housing Regulator to change the indicator to include the cases carried forward into the next year within the calculation, thus providing a more meaningful measure - a subsequent consultation exercise is underway led by the Scottish Housing Regulator. • The average days to re-let homes increased by 2.7 days to 35 days during the year, mainly due to the supply and workforce shortages being experienced by the contractors and multiple refusal from prospective tenants. However, the service performs well when compared to the Scottish average of 56.7 days and the Scottish local authority average of 72.6 days. Year to date as of August 2024 the council’s performance has improved at 31.9 days. A further end to end service review was carried out in August 2024 and a number of recommendations are being taken forward including the roll out of training for staff. In addition, the housing and repairs teams are working together and liaising closely with the contractor to improve these timescales. For 2023/24, the council was the 3rd top performing local authority in Scotland for void turnaround timescales and in addition the void standard (including decoration) is higher than most other councils. Report title Summary SPF - Latest performance results for Place (housing developments) Within Place (housing developments) there are 6 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework that update on performance in relation to housing developments. These measures complement the annual new supply programme progress report that provides an update on delivery and performance of the new supply programme to the Housing Committee each year. Page 110 of 176
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November 2024 In May 2018, proposals were approved at committee to increase the new supply programme to deliver 5,000 new homes by 2035. This was strategically linked to the potential re-provisioning of all tower blocks (4,600 flats) over 20 years. It was estimated that around 2,300 new homes (50%) would be built on the sites of the tower blocks following their demolition. The target also included an assumption that the council would purchase around 550 homes through an expanded empty homes purchase scheme, which had enabled the council to buy back a number of former council houses. In September 2019, proposals were approved at committee to pilot a Development Pathfinder scheme to enable the council to acquire completed housing units from developers off the shelf, thus extending the current off the shelf approach. In November 2020, proposals were approved at committee to extend the scheme to cover all of North Lanarkshire. In November 2023, the Housing Committee received an update on the progress with delivery of the programme and approved targets for delivery of the programme up to 2035. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. Consistent The pre-defined template was used in part to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: In context • The affordable housing supply programme is delivered by the council and Registered Local Landlords (RSLs) and supports delivery of the council’s Local Housing Strategy 2021-26, with projects identified and approved through the Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) 2025/26 - 2029/30 which is approved annually by the Housing Committee. • The new supply programme is key to delivering transformation change as set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire by providing affordable, modern homes while realising the vision to regenerate town centres, retaining buildings of historical importance, and promoting town centre living. Cost projections to redevelop historical buildings remain significantly higher than standard new build due to greater complexity and risks associated with conversion of existing buildings. Balanced Performance highlights set out within the new supply update report: • In 2023/24, the council’s new supply programme achieved the 2nd highest completion figures for affordable housing across the national programme, resulting in its strongest performance since inception in 2010. 335 new build homes were delivered against a target of 334, spread across eleven sites within the authority. As at October 2024, the programme has delivered 1,526 new build homes, creating transformational change within communities and having a positive impact on the lives of local tenants. Page 111 of 176
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• Several recently completed sites have been nominated for national awards (best healthy homes and best regeneration project) and the new supply team recently won Best Development Team (Urban) at the national Inside Housing awards. • The new build programme also recorded its highest level of expenditure during 2023/24 with £55.529m invested. • The Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget remains a key resource with £12.52m of grant drawn down during 2023/24. • In 2023/24, the Open Market Purchase Scheme acquired 126 homes against an initial target of 100. The council received 463 applications in the period, highlighting the popularity of the scheme. In addition to responding to online applications, the team review the open market via property websites for properties in areas with the highest levels of housing need, however this approach had had limited success as many properties are sold above market value. As at October 2024, 793 homes have now been purchased through the Empty Homes and Open Market Purchase Scheme. The Open Market Purchase Scheme has been proven as an effective housing delivery mechanism by providing much needed accommodation to meet local need, while representing value for money. Areas of performance requiring improvement set out within the new supply update report: • Despite the new supply programme’s recent success, there are several challenges that are faced at a national level that may impact future performance in terms of increasing housing supply. Availability of Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) grant funding is a key risk with the 2024/25 budget reducing by £8.03m for North Lanarkshire. The overall budged shared by all 32 local authorities has decreased by £196.1m (26%) when compared to the previous year’s allocation. Officers continue to work with the Scottish Government’s More Homes team to maximise available funding for North Lanarkshire and make best use of available resources. • The council have also responded on the Scottish Government’s proposed changes to the energy and environmental standards consultation, which seeks feedback on the introduction of a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard for new build housing. The key aim is to reduce energy demands through measures such as improved fabric insulation and zero direct emission heating systems. However, it is clear that achieving higher standards of energy efficiency will ultimately increase costs of new build developments. • The latest construction forecast data from the Building Cost Information Service indicates that building costs will increase by 15% over the next five years, while tender prices will rise by 19% over the same period. Increased costs associated with the delivery of the new supply programme will continue to be monitored and factored into the HRA 30-year projections which incorporates grant funding assumptions. Scottish Water’s Surface Water Connection Policy continues to restrict delivery of key housing developments. • In line with national policies, the new supply programme seeks to develop brownfield sites within council ownership. These sites are typically problematic to develop due to a variety of factors such as contamination, mine workings and made ground. The cost to remediate unfavourable ground conditions can make smaller developments financially unviable due to an inability to achieve economies of scale that larger developments can provide. Report title Summary SPF - Latest performance results for Place (economic regeneration and growth) November 2024 Within Place (economic regeneration and growth) there are 10 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework that focus on assessing efficiency and effectiveness in terms of local regeneration, service delivery, and case management on a day to day basis. A suite of statutory indicators also enables performance to be assessed and compared nationally. In this respect Strategic Performance Framework reports in relation to Place are also considered by the Planning Committee and the Housing Committee in line with the terms of reference set out in the Scheme of Administration. Following the structural realignments in the One Place One Plan - Governance update report approved at Policy and Strategy Committee in December 2022, a single Place based service was created that aims to strengthen place-based operations across North Lanarkshire and focus on creating local conditions that support inclusive and green growth and enable people to thrive. This realignment brought together a range of place related services in order to further focus efforts on the physical and economic regeneration of North Lanarkshire and create new opportunities that benefit all residents and help reduce poverty and disadvantage. Activity within the Place service therefore comprises the following - Planning, Enterprise, Growth, New Supply, City Deal and Enterprise Projects, and Infrastructure and Transportation. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Page 112 of 176
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Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. 2. Refocus our town centres and communities to be multi-functional connected places which maximise social, economic, and environmental opportunities. 3. Maximise the use of our marketable land and assets through improved development in business and industrial infrastructure. 4. Market and promote North Lanarkshire as the place to live, learn, work, invest, and visit. 5. Grow and improve the sustainability and diversity of North Lanarkshire’s economy. Consistent The pre-defined template was used to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: Benchmarking indicators: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/benchmarking/explore-the-data • Land allocated for employment - immediately available employment land as a % of total land allocated for employment purposes in the local development plan • Economic growth - Gross Value Added (GVA) per head of population at current basic prices • Economic development and tourism - investment per 1,000 population • Town vacancy rates - % of vacant commercial units as % of total units for the local authority town centre • Businesses - number of registered private sector businesses in North Lanarkshire per 10,000 population • Business gateway - number of start-ups per 10,000 population • Business survival - % of newly born enterprises surviving for at least 5 years Regeneration indicators: • Vacant and derelict land - number of hectares of land improved for business and industrial use • Jobs - estimated number of gross construction jobs created In context • In the last six months in 2024, there have been further signs of economic recovery following the UKs technical recession in late 2023 with signs of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, inflation falling, and a slight drop in interest rates. However, there remains critical labour market challenges particularly around economic inactivity rates. • Despite ongoing pressures, North Lanarkshire’s economy is continuing to grow and attract new inward investment and job growth. Productivity as measured by Gross Value Added (GVA) per job in North Lanarkshire remains greater at £53,000 than the Glasgow City Region (£49,700) and Scottish (£52,600) averages. The gross weekly pay for North Lanarkshire’s residents remains higher than the average earnings for both Scotland and the UK. • The council, through the implementation of its Economic Regeneration Delivery Plan (ERDP) and range of business support and employability activities continues to proactively support sustainable growth to help improve economic outcomes for its residents. This has been supplemented in 2024 with the in- sourcing of the Lanarkshire Business Gateway Service in March 2024. Balanced Performance highlights: • The Economic Regeneration Delivery Plan (ERDP) seeks to co-ordinate and maximise the economic impact of the council’s place-based investment in housing, town centres, infrastructure, and industrial developments. In addition to the direct benefits that these programmes bring to local communities and the wider economy, the council’s investment also provides construction employment opportunities. As reported to committee in August 2024 (link to report), at the end of 2023/24 there were 2,539 construction jobs which had been created as a result of ERDP related investment across North Lanarkshire by the council and the council's arm’s length external organisations. Areas of performance requiring improvement: • Town vacancy rates remain higher than the national and family group averages. However, this is a short-term measure that can only be impacted upon by long-term activities and the council already has in place a large-scale transformation programme for North Lanarkshire’s town centres, including, for example, ambitious plans to redevelop Cumbernauld town centre. Page 113 of 176
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• The most recent update in this respect was reported through the ERDP performance framework annual progress report in August 2024 (link to report). The ERDP aims to create vibrant mixed-use towns where people live, work, shop, eat, and access local services. As such, recognition needs to be given to the fact that vacancies may temporarily increase where vacant possession of redundant retail centres or land assembly is required to enable transformative change. • There has been a downward trend in business survival rates reflecting the difficult economic conditions over this period. This trend is being monitored and the new Business Gateway service includes additional follow-ups with start-ups to assist in addressing this trend. In relation to the number of businesses per 10,000 population, the 2023 North Lanarkshire figure of 244 reflects the pre-pandemic level of 243 whereas the corresponding Scottish average fell from 330 to 316 over the same time period. • Despite the challenging economic climate, the council and Business Gateway supported 423 new businesses in 2023/24, which was below the target of 500. Despite being below target, this reflected 11 months as opposed to 12 months of delivery due to the in-sourcing of the contract and some staffing shortages experienced in mid-2023 by the former contractor. In terms of number of new businesses supported per 10,000 population, North Lanarkshire is on par with the national average and family group average. Report title Summary SPF - Latest performance results for Employability November 2024 Within the service area of Employability there are 10 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework. Driving up the employment rate in North Lanarkshire is a cornerstone of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and ensuring employability support is available to all is recognised as a major contributor to both local economic development and tackling poverty. Supporting unemployed and underemployed residents into fair and sustained employment and supporting all young people into a positive destination remain priorities for the council. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. • Support all children and young people to realise their full potential. Ambition statement: 5. Grow and improve the sustainability and diversity of North Lanarkshire’s economy. 6. Raise attainment and skills for learning, life, and work to enhance opportunities and choices. Consistent The pre-defined template was used to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: Benchmarking indicators: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/benchmarking/explore-the- data • Positive destinations - % pupils leaving school and entering a positive destination. • Participation rate - % 16-19 year olds engaged with an organisation for the purposes of learning, training, or work. • Employment support - % unemployed people assisted into work from council operated / funded employability programmes. • Living wage - % of people (age 18+) in employment earning less than the real living wage. • Out of work benefits - claimant count as a % of working age population. • Out of work benefits - claimant count as a % of the population aged 16 to 24. In context • The North Lanarkshire labour market mirrors to a great extent the wider UK labour market. In the UK the employment rate is below that of pre pandemic Page 114 of 176
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levels and economic inactivity is at its highest in nearly a decade and appears to be driven by an increase in the number of men out of work, studying, or with long-term health conditions, and an increase in women out of work for caring reasons. This is happening despite unfilled jobs in the economy and continued strong growth in earnings. On the former, vacancies appear to be levelling off but remain well above pre-pandemic levels in almost all parts of the economy (the main exceptions being retail, transport / storage, and the arts / entertainment). On the latter, if anything, earnings growth has picked up again since the turn of the year, particularly driven by many lower-paying industries where rises in the National Living Wage will likely lead to continued strong growth. • For those in work, there are signs that more people are able to get the hours and the form of employment that they want, with the number of people either overemployed or underemployed (i.e. working more or fewer hours than desired) is at its lowest in nearly twenty years. The number in temporary work, because they can’t find a permanent job, is lowest since at least the early 1990s. There are fewer in part-time work because they can’t find a full-time job since the financial crisis in 2008. While all of this is welcome news, it is of no benefit to the growing numbers who are outside the job market entirely. • The latest UK figures suggest an increasing polarisation between those in work who are seeing decent wage growth and some improvements in working hours and security, and those out of work who are facing the increased cost of living on benefits. • The characteristics of the current labour market in North Lanarkshire show a range of positive developments including low unemployment at pre pandemic levels of 3.6% in August 2024, increases in average pay, and sustained levels of participation in the labour market for young people. The key challenge that has emerged in the wake of the pandemic is the increase in economic inactivity, particularly in the numbers classified as long-term sick or those caring for others. The growth in economic inactivity is mainly due to ill health and in North Lanarkshire coincides with less economic activity in women aged 16-64 and reflects post pandemic trends nationally. • The polarisation around those in work and those out of the labour market reinforces the council strategy of working in a voluntary and supportive manner with residents who are unemployed or economically inactive and funding employability programmes which deliver support to address barriers around health, wellbeing, and money issues. These are provided alongside real vocational support in terms of training and work experience to match residents with the job that suits them and their circumstances and includes area-based community engagement projects delivered through Routes to Work Ltd and the Working for Families programme, which offers support to parents on low incomes with a long-term plan to get back to work. Cross service work which includes adult learning, housing, and tackling poverty and other partners working together to support this group is now the norm for employability programmes. • In terms of national policy, the Scottish Government’s own programme (Fair Start Scotland) ended in March 2024 with referrals now coming to council funded programmes. There has been no significant increase in referrals to council programmes. The council, in conjunction with the Local Employability Partnership, funds a range of programmes by matching its core funding with Scottish and UK Government funds which offer broad support as well as specialist support for thematic groups through Routes to Work Ltd and a range of third sector partners. Balanced Performance highlights: • Council funded employability programmes are benchmarked against others in Scotland as part of the Local Government Benchmarking Framework and in the last snapshot were third of all 32 local authorities in terms of supporting residents into employment. Alongside this, in 2024/25, there has been an expansion and increase in reach of the Working for Families programme which aims to attract low income parents and alongside that a sustained focus on engaging economically inactive residents who want to work. • Work with NHS Lanarkshire to secure posts for unemployed or economically inactive residents has developed again in 2024 with 20 parents entering six month work placements with the NHS alongside the funding of Clinical Support Worker courses with NHS Lanarkshire and New College Lanarkshire which offer guaranteed employment contracts for those who complete the course and work experience placement. This partnership between council funded employment programmes and NHS Lanarkshire is providing a source of sustained and fair employment for residents into secure employment. • In terms of work to close the disability employment gap in North Lanarkshire, the Supported Employment team continue to work with over 200 disabled people every year using their person-centred model of support, with consistently higher rates of employment sustainability at six months after job entry than mainstream programmes. • Alongside work with adults, the team continues the work piloted using the Young Person’s Guarantee in supporting the transition from school (for young people who have additional support needs or who are care experienced) into long-term work placements leading to employment in a range of sectors. Areas of performance requiring improvement: • There are no areas of performance requiring improvement due to their RAG status, but the number of economically inactive residents (particularly those with long-term health conditions) remains high and programmes are being adapted to support this group towards employment or training. Alongside this, the Page 115 of 176
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participation of young people aged 16-24 in the labour market remains a priority and in recent years council funded employability service (including those delivered by Routes to Work Ltd) have been increasingly integrated and aligned with post school destinations and pathway programmes for young people. Report title Summary SPF - Latest performance results for Assets and Procurement November 2024 Assets and Procurement has 21 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework covering a range of service areas that support the delivery of the place based ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire, such as the new supply programme, economic regeneration delivery plan, planning and place making, city deal, the early learning and childcare expansion programme, additional support needs provision, and the leadership and operating model for the hubs. This also includes the strategic commercial partnership for the enterprise project, asset rationalisation and development, the corporate asset management plan, the hub development and delivery programme, climate change - committing to net zero, and improving procurement capability and capacity. Aligned Priority: • Improve North Lanarkshire’s resource base. Ambition statement: 21. Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions. 22. Facilitate a North Lanarkshire wide approach to asset rationalisation, including with communities and partners. Consistent The pre-defined template was used to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: Inspection indicators: • Procurement assessment score - procurement and commercial improvement programme (PCIP). Page 116 of 176
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In context • Assets and Procurement continue to support management teams as they continue to adopt more agile and hybrid modes of operation. While continuing to deliver at pace, the hub programme continues to experience significant cost increases linked to global and national influences and, given the size and scale of spend linked to this programme, any increases are significant. • The council has a largely decentralised procurement model, in which the corporate procurement team provide the strategic governance through General Contract Standing Orders and provide professional expertise through officers that lead or support regulated procurement activity. • As part of the council’s Programme of Work governance structure, Assets and Procurement are heavily involved in the Transforming Places, Invest in North Lanarkshire, Sustainable Futures, Digital North Lanarkshire, and One Service Programme of Work priorities. Balanced Performance highlights: • Within the area of corporate procurement, the vast majority of indicators are positive, with some notable areas being continuing 100% performance in areas such as ensuring those contracts which exceed £1m include community benefit requirements and ensuring all qualifying contracts are awarded to those who meet fair work criteria. In addition, the service is exceeding targets around the percentage of contracts that are awarded to SMEs (small medium enterprises) and an assessment in 2024 in terms of the national PCIP (procurement and commercial improvement programme) was positive. • The £22m state-of-the-art Chryston Community Hub - home to Chryston Primary School and the new Community Health Clinic for NHS Lanarkshire - officially opened. Approval has also been secured for an extension to Chryston High School and the development of a new St Stephen’s Community in Sikeside to address capacity issues in the existing school estate and to enhance community facilities in the area and, the development of a new Gartcosh Community Hub to address capacity issues in the existing school estate, all three developments are expected to go to site in early 2025 . Both the Orbiston Community Hub and St Kevins Community Hub are now on site, with both projects reporting that construction works are currently on programme. Areas of performance requiring improvement: • Within procurement one measure has fallen short of the expected target range, which relates to the performance in relation to the award of qualifying contracts to local organisations within the reporting period. It should be noted that cyclical renewals will result in fluctuation in year-on-year percentages across measures when multi-year contracts are awarded due to the nature of the framework agreement award process. Across all of the reporting periods, performance ranges from 40% to 72% as a result of this. The service is currently reviewing the data around this area to establish whether the cyclical nature of contract awards requires to be reflected in the measure. • The two indicators linked to occupancy levels in schools continue to be lower than the agreed target. As detailed within previous reports, while the service continues to look for other uses for under occupied schools, it is preferred that any given school is under capacity than over capacity. In line with the Strategic Asset Review and Investment Strategy (SARIS) considered by committee in September 2024 (link to report), where opportunity exists, alternative usage may be looked at in respect of spare capacity. • Significant work continues to be progressed for office accommodation in order that services can operate in an agile and digital manner to ensure that the council’s office estate is adaptable in this regard. • Within commercial properties ongoing changes in the external economic environment is affecting the mix of properties being let, while income levels continue to remain high, and the financial performance of North Lanarkshire Properties remains high. Report title Summary SPF - Latest performance results for Finance November 2024 Finance has 27 indicators in the Strategic Performance Framework that are designed to report compliance with financial regulations and good governance, demonstrate Best Value in the use of resources through financial management and financial sustainability, assess efficiency in service processing times, and ensure effective administration of a wide range of national welfare grants and payments that are designed to help households in need and provide a safety net for local people on low incomes. Aligned Priority: • Improve North Lanarkshire’s resource base. Ambition statement: 21. Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions. Page 117 of 176
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Consistent The pre-defined template was used to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well-established process across each different audience over time. The use of this template aims to help build credibility, reliability, and a common understanding. Transparent RAG indicators: Volume measures: • Scottish Welfare Fund community care grant - number of applications received. • Scottish Welfare Fund community care grant - council spend. • Scottish Welfare Fund crisis grant - number of applications received. • Scottish Welfare Fund crisis grant - council spend. • Discretionary housing payments - number of applications. • Discretionary housing payments - value of awards. Benchmarking indicators: • Scottish Welfare Fund crisis grants - % decisions made within one day. • Scottish Welfare Fund community care grants - % decisions made within 15 days. • Scottish Welfare Fund - % of budget spent. • Discretionary housing payments - % of funding spent. • Reserves - total useable reserves as a % of council annual budgeted net revenue. • Reserves - uncommitted General Fund Balance as a % of council annual budgeted net revenue. • Affordability - ratio of Financing Costs to Net Revenue Stream. • Affordability - ratio of Financing Costs to Net Revenue Stream, Housing Revenue Account. • Annual budget - actual outturn as a percentage of budgeted expenditure. In context • The service continues to deal with demand pressures and additional workloads as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, however performance continues to be strong across a number of areas including council tax collection. There are, however, areas where performance is lower than expected, including with creditors and benefit processing times. The service has action plans in place to improve performance in these areas. • The Finance restructure implemented from April 2022 aimed to support greater resilience and effectiveness which has helped the service improve performance across a number of areas. However, during 2024/25 the service continues to experience increasing demand for services, such as Scottish Welfare Fund and other benefit applications, as the cost of living crisis continues. Balanced Performance highlights: • The service continues to demonstrate positive trends across cost measures including improvements in the cost of the closure of the annual accounts and the cost of collecting council tax and cost per case for housing benefits and council tax. These improvements are largely as a result of the service’s ability to absorb additional demand. • The collection rate for non-domestic rates improved for the third year in a row following a significant dip in performance linked to the economic impact of the pandemic. Page 118 of 176
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• The council has witnessed an increase in the proportion of residents choosing to pay their council tax by direct debit which is an important measure as the council looks to increase collection and reduce the costs of administering council tax. • While the number of invoices processed within 30 days is still performing below target, significant work by the service during 2023/24 both with internal efficiency and improving the performance of other services has seen the measure improve from 76.0% in 2022/23 to 92.0% in 2023/24. Areas of performance requiring improvement: • The service continues to progress initiatives to improve council tax collection which includes incentivising payment by direct debit, improving uptake of the online portal and, alongside the Sheriff Officers and colleagues in Legal and Democratic, reviewing long-standing council tax debts. • During 2023/24 there were dips in performance within the team in managing the administration of benefit and Scottish Welfare Fund applications within the timescales included in the performance measures. The service has worked during 2023/24 and 2024/25 to build additional resilience into the teams and to increase the pace of automating tasks to ensure that the volume and complexity of claims can continue to be managed within the resources available to the service. Report title Summary Health and Social Care performance update - Quarter 1 (April - June 2024) October 2024 The Chief Officer (Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire) has joint quarterly performance review meetings with the Chief Executives of NHS Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council. These meetings are supported by a Chief Executive’s Performance Framework which comprises a range of performance measures taken from across both the health and social work systems, including relevant targets and trajectories for the measures presented. In each quarter there are areas for improvement identified within the performance framework; these are identified using a RAG rating and those measures that are flagged as Red or Amber are subject to improvement or corrective action. The performance review meetings are used as a means for jointly agreeing these actions. Aligned Priority: • Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Ambition statement: 12. Ensure our residents are able to achieve, maintain and recover their independence through appropriate supports at home and in their communities. 13. Improve preventative approaches including self-management and giving people information and choice over supports and services. 14. Ensure the highest standards of public protection. Consistent A pre-defined Health and Social Care Partnership template is in place to ensure a standard, easily recognisable, and well established process for quarterly reporting on areas for improvement. Transparent Based on a traffic-light system there are areas for improvement identified within the performance framework each quarter for those areas that are flagged as Red or Amber. The areas for improvement identified are progressed as a matter of priority, and progress updates are reported at future meetings of the Integrated Joint Board and/or the Integration Joint Board Performance, Finance, and Audit Committee as appropriate. In context • The joint performance review meetings (involving the Chief Officer for the Health and Social Care Partnership, the Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire, and the Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Council) are used as a means for jointly agreeing corrective actions within the current operating environment. • The report describes the progress that has been made in pursuit of the national health and wellbeing outcomes and recognises that this progress has been made against a challenging position of recovery and remobilisation of services following the pandemic, which is reflected in the performance in some of the metrics presented in the report. Balanced The purpose of the report is to provide an update on the areas for improvement what have been identified as part of the quarterly performance review. The quarter 1 report (for April - June 2024) sets out corresponding narrative and corrective actions agreed for the areas identified for improvement; the narrative and corrective actions are summarised below. Page 119 of 176
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• Alcohol brief interventions - Work is underway to support the quarterly performance review for this intervention, as due to an unforeseen issue with access to the database it is not possible to confirm the current position. Revised alcohol brief interventions trajectories for North Lanarkshire were recently subject of an approval process and those revised targets have been updated and appear on the reported scorecard. The trajectories, which have been reset according to the latest population and activity data available, are an increase on the previous target but also provide locality level targets, offering autonomy for operational managers to monitor and manage their local targets. • Cervical screening - Latest figures on the uptake for cervical screening shows that two practices in the North have achieved over the 80% uptake target. Improving and maintaining cervical screen uptake is complex and improvement actions have included the implementation of additional Scottish Inequalities Funds (SIF) monies which has been offered to GP practices in lower SIMD areas where there is low cervical screening uptake - the impact of this will be evaluated and reported in future performance reviews. In terms of communications, a number of initiatives are in place to improve communication between the Health and Social Care Partnership and GPs to address low uptake for cervical screening. Cervical screening presentations with the latest data are now regular agenda items at meetings with Clinical Leads, Health and Social Care Managers, Service Managers, Social Work Managers, Senior Nurses, Practice Managers, Practice Nurses Clinics, and Community Boards. In terms of community consultation and engagement work, a training resource that captures the voices of women is being developed following engagement with women’s groups to understand why women don’t want to attend and to listen to how the process can be easier and better. A video detailing a local South Asian woman’s lived experience of surviving cervical cancer is also being developed to be used as a resource for communities and professionals. • Children immunisations - The measure for 5-year-olds remains in decline. To address this, action is being conducted at the level of the individual and a deep dive is being conducted of every child’s journey, and for non-attenders a number of factors are being considered to improve performance. This means that at every stage of the pathway contact is made and targeted contact is made pre-immunisation to confirm attendance; if non-attendance is likely, alternative options and appointments are offered. For non-attendance, colleagues are making contact and engaging with the family to understand if there are barriers, such as boundary/travel, or vulnerabilities that are preventing their attendance. Where a child has a non-complete immunisation record, this information is shared promptly with their GP. This information sharing has prompted further consideration of the wider public health implications of immunisation. • 6-8 week reviews - These appointments are an important opportunity for parents to speak with a health visitor to discuss their baby's development and progress, as well as their own health and wellbeing. It has recently been established that this performance metric has been incorrectly reported in the recent past (post-pandemic), as reviews have been counted as complete if either the health visitor or GP return has been received. The change that is now being implemented will mean that reviews will only be counted if both the health visitor and GP parts are complete, restoring the metric to pre-pandemic definition. The expectation is that the percentage of completed reviews will decrease due to this, however the extent of the impact is presently unknown. Work continues to establish universal home visit pathway as a high priority due to areas of need and risk. This sits alongside wider engagement nationally to support a national digital recording solution. At a locality level the service continues to implement practical actions to address the immediate concerns around missed reviews, and incomplete or missing records. Specific testing is being undertaken in Airdrie on improvements to the process and it is hoped that this can be scaled and spread, providing a consistent approach across each locality. • Reablement and rehabilitation - The aim of rehabilitation and reablement services is to ensure that residents are able to achieve, maintain, and recover their independence through appropriate supports at home and in their communities, including preventative approaches, self-management and choice over supports and services. In addition, the shift in the balance of care toward delivering services by Self-directed Support, allowing people to have greater choice and control in their own lives, requires that further consideration has been given to the performance indicators that best represent how the delivery of services is changing. Since the creation of home assessment teams (HAT) and at the end of Q1, there had been a total of 2,119 referrals accepted this way. Over a rolling twelve months, Wishaw has accepted 25% of the total referrals, with Airdrie, Motherwell and Cumbernauld between 18% and 22% of the total. The proportion for Bellshill and Coatbridge is increasing as the teams develop. As the dataset develops, it is likely that further trends will emerge in the referral data. The majority of referrals received related to females (60%), with the largest number in the age range 75-84 years old (40%). Under 65s only accounted for 9% of referrals and no referral referring to anyone under 18 was recorded. The overwhelming majority of referrals to HAT have input services, i.e. a service is already in place at the time of the referral; 62% had one or two services and 35% had three or more services; overall the largest input service remains home support. 13% of people were re-admitted to hospital at the end of the HAT process. At the end of the HAT process, for those noted as reaching this stage, recordings show that 63% required no further service, with 37% noted as having at least one service. Significant effort continues to be applied to reduce discharge delays and a more co-ordinated approach to the work of the flow boards and concise monthly planning should see sustained impacts on overall system performance. A newly implemented Optimal Discharge Planning Target Operating Model (TOM) is now in place, designed to improve patient discharge experiences across all hospitals in Lanarkshire and ensure that patients have a smooth and well-coordinated transition from Page 120 of 176
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hospital to home or other care settings, avoiding unnecessary delays and improving overall outcomes. • Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) - Performance saw a slight decrease again during Q1 of 2024/25 with an increasing number of Children and Young People (CYP) waiting for first assessment, however at the end of 2023/24, over 200 waits had been removed from the waiting list, with those children having received a Choice appointment. As the service now has one full year of Choice and Partnership Approach (CAPA) and Choice appointment data, updated trajectories and seasonal trends have been produced and a range of improvements are underway, including encouraging more flexibility in capacity to consideration of patterns of appointments that children and young people would most likely attend, and regular meetings to ensure that local CAPA runs do not progress without examination of job plans and approval from senior CAMHS management colleagues. Psychiatric Consultant capacity continues to be challenged; however, the vacancy rate has reduced to 31%. A number of other actions are in place within CAMHS at various stages of progress with the aim of reducing the waiting list and addressing performance - this includes establishment of a psychiatry waiting list clinic to address consultant psychiatry capacity, reviewing patients with severe and/or complex presentations, introduction of CAPA service model with improved data and information allowing for demand / capacity modelling, introduction of group therapy in several specialist areas, and additional support from the wider CAMHS workforce, as well as a centralised approach to provide additional scheduled and unscheduled support to locality teams. • Adult mental health - For adult mental health services, there has been a slight decline in the performance, however it remains within the expected range against modelling undertaken. The service continues to refresh and monitor the modelling; however the position remains that without any significant change in staffing, performance levels will remain unchanged. Recent changes to Neuropsychology service criteria, as well as the projected change in waiting times guidance regarding the management of Digital Self Help, will further impact on reported performance. Since April 2021, when the service started reporting these referral types, self-referrals have made up an average of approximately 214 referrals per month, equating to an average of about 17.5% of the total referrals each month. In terms of cases starting treatment, the average number of self-referrals reported is a similar number, equating to an average of approximately 25% of all cases starting treatment each month. There remains focussed effort to reduce the longest waits, with those patients waiting greater than 18 weeks for treatment being targeted, however such work impacts the ability to achieve the performance target, which is likely to continue to fluctuate until the desired reduction in the number of patients waiting longest and over 18 weeks is achieved. The service continues to manage a staff shortage in consultant capacity in terms of older adults liaisons. An options appraisal has been developed detailing options for a programme for change for General Adult Psychiatry services. The options appraisal, which is yet to be finalised, offers solutions that can be adapted given that the preferred option requires integrated, cross-disciplinary, tests of change. To support the implementation of the future medical model and mitigate the staffing pressures across other key disciplines, it has been agreed that a full adult mental health model review is required to develop a sustainable workforce and maintain service delivery. To support the reform and transformation methodology, this work will align itself to both the National and Local Delivery Plan for the Refreshed Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. • Dietetics - There has been a reversal of the improvements seen in Q3 and Q4; although the overall long-term trend is for improving performance, further analysis are required to understand the variation being experienced. There is a likely cause / effect relationship with wider system factors, however the service continues to be restricted by an approximate 20% reduction in available workforce, which is due to both long-term sickness and sustained vacancies. Although recruitment activity continues, as with many services Dietetics has difficulty in attracting suitably skilled and experienced staff due to lack of available workforce nationwide. The General Manager for Adult Services has commissioned modelling and process mapping for the service with the aim of modernising the approach and service model for Dietetics. • Complaints - Within NHS Lanarkshire, additional resource has been diverted to support the transition from Datix to InPhase. To supplement this, additional hours have been authorised for complaints staff to deal with open complaints and produce an appropriate response within acceptable timescales. With annual leave reducing the available capacity, it is likely that there will be further delays in producing management and performance information, and additionally delays in response due to the reduced capacity within patient affairs and the general body of staff who provide material for complaint responses. Due to the recognised impact on the current timescales for addressing stage 2 complaints, resources have been agreed allowing dedicated complaints staff to work additional hours to positively impact on the overall timeline and improve compliance. • Smoking cessation - The indicator remains a red RAG against target, although the data is presented two quarters in arrears. To address this, a number of key actions are underway, this includes a local action plan developed to address the recommendations and adopt the best practice documented in the national review of smoking cessation services. This will require a redesign of smoking cessation service, realignment of a standard operating procedure to facilitate the provision of Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) from non-clinical staff to people who are motivated to stop smoking. To support this, a standard operating procedure aligned with the recent guidance from the Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will facilitate the provision of Nicotine Replacement Therapies from non-clinical staff to people who are motivated to stop smoking. All change and improvement actions Page 121 of 176
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required will employ recognised improvement methodology, with a specific focus on understanding and addressing unwarranted variation in the overall system. A number of the actions focus on communication and engagement, emphasising the need for colleagues at all levels to actively raise the issue of smoking. Beyond high-level messaging around smoking cessation, actions aim to increase direct referrals to the Lanarkshire Quit Your Way (QYW) service from maternity, mental health, secondary care services, as well as voluntary and third sector partners. Direct communication and engagement with these services will be supplemented by a broader social media campaign to share information. • Adult social work - The overall number of adult protection referrals has decreased by 13% when compared with Q1 of 2023/24. A significant part of this overall decrease is due to a decrease in the number of referrals from the care home sector, which decreased from 367 to 204. Despite this, Police and Health adult protection referrals have both increased - Police referrals have increased in comparison to Q1 of 2023/24 (94 to 121) and Health referrals have increased from 155 to 178. However, some additional analysis is required, as the number of Police adult concern reports have decreased significantly when compared with 2023/24 (1,184 to 812). Around 20% of all Adult Protection referrals were progressed as an inquiry with investigatory activity, however only 9% of inquires with investigatory activity went on to progress to an initial case conference (13 total initial case conferences were held and 10 review case conferences). Analysis of the referrals has highlighted that community based referrals are more likely to progress to investigation when compared to referrals from care homes. Referrals generated by Social Work and community partners often relate to multiple types of harm, but analysis has identified that self- neglect and hoarding continue to rise; these cases are often complex and require a long-term, inter-agency response. • Sickness absence - NHS Lanarkshire remains among the poorer performing boards in Scotland for sickness absence. Based upon historic seasonal trends it is likely that there is some underlying seasonal variation. Although above the target of 4%, the level of sickness absence appears to be relatively stable within a range. Anxiety, stress, and other mental health issues remain the most prevalent cause of sickness absence, however the proportion decreased slightly in the later months of 2023/24. There is a dedicated work stream as part of the Sustainability and Value Workforce Optimisation Group that focuses on reducing sickness absence within NHS Lanarkshire. Within the partnership, long and short-term sickness absence continues to be managed in accordance with the relevant organisational policies and monitored at service level. Page 122 of 176
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Appendix 2 (2) Chief Officer service specific performance reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. Report title Summary Scottish Housing Regulator - landlord report 2023/24 November 2024 The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) and the Scottish Social Housing Charter (SSHC) were enacted by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, which required Ministers to set standards and outcomes that social landlords should be achieving for tenants and other customers through their housing activities. The Act also established the SHR as an independent Regulator directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. Scottish social housing landlords significantly vary in stock size from 1 to 42,886 properties. The SHR requires social landlords to collect and provide key information on their performance in achieving the SSHC outcomes and standards in an Annual Return on the Charter (ARC). Returns are required by 31 May each year. Landlords also have a duty to publish a performance report, which requires to be made available to all tenants. In addition, all landlords have a legal requirement to submit a signed Annual Assurance Statement to the Regulator by 31 October each year. The council’s Annual Assurance Statement for 2023/24 was reported to the Housing Committee in August 2024. Following submission of each local authority and Registered Social Landlord’s (RSLs) ARC, the SHR publish a landlord profile of all social landlords, which allows tenants to compare landlord’s performance across Scotland. In addition, an annual landlord report is produced by the SHR. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. Consistent • The landlord report produced by the SHR reports on indicators within five main categories: homes and rents, tenant satisfaction, quality and maintenance of homes, neighbourhoods, and value for money. These areas for reporting were agreed by the SHR through significant consultation with tenants. Performance in these indicators require to be set in each landlord’s context. • The SHR publishes individual engagement plans in April each year for all social landlords, this highlights any areas of service they will focus on with the local authority concerned. The 2024 engagement plan for the council does not report any current areas of concern, but highlights the service areas which the SHR monitors across all landlords. Transparent • On 30th August 2024, the SHR published its Landlord Report reflecting the performance reported in each authority's completed ARC. This information is available on the SHR website: https://www.housingregulator.gov.scot/landlord-performance/ In context • The report advises of the Landlord Report published by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) which shows Scotland’s social landlords’ performance for both Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s) against the Scottish Social Housing Charter (SSHC). Balanced The covering report to committee provides a summary of the performance figures from the five main areas detailed within the Landlord Report: Homes and rents • The average rent for all North Lanarkshire properties reported in the ARC return for 2023/24 was £80.87 per week, this is below the Scottish average of £91.80. Tenant satisfaction • The council’s latest tenant satisfaction survey was completed in August 2023, following a return to the face-to-face interviews previously used prior to the pandemic. The 2023 survey results are permitted to be submitted for a maximum of three years in the ARC. • Overall satisfaction levels in the 2023 survey increased to 86.6%, which is slightly higher than the Scottish average of 86.5% and higher than the local Page 123 of 176
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authority average of 80.3%. An increase from the 2021 survey saw 95.8% of tenants stating that they felt the council was good at keeping them informed about services and outcomes, this is higher than the Scottish average of 90.5%, and 13.5% higher than the Scottish local authority average of 82.3%. Quality and maintenance of homes • The percentage of homes meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) was 84.8%, an increase from the 2022/23 figure and comparing favourably to the Scottish average of 84.4% and local authority average of 77.8%. • Time taken to complete emergency repairs was 2.8 hours on average compared to a Scottish average of 4.0 hours and the Scottish local authority average of 4.3 hours. The taken to complete non-emergency repairs was 6.8 days compared to the Scottish average of 9 days and the Scottish local authority average of 10 days. • 97.8% of reactive repairs were completed right first time, which compared favourably to the Scottish average of 88.4% and the Scottish local authority average of 88.8%. • 93.7% of tenants who had repairs carried out said they were satisfied with the service they received. Although this is a decrease from the previous year, performance compares favourably with the Scottish average of 87.3% and the Scottish local authority average of 87.2%. Neighbourhoods • For cases of anti-social behaviour reported in the last year, 95.9% were resolved at the year end and within the targets agreed locally, compared to the Scottish average of 94.3% and the Scottish local authority average of 90.9%. The remaining 4.1% of cases were carried forward to the following year and resolved within locally agreed targets in 2024/25 which meant the council performed at 100% compliance for the targets agreed for the service. Value for money • Rent collection levels for 2023/24 were 99.3% which is on par with the Scottish average of 99.4% and the Scottish local authority average of 99.3%. • The council’s housing central rents team continue to secure more direct Universal Credit payments and pursue other non-Universal Credit tenant debt which has had a positive impact on the overall arrears’ levels. The Rent Assistance Fund, introduced in 2023, continues to be used to help tenants who may be affected by the cost of living increases. • The average days to re-let homes increased by 2.7 days to 35 days during the year, mainly due to the supply and workforce shortages being experienced by contractors, however this compares much more favourably than the Scottish average of 56.7 days and the Scottish local authority average of 72.6 days. The council’s housing and repairs teams are working together and liaising closely with the new contractor to improve these timescales. • Void rent loss figure of 1% also compares favourably to the Scottish average of 1.4% and the Scottish local authority average of 1.8%. Monitoring rent loss continues to be a priority. Report title Summary Housing - annual performance report 2023/24 Published 24th October 2024 This report is published in line with Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) requirements. The SHR requires social landlords to collect and provide key information on their performance in achieving the SSHC outcomes and standards in an Annual Return on the Charter (ARC). Returns are required by 31 May each year. Landlords also have a duty to publish a performance report, which requires to be made available to all tenants. The information in this report (published on the website https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/housing/housing-annual-performance- report/housing-annual-performance-report-20232024 ) sets out the council’s performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter (SSHC) outcomes and how, as the largest council social landlord in Scotland, key objectives are being achieved and can be compared to other local authorities in Scotland. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. Consistent • In line with the SHR requirements placed on each council to provide a report to tenants advising of performance against the SSHC, tenant representatives are required to work with each council to review the performance data and agree the content and format for annual performance reports. • The timescale for publishing report is 31st October each year. Page 124 of 176
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Transparent • To produce the annual report (including developing the contents and format) the council works in partnership with the North Lanarkshire Federation of Tenants and Residents Groups. • The performance information is available to tenants in a range of formats, including through the website and via a summary file. The website segments performance into five summaries in terms of the customer landlord relationship, housing quality and maintenance, neighbourhood and community, access to housing and support, and getting good value from rents and service charges. • A link to the annual performance report is made available to Elected Members upon publication. • The information reported includes data for other Scottish local authorities, as well as the national average so that comparisons can be made. In context • The annual performance report is designed to keep tenants, service users, and other customers informed of the council’s performance and progress towards meeting the outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter (SSHC). • The report provides the context within which the latest performance has been achieved, noting that overall performance remains strong despite the many challenges being faced by tenants, in particular the cost of living crisis, including food and fuel poverty and rising inflation. Balanced • The report provides a detailed overview of how the council is performing against the national Scottish Social Housing Charter (SSHC) outcomes. It gives tenants information about their housing service, how the council has performed as a social landlord, and how the council’s performance compares across Scotland. It shows performance over the range of outcomes for the SSHC over the last three years, highlighting successes and achievements as well as identifying areas where improvements to the service are required or have been carried out. • Key highlights report that the council has continued to face challenging economic circumstances but continues to perform above the Scottish average in several key areas, including tenant satisfaction, delivering value for money on rents, and maintaining a highly responsive repairs service. • The information reported recognises the impact of the cost of living increase and, to help alleviate some of the cost pressures, have rolled out a range of energy efficiency initiatives including solar panels, air source heat pumps, new windows and doors, and better household insulation to reduce energy costs and combat fuel poverty. • The information reported also notes that in response to the Scottish Government's declaration of a housing emergency in May 2024, the council is committed to addressing the housing challenges facing local communities and is on track to deliver 5,000 additional council homes by 2035. • An update from the Chair of the North Lanarkshire Federation of Tenants and Residents reflects the positive performance and key highlights which included expanding the executive committee (to incorporate extra ring-fenced places with the emphasis on inclusion) which was passed unanimously at the annual general meeting in June, the introduction of a code of conduct for the committee, and the ongoing work of the Scrutiny group in relation to its current project, retirement housing. Report title Summary Homelessness and prevention - 2023/24 overview and update November 2024 The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the progress achieved in implementing the final year of the actions contained within North Lanarkshire’s Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan (RRTP). The report also sought approval on a new Homelessness action plan, covering 2025-28 - this incorporates actions which are ongoing from the current RRTP, as well as new actions identified through collaboration with wider stakeholders. The report also provides a summary of the current homelessness context in North Lanarkshire, which shows a second consecutive year’s rise in homelessness in North Lanarkshire (16%). Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 1. Ensure a housing mix that supports social inclusion and economic growth. Consistent • The Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan (RRTP) is a planning framework for local authorities and their partners to transition to a rapid re-housing approach, working collaboratively to prioritise prevention activity, taking a housing led approach to widening access to suitable long-term housing options, and reducing stays in temporary accommodation. • The RRTP funding, initially expected to end in 2022/23 covering 3 years of the 5 year plan, was extended to cover 2023/24 and, more recently for Page 125 of 176
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2024/25 in terms of progressing the actions contained within the RRTP. • Within North Lanarkshire, the RRTP sits within a wider strategic planning framework, closely aligned to the Local Housing Strategy 2021-26, the Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Commissioning Plan 2023-26, Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) 2025/26 - 2029/30, Local Outcome Improvement Plans (LOIPs), as well as The Plan for North Lanarkshire. Transparent • The report is presented at a time when homelessness is rising across Scotland and is influenced by the cost of living crisis with surging food and energy costs and ongoing mortgage interest rate increases. Homeless data indicates that households are struggling to cope with the financial pressures and seeking support from a range of services including homelessness. Data and context in relation to key trends in homelessness is included as an appendix to the report. In context • The report sets out a significant volume of context to support a wide range of information in terms of council activities to support homelessness, this includes the following: - The Housing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2024 and aims to prevent homelessness, strengthen tenant rights, and improve housing conditions. The Bill aims to create systemic change with person-centred, trauma informed services to better meet individual needs, improve prevention, and offer greater choice and control for those at risk of homelessness. - A key aspect of the Bill is strengthening housing rights by requiring public bodies to ask and act on housing situations. Introduced amid rising homelessness in Scotland, the Bill is critical as the current system faces increasing pressure, highlighting the importance of early intervention. The ask and act duty marks a significant shift in homelessness policy and efforts to end homelessness in Scotland. - To ensure that North Lanarkshire continues its positive approach to preventing and tackling homelessness, building on the success achieved over the past five years under the RRTP, a new Homelessness Action Plan has been developed covering the next three years, 2025-28. • The covering report also sets out the current position in relation to key trends in homelessness with more detailed information in the appendix: - Local authorities across Scotland are struggling with an unprecedented housing crisis. This crisis is marked by rising homelessness and a shortage of affordable housing, further exacerbated by economic pressures. To date, 12 local authorities have declared a housing emergency due to increased demand on resources and difficulty in meeting their statutory duties. This follows the Scottish Government’s declaration of a national housing emergency in May 2024. - North Lanarkshire has seen a significant increase in homeless applications, with a 16% increase in homeless applications over the 2023/24 period. This followed an increase of 13% in the previous year and compares to a 4% increase nationally. This increase in homelessness, although difficult to attribute to any one specific cause, is considered to be attributed to the lingering cost of living crisis and pressures on the current housing system. Nationally, local authorities with the largest numerical increases are attributed to an increase in applications from asylum seekers and refugees. - The number of Common Housing Register (CHR) applications has increased also for the second consecutive year in North Lanarkshire, increasing by 7% over 2023/24. This, coupled with wider housing market changes (which include a 26% reduction in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget and a pressured private rented sector) create increased pressure on social rented homes, impacting on the ability to eradicate homelessness. - The number of homeless applications in North Lanarkshire (2,228 in 2023/24) is approaching the pre-pandemic level of 2,366 cases reported in 2018/19 and is the second highest numerical level recorded in over a decade in North Lanarkshire (since 2010/11). The number of homeless applications nationally (40,685) are the highest since 2011/12. - The number of children associated with applications assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness in North Lanarkshire has increased by 12% over the past year, increasing from 1,005 to 1,128. This compares to a decrease of 7% nationally. This is due to the greater proportional increased level of homelessness generally in North Lanarkshire over the period in comparison to Scotland (16% compared to 4%). - The number of children in temporary accommodation, has reduced by 15% in North Lanarkshire over 2023/24. This compares to a 5% increase nationally, with record high levels of children in temporary accommodation nationally since the time series began. - The average time spent in temporary accommodation for cases that closed was 131 days in 2023/24. This is significantly better than the previous North Lanarkshire average of 164 days and the Scottish average of 226 days. This is indicative of effective implementation of RRTP, with a continued reduction in time spent in temporary accommodation evident in North Lanarkshire, despite increased levels of homelessness. - It took an average of 154 days to close a case for homeless households in 2023/24 compared with 169 days in 2022/23. Again, North Lanarkshire compares favourably against the Scottish average of 278 days to close a case for homeless households. Page 126 of 176
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Balanced • The report focuses on achievements during 2023/24, whereby RRTP activity has continued to make steady progress and, of the 68 actions, 52 (76%) are now complete, 8 (12%) have yet to commence, and 8 (12%) are ongoing and reports on activities focused on partnership efforts to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness. Additionally, there was a strong focus on early intervention to sustain tenancies and prevent homelessness wherever feasible. An update was also provided in respect of the Homes First initiative: - Since its inception in March 2021, the Homes First team has collaborated with housing, health and social care, NHS, and voluntary sector agencies to support homeless individuals with complex needs. The team has helped to improve outcomes and tenancy sustainment through a trauma-informed approach, which is now embedded in homelessness practice, focusing on improving joint assessments and operational processes to ensure a person-centred approach in preventing and reducing homelessness. - Over the period 2023/24, Homes First expanded its services to provide flexible strength-based support to 54 customers. The service has a 100% success rate in helping those with complex needs sustain their homes. Of these, 38 customers have maintained their housing for over a year, 15 clients have successfully completed their journey towards independence, and 7 clients are transitioning to the stepdown stage of their support. Additionally, new referrals for the service have been received from locality teams for the 2024/25 period, indicating ongoing demand for the service. • The report also highlights key areas of success and activity over the past year, which includes the following: - The implementation of a Crisis Response Service - jointly funded by RRTP funding and North Lanarkshire’s Alcohol and Drug Partnership, which provides assertive outreach for people who are at risk of homelessness or are homeless and in need of an immediate response. The service delivered by Turning Point Scotland offers psychosocial support, ensuring individuals are connected to treatment services in times of crisis, re- engaging people with primary services to prevent repeat homelessness, prevent dis-engagement and improve wider life outcomes. - The Household Support Fund - which was created to assist young single households experiencing financial hardship by providing support for rent arrears, energy costs, and food vouchers. This has led to 140 tenants being assisted. - The Keys to the Future Programme - funded by the Barnardo’s Foundation, which offers practical and emotional support to families facing homelessness, and has supported 25 families and 42 children. - The Alternatives to Violence (AVP) workshops - which continue to address conflict, anger, and violence for Homes First and restorative justice clients. - The Furniture Fund - which was expanded to include households experiencing homelessness across all housing localities. This fund provided furniture items beyond the provisions of the Scottish Welfare Fund, allowing homeless households to personalise their homes and foster a stronger sense of belonging. - The Technology Fund - which was rolled out to localities to provide digital devices, improving digital inclusion and access to online services. - The Say Women Service - which was commissioned to provide support for a 12 month period to young women aged 16-25 who are survivors of child sexual abuse or other forms of sexual violence and are at risk of homelessness. The service offered emotional and practical support. Part of the commission was to upskill housing staff on homelessness and disclosure of sexual abuse or other sexual violence, to enable staff to provide appropriate support and signposting. - Ongoing partnership working with Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire - which continues to deliver accommodation for young people leaving care. This includes the provision of reception flats and a training flat, aimed at building confidence and independent living skills among care experienced young people. - The Youth Housing Champions - which continue to provide a key interface between care experienced young people and housing teams, enabling earlier transition planning and embedding new systems and ways of working to ensure that no care experienced young people has to present as homeless to secure accommodation. - Development of a Temporary Accommodation Strategy - which sets out the temporary accommodation requirements and actions for 2024-29. Report title Summary Planning and place - performance report 2023/24 December 2024 The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced statutory reporting of the performance of Planning Authorities. This report provides an update of the feedback from the National Planning Improvement Co-ordinator on the outcome of the submission of the Planning and Place service as part of the new National Planning Improvement Process and to update on the performance of the service against the key performance indicators for 2023/24 Page 127 of 176
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The report also sets out the improvement actions that the service has identified to focus on in the coming period. Aligned Priority: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. Ambition statement: 4. Market and promote North Lanarkshire as the place to live, learn, work, invest, and visit. Consistent Previously an annual Planning Performance Framework (PPF) report was submitted to committee each year to report on performance on this respect. These reports were voluntarily based on an agreement between the Scottish Government and the Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS). The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced mandatory national performance monitoring and to oversee this process and to provide the planning authorities with advice on how to improve the performance of their functions, the role of National Planning Improvement Co-ordinator (NPIC) has been created within the Improvement Service. The Planning Improvement Co-ordinator was appointed in September 2023 and has been collaborating with HOPS, planning authorities, and other stakeholders to develop a suitable mechanism for implementing change. The priority has been to develop a new performance and improvement model that will build upon the lessons learned from Planning Performance Frameworks. Given this, a new National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF) is being piloted. The key principles of NPIF are: • A renewed focus on improvement - NPIF aims to use planning authorities’ self-assessment to identify areas of improvement to inform an improvement action plan. • Peer Collaborative Review - Scottish Government marking will be replaced by peer review involving NPIC, other planning authorities and stakeholders. • Measuring quality - NPIF looks to incorporate indicators that better assess impacts, outcomes achieved, and the quality of the service provided. • A high performing planning authority - NPIF focusses on assessment against the attributes of a high performing planning authority such as: having the tools to do the job; engagement; people; culture; and place. • Recognising dependencies - NPIF aims to recognise that planning authorities depend on other people and organisations in delivering their service. • Resources - NPIF has been designed to be proportionate and not add to the demand on planning authorities’ resources. Transparent As this is a new concept for planning authorities, the approach taken has been for authorities to pilot developing their new National Planning Improvement Frameworks and improvement action plans in three tranches over 2024/25. Ten volunteers took part in the first pilot group of authorities. Through this stage North Lanarkshire was partnered to work with Fife Council looking at sharing best practice. This exercise is now complete, and the council has received feedback from the NPIC on its improvement action plan for 2024/25. The feedback confirmed the improvement action plan has been endorsed, and the new National Planning Improvement Framework is now published online ( https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning- applications/planning-performance ). In context The performance results set out in this report require to be considered alongside the qualitative information set out therein to ensure that the planning service, through its engagement with applicants and other stakeholders, contributes to the delivery of good quality development in the right locations that facilitate delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and the council’s Local Development Plan. Balanced The Scottish Government continues to publish Planning Application statistics and the figures for the performance of the service are also detailed in the report, this includes: • Performance in the key outcomes for Development Planning for 2023/24 compared to the p[previous year. This includes various measures around the local development plan. • Performance in Development Management for 2023/24 compared to the previous year along with comparisons to the Scottish average. This includes measures on, for example, planning application pre-application advice, decision making, and timescales for major / local / householder developments. • Performance of the Planning service when it comes to appeals. Where appeals are to the Scottish Ministers the percentage of cases where the Reporter upheld the decision of the Planning Committee is significantly higher than the Scottish average, however, the percentage of delegated decisions upheld by the Local Review Body decreased in 2023/24 and was lower than the national average. Page 128 of 176
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Overall, the performance of the service is considered to be good, but it has been identified that there are some areas where there is opportunity for development, and these are the focus of the improvement action plan for 2024/25. Work on these actions is already well underway. Report title Summary Education standards and quality - annual report session 2023-24 November 2024 Education Authorities have a duty, as outlined in the Education (Scotland) Act 2016 which amends the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000, to continually endeavour to improve the quality of education provided in the schools managed by them. To enact this duty, every year the council produces a Standards and Quality report and a Service Improvement Plan. These reports are presented to committee and submitted to Scottish Government. The Education and Families Standards and Quality Report is designed to serve three purposes: (i) To provide all stakeholders and the people of North Lanarkshire with performance information across the National Improvement Framework (NIF) drivers and against our improvement priorities to measure how well we are improving educational outcomes for children, young people and their families. (ii) In line with external grant funding, to summarise the outcomes and performance of the Pupil Equity Fund Programme, at authority level. The Scottish Government have acknowledged that to reduce bureaucracy and duplication, this reporting requirement can be linked to the existing statutory requirement under the Standards in Schools etc. Act 2000 as amended by the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. This requires an annual report to be prepared describing local authority activity to: (a) reduce inequalities of educational outcome experienced by pupils as a result of socio-economic disadvantage and (b) achieve the strategic priorities of the National Improvement Framework (NIF). The Standards and Quality Report allows the local authority to meet those requirements. The Standards and Quality Report will be shared with all stakeholders and forwarded to Scottish Government. (iii) To provide the information required to contribute to the Scottish Government’s annual report on the 6 NIF drivers for improvement. Aligned Priority: • Support all children and young people to realise their full potential. Ambition statement: 6. Raise attainment and skills for learning, life, and work to enhance opportunities and choices. Consistent • The report evidences progress and improvements in relation to the six NIF drivers - performance information, school and early learning centre improvement, curriculum and assessment, parent / carer engagement and family learning, teacher and practitioner professionalism, and schools and early learning centre leadership. Transparent • The report summarises progress over the last academic session, August 2023 to June 2024. It is framed around the 4 key HGIOS4? Quality Indicators and shows council progress in relation to the National Improvement Framework (NIF) drivers. • It shows, in one document, progress made towards previously agreed improvement priorities and other key aspects of improvement activity. The Annual Service Improvement Plan outlines improvement priorities for next session 2024-25. • It is linked to NIF priorities and drivers and evidences the commitment to improving outcomes for children and families and reducing inequalities of educational outcome experienced by pupils as a result of socio-economic disadvantage. • The report contains specific information on attainment - it should be noted that this data is provisional (as at the time the report went to committee) and may be subject to changes following Scottish Government data cleansing processes and SQA appeals decisions. In context • The report outlines progress made towards achieving the council’s improvement priorities, highlighting key successes, and identifying next steps. - In December 2021, NIF priorities were updated to reflect legislative changes incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into law. The introduction of the new priority ensures that practitioners, at all levels, are aware of their responsibilities in relation to the UNCRC. The six drivers were also updated. Key changes included closer alignment of curriculum and assessment and integration of early years terminology throughout the drivers. This provided increased cohesion and reflected the progressive nature of the 3-18 Curriculum for Excellence. - Subsequently, the 2024 National Improvement Framework (NIF) for Scottish education introduced several further changes to enhance the quality and Page 129 of 176
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equity of education. For example, the vision statement has been updated to emphasise achievement over attainment, aligning more closely with the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). There is a renewed focus on professional learning and building staff capacity and on the effective use of data and evidence to support continuous improvement. There is also a clearer focus on equality, inclusion and sustainability. Balanced • The covering report outlines the range of details that are set out in the annual Standards and Quality report which is contained in the appendices; this highlights the key aspects of the multi-faceted areas that the council continues to drive forward to ensure continued improvement for children and families. • The appendices to the report also contain an abbreviated version which summarises the: - Improvement report for 2023-24 which provides an update of key actions undertaken during the year as well as key highlights in terms of achievements. This is aligned to the council’s strategic education and the Programme of Work as well as the NIF priorities and NIF drivers. - Key performance measures (including core and core plus stretch aims) with the latest results as at June 2024 compared to the previous two years and a RAG status to highlight areas of concern. • The Appendices to the report also contain a full version of the Standards and Quality report which contains a large volume of information and has a contents page to aid navigation of the report. Report title Summary Chief Social Work Officer - annual report 2023/24 November 2024 The requirement that each local authority appoint a professionally qualified Chief Social Work Officer is contained in Section 45 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994. Statutory guidance updated in 2016 reflected the impact of Health and Social Care integration, extending the responsibilities of the role to provide advice to the Integration Joint Board (IJB). In addition, the role carries key responsibilities for professional leadership, values, and standards for both directly provided and commissioned services. The Chief Social Work Officer role requires to be undertaken by one designated individual; delegation of responsibilities is permitted where required by the scale of business. In North Lanarkshire this means that the Chief Officer (Adult Social Work Services) routinely exercises delegated responsibilities for decision-making and professional standards within adult services as well as providing support and cover with respect to the wider functions of the Chief Social Work Officer role. Within North Lanarkshire adult social work and social care services are delivered through Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire (HSCNL), while children, family, and justice services are delivered through the council’s Education and Families service. The North Lanarkshire Chief Social Work Officer’s annual report provides information on the delivery of statutory functions, and performance and improvement activity across the range of social work services over 2023/24. In addition, information is provided on the wider governance and planning of social work provision in North Lanarkshire, including its key role in local partnerships. Aligned Priority: • Support all children and young people to realise their full potential. • Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Ambition statement: 7. Enhance collaborative working to maximise support and ensure all our children and young people are included, supported, and safe. 9. Invest in early interventions, positive transitions, and preventative approaches to improve outcomes for children and young people. 10. Engage with children, young people, parents, carers, and families to help all children and young people reach their full potential. 11. Increase economic opportunities for adults by understanding, identifying, and addressing the causes of poverty and deprivation and barriers to financial inclusion. 12. Ensure our residents are able to achieve, maintain, and recover their independence through appropriate supports at home and in their communities. Page 130 of 176
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13. Improve preventative approaches including self-management and giving people information and choice over supports and services. 14. Ensure the highest standards of public protection. Consistent • In line with Scottish Government guidance, the Chief Social Work Officer is required to produce an annual report to provide a key overview of social work service delivery and performance. • The Office of the Chief Social Work Advisor (OCSWA) also produces a national report each year which draws on key themes and messages from Chief Social Work Officer reports across Scotland. Transparent • The Chief Social Work Officer annual report provides a detailed account in terms of the delivery of statutory functions and performance and improvement activity across the range of social work services in North Lanarkshire. Set out in an appendix, it represents a significant volume of information that also includes links to a wide range of other materials. In context • The covering report sets the North Lanarkshire context in that social work employs around 2,800 staff and, in collaboration with commissioned services and third sector partners, provides support to around 30,000 individuals and families at any one time. • Social work also makes a key contribution to wider partnership and community activity. As illustrated within the report partnership working is fundamental to social work at every level and a key aspect of the Chief Social Work Officer role involves developing and sustaining partnership working and relationships across a range of organisations and structures. • In addition to the specific responsibilities of the Chief Social Work Officer to council and HSCNL, this post holds a key leadership role within several local partnerships as well as contributing to the wider national social work community. • While the delivery of core statutory responsibilities (including for public protection) remain a significant part of social work service delivery, social work also plays a key role in early support and both primary and secondary prevention as highlighted within the report. • Income maximisation and tackling poverty continue to be key strands in the delivery of social work and social care in North Lanarkshire. These have become increasingly integrated into day-to-day practice and service delivery and have a strong fit with the core values of social work. Equally important, and threaded through the activity reflected within this year’s report, is a commitment to relationship based and trauma-informed practice. Balanced • The report provides an overview of social work service delivery in North Lanarkshire for the period April 2023 to March 2024 and covers the following areas - governance and accountability arrangements (including partnership working), service quality and performance (including service developments), resources, workforce, and future priorities - this information is set out in an appendix. • The report recognises that demand for social work services has continued to increase across all social work care groups continuing a trend which has seen this increase beyond pre-pandemic levels however, as reflected within the report, the service has continued to maintain a strong balance of care meaning that a high proportion of those receiving support receive this within the context of their own homes and communities. There has also over recent years been an increased focus on the area of transitions to ensure those receiving support do not face a cliff edge as they move between child and adult life or between services or statutory and voluntary supports. While further work is still required in these areas, progress in this is evidenced in the steadily growing number of young people supported in continuing care and in those in receipt of voluntary throughcare from justice services. • External scrutiny of social work services is undertaken primarily through the Care Inspectorate and its partner agencies. In addition to ongoing inspections of regulated services, a Joint Inspection of Services for Children and Young People at Risk of Harm in North Lanarkshire was announced in April 2023 and the final positive Care Inspectorate outcome report was submitted to the Education, Children, and Families Committee in November 2023. This evaluated the impact of services on children and young people as Very Good and identified a number of key strengths including in respective of collaborative leadership and the strong relational and trauma informed approaches which supported staff form trusting relationships with children, young people and their families. • Staff commitment and resilience has been recognised as continuing to be strong, although as reflected in the report’s appendix, there remain staffing pressures in key areas including with respect to home support services, the mental health officer workforce, administrative support, and other social care roles. A range of initiatives to support staff recruitment and retention against a challenging backdrop is outlined within the appendix and a number of these including the updating and re-evaluation of main grade social worker and occupational therapy roles have contributed to a reduction in vacancies in this critical area of the workforce. Page 131 of 176
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• Both despite, and in response to pressures, the service has continued to innovate including in the use of digital technology and has also continued to strengthen the involvement of those with lived experience in planning. • Looking forward the report reflects on future challenges including the likely increase in financial pressures, in part arising from the ending of temporary funding streams. It also identifies opportunities to build on successful areas of practice and strong partnerships to continue to work holistically and, in particular, to improve early support to strengthen and empower individuals, families, and communities. Report title Summary Community Payback Order annual report 2023/24 November 2024 Community Payback Orders (CPOs) were initially introduced in 2011 and provide an alternative to custody. The intent of this Court disposal is to ensure that people who are convicted of offences make restitution to the community and engage in services which support their rehabilitation and social inclusion. The report provides detailed information about the scale and scope of the activities and development in place for those made subject to a CPO by the Court. It also outlines the range of opportunities for unpaid work within North Lanarkshire. The role of unpaid work relates to four principles - reparation, rehabilitation, reintegration, and restriction and supports individuals to be held accountable for their actions and to engage in activities which benefit the communities who have been impacted by harm. This report sets out the annual Community Payback report for 2023/24. It provides an overview of service delivery, performance, key issues, and outcomes relating to the delivery of Community Payback as well as information on the impact on individuals who are subject to Community Payback Orders (CPOs) and on the tangible benefits provided through the Court disposals to local communities. Aligned Priority: • Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Ambition statement: 14. Ensure the highest standards of public protection. Consistent • Section 227ZM of the Criminal (Procedure) Scotland Act 1995 places a duty on local authorities to prepare an annual report outlining the operation of CPOs which requires to be submitted to both the Scottish Government and Community Justice Scotland. • Community Justice Scotland collate these returns and summarise them in a report which is laid before Scottish Parliament. • To assist with this reporting duty, Community Justice Scotland, in collaboration with representatives from Justice Social Work, the Scottish Government, and Social Work Scotland, have developed a template of questions for local areas to complete; this template is designed to support the reporting requirement. Transparent • The work described within the report is part of the core statutory role of justice social work services within North Lanarkshire. In this respect, the report sets out the number of unpaid work hours imposed by courts in the year, and the number completed, with comparisons to the previous year as well to pre-pandemic levels. It also breaks down the level of unpaid work undertaken within specific areas of activity. The report sets out the impact on local people, groups, and communities as a result of the Community Payback service and the benefits in this respect. An overview is provided of the wide range of activities managed and delivered by the service. • The covering report provides an overview with more detail on specific activities included in the appendix to the report. In context • The Scottish Governments Vision for Justice, and the revised National Community Justice Strategy sets out four national aims for Community Justice, and 13 priority actions and provide context for the delivery of justice social work services at local level. During the reporting year, the North Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership Board (NLCJPB) also published the North Lanarkshire Community Justice Outcome Improvement Plan for 2023-28. While the work described within the report is guided by the national vision and policy as well a core statutory responsibilities in this area, the report reflects also that the role of justice services within North Lanarkshire is aligned to the Programme of Work and supports the wider ambitions of the council’s vision and priorities. • Prior to October 2022, individuals made subject to court mandated unpaid work requirements were given 12 months to complete these hours. This was implemented by the Scottish Government under the auspices of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 in a bid to help local authorities to manage the Page 132 of 176
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unpaid work backlog of hours created by the pandemic. As of October 2022, the extended period to complete unpaid work reverted to six months. Balanced Performance highlights: • During 2023/24, the communities of North Lanarkshire have benefitted from 92,624 hours of unpaid work; this constitutes a 64% increase from the previous year. Service activity in this area has risen by 54% over the last two years following a fall as the justice system was impacted by the pandemic. • Demand continues to grow and during 2023/24 there were 133,941 hours which had been imposed by Courts in relation to unpaid work and other activity, a 69% increase in the hours imposed in this regard over the last two years. • Unpaid work: - The bike recycling workshop refurbishes bikes which are donated by individuals or have been discarded in local recycling centres. The bikes are repaired to a gold standard and are distributed to local community groups, schools, and individuals. This helps to maximise opportunities for better health and wellbeing and provides greater transport access. Service users within the workshop also undertake bike repair for individuals who are unable to afford the cost of this. Due to the success of this workshop, a mobile bike recycling trailer has been purchased and this enables the provision of bike maintenance and repair within the local communities. In total 8,746 hours of unpaid work were completed through this initiative in 2023/24. This represents a significant increase in activity over the last 2 years when 1,075 hours were completed in 2021/22, and 6,213 hours were completed in 2022/23. - The woodwork workshop teaches joinery skills which enables bespoke items to be made from reclaimed wood pallets which were destined for landfill. Partnership working with family learning centres, nurseries, schools, and communities has allowed for unpaid work service users to be involved in the construction of outdoor classrooms and play equipment in the form of trucks, trains, cars. This approach has helped to promote outdoor play for children throughout local communities. - Squad placements have benefited the local communities through activities such as landscaping. The yearly replenishment of grit bins continues to be a feature of squad work as well as grass cutting and pathway clearances. In total 54 squad projects have been completed within North Lanarkshire. These range from one to two-day pieces of work and larger projects with a duration of four to six months. - The home improvement workshop provides opportunities for service users to gain experience in decorating, painting, and plastering. Once the individuals are proficient in these disciplines, they use the skills on projects within the local community. • Other interventions / activities: - Offence focused work interventions and activities are undertaken on an individual and within a groupwork setting. As part of the Community Payback Order Unpaid Work requirement, 30% of the hours imposed (or a maximum of 30 hours) can be completed through what is termed other activity. Examples of structured work include inputs on handling conflict, tackling impulsivity, risk-taking behaviours, and managing strong feelings. In addition, the Centre for Clinical Interventions and the NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust resources are used to support service users to address difficulties such as poor mental health, substance misuse, and gambling addictions. The Justice Outcome Star is employed to identify the service user’s priority areas of need, and this also helps to measure progress and outcomes. More specialised individual and groupwork interventions are targeted at those convicted of sexual offending or intimate partner violence through the provision of MFMF (Moving Forward Making Changes), MF2C (Moving Forward 2 Change), and UP2U Creating Healthy Relationships. A number of third sector organisations continue to be commissioned to support the provision of the other activity element of unpaid work. • Improvement, development, and partnership activity: - Ongoing organisation improvement and collaborative working with community partners is an important consideration for the service and some examples of this include consultations to aid continuous improvement which continue to take place with individuals who are subject to Community Payback Orders. This assists to support and shape the future service delivery model through listening to the voices and perspectives of those with lived experience. In addition, two justice development workers with lived experience of the justice system have been employed and they continue to play a key role in the ongoing improvement of service delivery and its culture and practice. - The Women’s Community Justice Service have commissioned a new intervention resource entitled Managing Emotions and Relationships. This approach enables staff to utilise Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to facilitate structured conversations that help women to develop better coping strategies such as mindfulness, and trauma informed techniques. This intervention can be delivered in a group work format or in individual settings. - In partnership with South Lanarkshire Council and MAPPA partners two multi-agency events were hosted in September 2023. Staff from Social Work, Police Scotland, Housing, and NHS Lanarkshire attended a full day input in relation to risk practice. This offered a valuable opportunity for colleagues to reflect on shared responsibilities, joint practice, and strengthened collaborative approaches to managing risk and enhancing public Page 133 of 176
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protection. - In March 2024, a further local multi-agency event was held, and this focused-on people being managed and supported under the justice system with a diagnosed learning disability, or with neurodiversity challenges. This event was provided delivered by NHS colleagues. - Partnership working between the council’s tackling poverty and justice services teams has generated £714,737 for people in the justice system and their families. This partnership approach ensures that individuals and their families benefit entitlements are fully maximised. Report title Summary Social Work - quality assurance annual report 2023/24 November 2024 The role of quality assurance in social work covers a range of functions and facilitates the delivery of high-quality services through effective business planning, maintaining quality standards, and quality monitoring information - it includes ensuring governance through monitoring and evaluating key aspects of social work practice and performance. Aligned Priority: • Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Ambition statement: 12. Ensure our residents are able to achieve, maintain, and recover their independence through appropriate supports at home and in their communities Consistent A commitment is in place to provide an annual report on activity carried out in the preceding year. Transparent The activities reported in the annual report reflects the commitment to a creative and dynamic approach that helps reduce resource barriers and promotes good outcomes for people. Priorities are directed towards the Scottish Government’s nine national health and wellbeing outcomes, and the ambitions of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and the Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Commissioning Plan 2023-26. In context The current operating environment is complex and sharing of best practice and solution focused ideas are integral to ensure the people of North Lanarkshire receive good quality support to help meet their outcomes. The Quality Assurance team work collaboratively with internal Health and Social Care Partnership colleagues and with external stakeholders to ensure the delivery of services that are underpinned by human rights, inclusion, achieving potential, choice, and control. Balanced • The report comprises the detailed annual report in the appendix which provides the context within which quality assurance operates in social work. This recognises that quality assurance has a wide and varied function including monitoring and evaluating key aspects of social work practice and performance. A central activity is the ongoing contract monitoring of external social care providers. • The report updates on all areas of work including contracts and contract management, regulatory activity, procurement and commissioning, facilitation, support to unpaid carers, engagement and participation, new legislation, complaints, and duty of candour. • The volume of data and information supports the quality assurance process and performance update and highlights areas of good practice as well as areas requiring improvement and remedial action implemented. • Following an internal audit to provide independent assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the council’s quality assurance arrangements in relation to the provision of social work and social care services, the report was submitted to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2024 (link to report). This found that the service’s arrangements for monitoring external care providers was generally sound and broadly reflects good practice principles, and reports have been produced for key stakeholders on the results of the council’s quality assurance and continuous improvement activities, and the key expectations set out in the contract management framework were generally being applied in practice. Some areas for improvement were identified which include the need for the contract management framework to be reviewed and updated to fully reflect best practice and actual current working practices and a need for greater consistency with, and for, the quality assurance team to better demonstrate compliance with expected monitoring arrangements.. Report title Summary Page 134 of 176
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Revenues and benefits update November 2024 This report provides a regular update on the payment performance for council tax and non-domestic rates, the administration of a range of welfare benefits, and the council tax reduction scheme. It provides an update on performance as at 30th September 2024. Aligned Priority: • Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base. Ambition statement: 21. Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions. Consistent • Produced quarterly, this report provides Elected Members with detailed in year performance figures which can be compared to the same period in previous years. Transparent • The year to date performance set out in the report covers a wide range of service activities as well as the amount of funding paid out to help households in need in order to provide a safety net for local people on low incomes. • The report also allows for comparisons of performance with the same period in previous years. In context • The council is responsible for the administration and collection of all local taxation in North Lanarkshire in the form of council tax and non-domestic rates. In addition, the council administers a number of benefits for residents of North Lanarkshire including housing benefit, council tax reduction, Scottish welfare fund, discretionary housing payment, free school meals, and clothing grants. • The report includes the latest context within which the service is operating; this is of particular relevance given the aforementioned administration of grants and support payments required for low income households. The report also advises of any new national grants when they are introduced, or will cease, and the qualifying conditions for receipt of such. Balanced The report provides a high-level summary of the highlights which include: • As at 30th September 2024, the council tax collection figure for 2023/24 financial year of 55.59% is an increase of 0.30% from the same period last financial year. This, considering the prior year collection figure, benefits from the impact of the Scottish Government’s cost of living award of £150 for eligible households with total cash received of £18.6m improving the in-year collection figure. • The non-domestic rates collection figure for 2023/24 is 22.91%; an 0.11% increase compared to the 2022/23 financial year. This has occurred in the context of a challenging year for non-domestic rates collection following the impact of the revaluation on 1 April 2023 which increased the number of accounts under review with the Assessor and delayed payment from many businesses while their reviews conclude. • Other highlights can be appreciated in the report in relation to housing benefits, council tax reduction scheme, discretionary housing payments, and the Scottish Welfare Fund - the service continues to meet statutory timescales for administering benefits applications and changes of circumstance. Report title Summary Financial monitoring report - council summary (revenue) November 2024 This report presents the council’s revenue monitoring position for the General Fund Account, Housing Revenue Account, and Adult Health and Social Care. (Note, the Council approved its General Fund Revenue Budget for 2024/25 to 2026/27 in February 2024.) Aligned Priority: • Improve North Lanarkshire’s resource base. Ambition statement: 21. Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions. 25. Ensure intelligent use of data and information to support fully evidence-based decision making and future planning. Consistent • The report at each financial period end consolidates the budget monitoring position of all council services into one council summary, highlighting and Page 135 of 176
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explaining major variances as per the council’s approved Financial Regulations. • The November 2024 report presents the council’s revenue monitoring position for the financial year to 31st March 2025 as at the end of period 6 (13/09/24). Transparent • The report highlights and explains major variances as per the council’s approved Financial Regulations. The Financial Regulations require services to remain within their approved budgeting provision, and to report all significant deviations - defined as the higher of £100,000 or 5% - within their budget monitoring reports. In context • All activities undertaken by the council are subject to risk, and in acknowledging the council’s approved Risk Management Strategy, services manage these as part of their overall corporate and service planning processes. The November 2024 report states that the current economic climate and pay and non-pay inflation, continuing at historically high levels, are some of the key factors that have the potential to impact on the council’s ability to provide quality services within approved budget levels. Balanced • Where significant deviations are identified, services must provide explanatory commentary, outline the action required to rectify such deviations and, where relevant, must also highlight the impact this has on other budget headings. This information is captured by Finance and summarised in the overall council report. • A summary by division for the period ending 13/09/24 (P6) is included in an appendix to the report, as is a note of anticipated commitments against earmarked reserves, and availability of general fund balances. Report title Summary Financial monitoring report - council summary (capital) November 2024 This report provides an update on the 2024/25 resources and expenditure for the council's Strategic Capital Investment Programme. The report also shows the 2024/25 projected outturn position and the resultant variances. (Note, the Strategic Capital Investment Programme for 2024/25 to 2028/29 was approved by Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2024.) Aligned Priority: • Improve North Lanarkshire’s resource base. Ambition statement: 21. Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions. 25. Ensure intelligent use of data and information to support fully evidence-based decision making and future planning. Consistent • The report at each financial period end consolidates the capital monitoring position of all council services into one council summary. • The November 2024 report summarises the overall council Strategic Capital Investment Programme for 2024/25 in relation to resources and expenditure and the 2024/25 projected outturn position and resultant variances. Transparent • The report notes that Strategic Capital Investment Programme 2024/25 to 2028/29 was approved at Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2024. It represents the total Community Investment Programme incorporating the General Services Capital Programme and HRA Capital Programmes. • The programme was developed in conjunction with services and led by the Strategic Capital Delivery Group (SCDG) using the principles established by the council’s Capital Strategy. In context • The report states that the General Services Capital Programme supported by General Services resources demonstrates to communities that the place making vision for towns remains a priority, and that the approved 5-year capital investment plan supports delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire. • The programme includes additional investment in Town and Community Hubs, the City Deal programme, and external grant funding. In addition, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) resources support several HRA Capital Investment Programmes including the mainstream programme for investment in the council’s existing estate and delivery of the ambition for 5,000 additional supply through the new build and council buyback programmes. Balanced • The report notes the current financial position in respect of the 2024/25 General Services Capital Programme and the Housing Revenue Account. This Page 136 of 176
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reflects the approved budget in March 2024 at Policy and Strategy Committee and subsequent decisions made at the Strategic Capital Delivery Group (SCDG) in accordance with the SCDG terms of reference, and where appropriate either by the individual service committees, Finance and Resources Committee, or the Policy and Strategy Committee as per the Scheme of Administration. • A breakdown of the overall 2024/25 budget by service programme and associated approved budget movements is included in an appendix to the report. • In acknowledging the risks, the report recognises that the capital programme continues to face challenges in relation to the wider economic climate, linked to availability of materials, contractors, and inflationary pressures. These are currently being managed by services and Project Boards associated with specific programme delivery and will continue to be monitored throughout the year in accordance with the Strategic Capital Delivery Group (SCDG) Terms of Reference. Key to RAG status green Performance is on target and/or within acceptable thresholds red Performance does not meet target and is outwith acceptable thresholds blue Performance surpasses the target and exceeds expectations Page 137 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref KH/SL Date 24/02/25 Scrutiny Work Programme - update From Katrina Hassell, Chief Officer (Business and Digital) E-mail HassellK@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096 121 Executive Summary This report follows on from the initial report in February 2023 which set out the Work Programme for the Scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel which comprises (1) items, functions, or activities requiring scrutiny identified and submitted by Panel Members and considered through the Assessment and Prioritisation Process, and (2) the presentation of information and reports aligned to the long-term vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire and its supporting strategic frameworks. Subsequent reports have provided an update in terms of the Scrutiny Work Programme and all related items scheduled to be presented to the Panel during each cycle of 2023/24 and 2024/25. This report herewith provides an update in respect of the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2025/26. This approach aims to ensure the council fulfils both (a) its statutory Best Value duty (with scrutiny structures that support Elected Members in reviewing and challenging performance), and (b) the principles of good corporate governance (in line with the Panel’s remit set out in the Scheme of Administration to provide an “independent review of the council's governance, risk management, performance, and control frameworks, and oversee the financial reporting and annual governance processes”). It also aims to ensure all scrutiny activity remains framed within the context of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and is focused on improving local public services and outcomes. This report herewith also provides an annual update on the work of the Panel in relation to the Scrutiny function and sets out the next steps following on from the initial self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in 2023, from which the Panel agreed the outcome report and improvement plan in November 2023. Recommendations It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny Panel: (1) Are aware of the update to the composite Scrutiny Work Programme and reporting timetable for the scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel, as set out in Appendix 3, (2) Continue to endorse the role of Panel Members in identifying potential issues for inclusion in the Scrutiny Work Programme in line with the Assessment and Prioritisation Process (in Appendix 2) and the overall approach (in Appendix 1), Item 9 Page 139 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 Audit and Scrutiny Panel Members will recall the report in September 2022 which set out the updated Assessment and Prioritisation Process. This report focused on the process through which Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are able to identify and submit specific items, functions, or activities which potentially require to undergo scrutiny. 1.2 A further report in February 2023 set out the Scrutiny Work Programme for the Panel, listing all scrutiny related reports scheduled to be presented to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in each cycle of the year. This composite programme brought together the Panel’s approach to scrutiny which has traditionally been twofold: (1) Items, functions, or activities requiring scrutiny identified and submitted by Panel Members (in line with the Assessment and Prioritisation Process approved by the Panel in August 2018 and subsequently updated in September 2022). (2) Presentation of information and reports aligned to the long-term vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire and its supporting strategic frameworks (as per the latest annual position statement report to the Panel in November 2024). 1.3 This approach supports the Audit and Scrutiny Panel to fulfil its remit (in line with the Scheme of Administration) to provide an “independent review of the council's governance, risk management, performance, and control frameworks, and oversee the financial reporting and annual governance processes.” 1.4 It also contributes to discharging the scrutiny function in line with the Panel’s specific responsibilities to: • Review and monitor the performance of the council in delivering upon its priorities, outcomes, programme of work, and targets in the council plan; specifically performance in improving local public services and local outcomes and in demonstrating Best Value. • Review performance to assess whether intended policy outcomes have been achieved. • Consider the council's performance, improvement, and governance arrangements to ensure that approaches continue to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of planned services and outcomes and the council’s vision. 1.5 Since the Scrutiny Work Programme was approved in February 2023, various items have been scrutinised and Panel Members have submitted requests for other specific items, functions, or activities to be considered for inclusion in the Programme in line with the approved Assessment and Prioritisation Process. As such, the following areas of service have been added to the work programme and undergone scrutiny by the (3) Continue to carry out their scrutiny role in reviewing and challenging performance to ensure the council fulfils its statutory Best Value duty, and (4) Endorse the approach to the next steps set out in this report in relation to the follow up self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 140 of 176
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Panel throughout 2023 and 2024 to date: • Supported businesses. • Tower laundries. • Compulsory purchase orders • Housing refurbishments. • Community boards. • Digital broadband. • Corporate insurance. • Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). • Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). 1.6 The Panel has also supported the governance role of the council through year end scrutiny reviews of the Strategic Governance Framework and its supporting review programme and the Annual Governance Statement, as well as being the first point of reporting in the council in relation to announcements about each year’s forthcoming national Best Value audit theme. 1.7 A quarterly performance assurance review report has also informed the Scrutiny Work Programme and supported the Panel in maintaining strategic oversight and awareness of the council’s performance by summarising each cycle’s performance reports (i.e. Chief Officers performance review reports at service committees and service specific reporting to meet business and/or statutory obligations). In doing so this report brings together a summary of the council’s performance reports in one composite assurance overview. 1.8 With the Scrutiny Work Programme and programme of reports and process by which to identify scrutiny items now well established, this report herewith follows on from the initial report in February 2023 which set out the Work Programme for the Scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel and provides an update in respect of the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2025/26. 2. Scrutiny Work Programme Approach to Scrutiny led by Members of the Panel 2.1 The Work Programme for the Scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel is founded on items submitted for consideration being evidence based. This is essential in order to ensure a fully informed assessment and prioritisation process. 2.2 As such, a set of principles were agreed in 2018 which were to be used to assess and prioritise items to be included in the Scrutiny Work Programme. To ensure scrutiny continues to support delivery of the Programme of Work and The Plan for North Lanarkshire, and focuses on improving local public services and outcomes, these were further reviewed in September 2022. The current set of principles are listed below: 1. Is the issue an area of concern for a wide range of service users, communities, or stakeholders that has been identified by numerous sources and is supported by a substantial bank of evidence? 2. Is the issue strategically significant, i.e. would improvement in this area have a positive impact on the delivery of one or more of the five priorities in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The five priorities aim to: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. • Support all children and young people to realise their full potential. • Improve the health and wellbeing of communities. Page 141 of 176
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• Enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across communities. • Improve North Lanarkshire’s resource base. 3. Can scrutiny add value? Is performance, service delivery, or quality likely to improve as a result of scrutiny? 4. Will scrutiny of the issue support improved delivery of the Programme of Work or improved delivery of any of the supporting strategies, policies, or plans in the Strategic Policy Framework? 5. Does the issue pose a significant risk to the council? 6. Has the issue already undergone scrutiny, or review activity, within a recent timeframe? 7. Will scrutiny be duplicating other review work already underway, or planned, across the council? If so, does the scrutiny process align to the scope of the other review work and will it be able to support the identification of mutually beneficial recommendations for improvements? 8. Is the proposed scrutiny activity timely and can the scrutiny activity be completed within a reasonable timeframe? 2.3 The Assessment and Prioritisation Process - informed by the principles set out in paragraph 2.2 above - is set out in Appendix 2. This process is applied when assessing and prioritising each proposed area of activity or issue put forward by Panel Members. It allows for the relative merits of each issue brought forward by Panel Members to be assessed objectively, thus making the approach to determining whether an issue is appropriate for inclusion in the Scrutiny Work Programme clear and transparent. It also allows for issues to be prioritised if there were potentially competing matters presented for scrutiny. For completeness in terms of the overall approach to scrutiny led by Members of the Panel, the arrangements in place that sit alongside the Assessment and Prioritisation Process are outlined in Appendix 1 (as reported to the Panel in September 2023). 2.4 For added context a wide range of information already exists to complement the scrutiny process, this includes: • Performance indicators from the Strategic Performance Framework. • Information on the volume, nature, and outcome of complaints. • Benchmarking results and comparisons (where available), as per the approach reiterated through the annual position statement reported to the Panel in October 2024 and the launch of the national dashboard by the Improvement Service: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/benchmarking/explore-the-data. • Demographics and future projections, e.g. for population or households. • Policies in place, or under development, in line with the Strategic Policy Framework review programme. • Improvements identified or to be implemented or are complete which have arisen from the Strategic Self-Evaluation Framework review programme. • Elements or mechanisms from the Strategic Governance Framework review programme. Type of scrutiny review 2.5 Appendix 3 includes the specific areas of scrutiny identified by Panel Members as requiring to undergo a spotlight review. Members will recall the types of scrutiny review which can be undertaken were set out in the report in November 2022. To ensure the most effective approach to scrutiny, reviews can take one of three formats once they have passed muster through the Assessment and Prioritisation Process: • Spotlight - short, sharp, focused scrutiny activity which could form one agenda Page 142 of 176
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item for a Panel meeting. • In-depth - which can be undertaken by all Panel Members or, if required, a smaller subgroup. This would require a clear scope to be developed along with a timetable for the work to be undertaken. The work of any subgroup would require a report, with recommendations, to be submitted back to the full Audit and Scrutiny Panel for consideration and approval. • Focus - presentation to Panel Members to share information and raise awareness or increase knowledge of a particularly complex area of activity or issue. Composite Scrutiny Work Programme with timetable of reports to future Panel meetings 2.6 While the information set out in paragraph 2.5 above supports (a) the items, functions, or activities requiring scrutiny identified and submitted by Panel Members, it also forms the basis for (b) the presentation of information and reports aligned to long-term vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire and its supporting strategic frameworks. As such, both areas are captured in the timetable in Appendix 3. 2.7 In line with the external auditors Annual Audit Report (AAR) for 2023/24, presented to the Panel in October 2024 (link), the Scrutiny Work Programme in Appendix 3 includes an item in respect of the following recommendation made by the external auditors in order to support strategic oversight and scrutiny by the Panel: Issue / risk Recommendation Agreed management action / timing Continuity and security of IT operations Business and Digital support services to develop appropriate ICT Disaster Recovery arrangements. Disaster recovery testing varies across systems and services. The Corporate Business Continuity Plan has not yet been tested. The council does not receive formal assurances regarding the IT control environment for systems which are externally hosted. Risk - There is a risk that the council does not have the required assurance over its IT operations. The council should ensure there is appropriate oversight of its continuity and security of IT operations and ensure the necessary assurances are obtained for externally hosted systems Services will continue to own and manage their Business Continuity arrangements - with support and guidance from the Resilience Planning Team. Business Continuity testing framework has been implemented. It is recommended that Services test their plans annually and a corporate test will be arranged every 3 years. Responsible officer: Depute Chief Executive Agreed date: November 2026 Oversight of IT security and IT Disaster Recovery will continue to be managed through established corporate working groups and Service Management Teams. Development of assurances on externally hosted systems will be monitored through the established arrangements of the Digital North Lanarkshire Programme of Work. Responsible officer: Chief Officer (Business and Digital) Agreed date: April 2025 Extract from the action plan in the Audit Scotland Annual Audit Report (AAR) 2023/24, October 2024. Page 143 of 176
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Next steps 2.8 The timetable in Appendix 3 also includes the follow up to the 2023 self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel, from which the Panel agreed the outcome report and improvement plan in November 2023 (link). To ensure consistency from the 2023 self- evaluation to a follow up self-evaluation to assess progress, the intention was to use the same set of 25 assessment questions which had initially been derived from (a) CIPFAs Position Statement: Audit Committees in Local Authorities (2018) and the supporting Audit Committees Practical Guidance for Local authorities document (2018) in respect of the Audit function of the Panel, and (b) the Best Value Statutory Guidance (2020) in respect of the Scrutiny function of the Panel. However, CIPFA have since published a new version of the two aforementioned documents and while much of the content remains similar to the previous version, there are some distinct differences which impact on the assessment question set. 2.9 Nevertheless, work is underway to review this information in order to develop an assessment question set for the 2025 self-evaluation exercise in a way that ensures consistency and enables improvement in the results from one year’s exercise to the next to be able to be assessed. As such, this item is on the timetable in Appendix 3 for the self-evaluation to be undertaken in early summer with a report back to the Panel in cycle 3. 2.10 The composite Scrutiny Work Programme in Appendix 3 will be kept up to date and an update provided to the Panel in cycle 1 each year. Any new items, functions, or activities requiring scrutiny will be added to the programme as they are identified, scoped (where additional information is needed to help understand the matter being put forward), and then reviewed through the Assessment and Prioritisation Process. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The key measure of success is the Audit and Scrutiny Panel discharging its scrutiny duty to identify specific areas requiring improvement which are aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire and will have a positive impact on the council’s ability to deliver the long-term vision and improve local services and outcomes. The Scrutiny Work Programme in Appendix 3, and this annual review report, support the ongoing provision of a log of scrutiny related requests and recommendations made by the Panel that support ongoing monitoring, management, and improvement. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 - Approach to Scrutiny led by Members of the Panel Appendix 2 - Assessment and Prioritisation Process Appendix 3 - Composite Scrutiny Work Programme with timetable of reports to Panel meetings - 2025 to 2026 (as at January 2025) Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business and Digital) Page 144 of 176
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The Local Government Act 1992 established the role of the Statutory Direction to direct councils in terms of the “publication of information as to standards of performance”. The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 introduced the duty of Best Value; this requires that councils “make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance”. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital Page 145 of 176
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transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The Scrutiny Work Programme supports an efficient approach to the scrutiny of performance by the Audit and Scrutiny Panel (in line with their terms of reference as per the Scheme of Administration) and contributes to the mitigation of the risk on the Corporate Risk Register for governance, leadership, and decision making. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 146 of 176
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Panel Member led Scrutiny Panel Scrutiny Activity Assessment and Prioritisation Process (see Appendix 2) • Elected Members on the Audit and Scrutiny Panel can liaise with Business and Digital Officers when developing their potential items for scrutiny. • Once fully developed, Panel Members should submit their potential items for scrutiny to the Convener who will then liaise with Business and Digital Officers regarding the next steps. In advance of the Assessment and Prioritisation Process Panel Members to identify potential items for scrutiny by: • Identifying the context. • Presenting the evidence. • Reviewing the latest performance. • Carrying out site visits (if required). • Preparing a list of potential questions to be addressed. • Identifying the type of scrutiny required (i.e. spotlight, in-depth, focus). • Business and Digital Officers carry out the Assessment and Prioritisation Process in conjunction with the Convener. • At this point, further engagement may take place with the Panel Member raising the item for scrutiny in order to further scope out specifically what requires to be scrutinised. • Once a potential item for scrutiny has passed muster through the Assessment and Prioritisation process, it will be added to the Scrutiny Work Programme in line with the capacity on the agenda for each meeting and the context around the issue to be scrutinised. • Elected Members at Panel meetings. During Panel meetings • Panel Members carry out the challenge and scrutiny role. • Agree recommendations. • Monitor the annual Scrutiny Work Programme. • Agree follow ups required based on either (a) supplementary information to provide further details / clarity for an item currently undergoing scrutiny, or (b) a supplementary report required to address any significant matters of concern not covered in the initial report. • Scrutiny Work Programme updated and follow ups actioned by Business and Digital Officers in conjunction with the Convener and respective Chief Officer. After Panel meetings • Update Scrutiny Work Programme. • Action follow ups actioned by either (a) obtaining the supplementary information from the relevant Chief Officer to provide further details / clarity for an item which has undergone scrutiny, or (b) requesting a supplementary report from the respective Chief Officer in order to address any significant matters of concern not covered in the initial report. What Who Scrutiny does: Add value to what the organisation ultimately aims to achieve in terms of: • Improving the performance of local services. • Improving the performance of outcomes for local people. • Demonstrating the council is achieving Best Value. • Supporting delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire. • Improving performance by assessing whether intended policy outcomes have been achieved. • Having a clear purpose. Scrutiny does not: • Deal with matters that are still subject to legal or court proceedings. • Deal with matters which have already been determined through a legal process. • Involve political considerations. • Deal with matters already determined through a regulatory process (e.g. planning, licensing), or for which an appeals process already exists. • Duplicate the work of the council’s Service Committees. • Revisit decisions already made by another of the council’s Committees. • Involve minor matters or matters involving individuals. • Consider live matters that are already subject to review within the council or by an external body. Scrutiny provides: • An opportunity for an objective focus on matters of performance or policy that have a significant impact on service delivery. • An opportunity to challenge matters of performance or policy and do a deep dive into the facts in order to drive forward better performance. Audit and Scrutiny Panel Approach to Scrutiny led by Members of the Panel Assessment and Prioritisation Process Appendix 1 Page 147 of 176
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Appendix 2 Assessment and Prioritisation Process Page 148 of 176
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Appendix 3 Scrutiny Work Programme with timetable of reports to future Panel meetings - 2025 to 2026 The following programme (as at January 2025) will be updated as new items requiring scrutiny are identified, scoped (where required), assessed, and prioritised and pass muster in line with the Assessment and Prioritisation Process. Scrutiny items, functions, or activities for Audit and Scrutiny Panel meetings Scrutiny of this item, function, or activity aims to … Update as at January 2025 Cycle 1 24th Feb 2025 Cycle 2 8th May 2025 Cycle 3 28th Aug 2025 Cycle 4 13th Nov 2025 Cycle 1 26th Feb 2026 Identified by Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel - completed Supported businesses. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 18/05/23: link to report • Supplementary information requested during the Panel meeting and circulated by Chief Officer afterwards. • Item complete. Laundries in towers. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 18/05/23: link to report • Item complete. Housing refurbishments. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 04/09/23: link to report • Item complete. Compulsory purchase orders. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 04/09/23: link to report • Item complete. In depth review of digital Broadband. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 09/05/24: link to report • Item complete. Corporate insurance provision. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 09/05/24: link to report • Item complete. Response to performance reduction scoring of Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) and Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 09/05/24: link to report • Item complete. Community boards. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 09/05/24: link to report • Item complete. At the meeting in February 2024, it was recorded that the Panel requested that the point in the Internal Audit report regarding payroll controls and software used should be incorporated into the scrutiny work programme for a follow up report. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. • Report at Panel meeting on 22/10/24: link to report • Item complete. Identified by Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel - scheduled At the meeting in May 2024 (where indicators with a Red RAG status were discussed through the quarterly performance assurance review report for Business and Digital) it was noted that the school IT environment had a range of older technology and the Panel requested further details on the corresponding programme of asset management in this respect. This request was subsequently approved through the Assessment and Prioritisation Process. Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. ✓ At the meeting in August 2024 whereby the Carry out a spotlight scrutiny review. ✓ Page 149 of 176
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Scrutiny items, functions, or activities for Audit and Scrutiny Panel meetings Scrutiny of this item, function, or activity aims to … Update as at January 2025 Cycle 1 24th Feb 2025 Cycle 2 8th May 2025 Cycle 3 28th Aug 2025 Cycle 4 13th Nov 2025 Cycle 1 26th Feb 2026 quarterly performance assurance review report for Housing was considered, the Panel requested a scrutiny review in relation to the council’s performance in respect of the average number of days to re-let voids (empty properties) in housing. This request was subsequently approved through the Assessment and Prioritisation Process. Scrutiny Work Programme / annual report of the Scrutiny work of the Panel Annual update of the composite scrutiny programme with timetable of reports to future Panel meetings. For the 2025 update, this includes a summary update on the Scrutiny elements considered by the Audit and Scrutiny Panel during the year to highlight the impact of the work of the Panel. Support the Best Value governance and accountability theme by ensuring the council’s scrutiny structures support Elected Members in reviewing and challenging performance. Fulfil the action on the Improvement Plan approved at the Panel meeting in November 2023 following the initial self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel to ensure the Panel continues to effectively discharge its duties and can demonstrate that it adds value to the organisation. • Report on agenda for Panel meeting on 24/02/25. • Summary of the scrutiny work undertaken by the Panel during 2023/24 was incorporated into the Annual Governance Statement for 2023/24: link to report. • Report at Panel meeting on 26/02/24: link to report. • Report at Panel meeting on 04/09/23: link to report. • Report at Panel meeting on 16/02/23: link to report. ✓ ✓ Strategic Performance Framework Annual update on Strategic Performance Framework Performance Reporting Schedule. For the 2025/26 update this will include information in respect of the newly published Accounts Commission Statutory Direction in terms of the “publication of information as to standards of performance”, which comes into effect from 2025/26 for the next three years. Support the Best Value governance and accountability theme by ensuring the council can demonstrate the existence of robust arrangements for scrutiny and performance reporting. Fulfil the Panel’s remit as per the Scheme of Administration to: • Review and monitor the performance of the council in delivering upon its priorities, outcomes, programme of work, and targets in the council plan, specifically performance in improving local services and outcomes and in demonstrating Best Value. • Review performance to assess whether intended policy outcomes have been achieved. • Consider the council's performance, improvement, and governance arrangements to ensure that approaches continue to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of planned services and outcomes and the council’s vision. • Report at Panel meeting on 16/02/23: link to report. ✓ Summary overviews of performance achieved against the measures in the Strategic Performance Framework in terms of improving local outcomes and services. This includes Chief Officer’s individual Performance Reviews at Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework (incorporating benchmarking results, where available) and Chief Officer service specific performance reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. • Report on agenda for Panel meeting on 24/02/25. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 31/10/24: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 29/08/24: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 09/05/24: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 26/02/24: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 20/11/23: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 04/09/23: link to report. • Quarterly performance assurance review report at Panel meeting on 18/05/23: link to report. ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Strategic Government Framework Annual review and refresh of the Framework and an update to the review programme. Fulfil the Panel’s remit as per the Scheme of Administration to: • Consider the council's performance, improvement, and governance arrangements to ensure that approaches continue • Report at Panel meeting on 27/06/24: link to report. ✓ Page 150 of 176
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Scrutiny items, functions, or activities for Audit and Scrutiny Panel meetings Scrutiny of this item, function, or activity aims to … Update as at January 2025 Cycle 1 24th Feb 2025 Cycle 2 8th May 2025 Cycle 3 28th Aug 2025 Cycle 4 13th Nov 2025 Cycle 1 26th Feb 2026 to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of planned services and outcomes and the council's vision. Ensure good governance principles are in place to enable the council to effectively pursue the ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire within appropriate controls and the management of risk. This is also central to ensuring effective scrutiny and delivery of statutory Best Value obligations. This means ensuring resources are directed in line with agreed policies, priorities, and project management procedures, and there is sound and inclusive decision making and clear accountability for the use of those resources in achieving improved outcomes for service users and communities. Note; this is part of the year end suite of governance documents that accompanies the Panel’s consideration of the Unaudited Annual Accounts, it is therefore scheduled to be presented to the Panel at the same time, usually at a special meeting in June each year. Annual Governance Statement Consider and note the Annual Governance Statement each year, and confirm the inclusion of the assurance statement regarding the management of the risk of fraud and corruption. The Annual Governance Statement will continue to include information on the implementation of items in the Strategic Self- Evaluation review programme and the improvements derived through this process. Fulfil the Panel’s remit as per the Scheme of Administration to: • Consider the council's performance, improvement, and governance arrangements to ensure that approaches continue to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of planned services and outcomes and the council's vision. • Review the Annual Governance Statement prior to approval and consider whether it properly reflects the risk environment and supporting assurances, taking into account Internal Audit’s opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the council’s framework of governance, risk management and control. Fulfil the requirements of the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016) and the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 by ensuring that: • The council conducts a review at least once in each financial year of the effectiveness of its system of internal control. • The findings from the review are considered at a meeting of a committee whose remit includes audit or governance functions. Note; this is part of the year end suite of governance documents that accompanies the Panel’s consideration of the Unaudited Annual Accounts, it is therefore scheduled to be presented to the Panel at the same time, usually at a special meeting in June each year. • Report at Panel meeting on 27/06/24: link to report. ✓ Complaints handling performance Annual report on the council’s performance in handling complaints. Report on the council’s performance in handling complaints in line with the Local Authority Model Complaints Handling Procedure. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 provides the legislative basis for the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to publish Model Complaints Handling Procedures for bodies under its jurisdiction. Since it was implemented in 2013, the council has implemented the Local Authority Model Complaints Handling Procedure. Report on the council’s performance in handling complaints in order to fulfil the requirements of good governance, i.e. in particular principle A1.4 in the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016) in terms of behaving with integrity and “demonstrating, communicating, and embedding the standard operating principles or values through appropriate policies and processes which are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that they are operating effectively”. • Report at Panel meeting on 26/02/24: link to report. ✓ Annual position statement on the six strategic Annual report to demonstrate Best Value in good governance and effective use of resources that leads to improving the functions Support the Best Value governance and accountability theme by ensuring the council can demonstrate the existence of robust arrangements for scrutiny and performance reporting. • Report at Panel meeting on 31/10/24: link to report. ✓ Page 151 of 176
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Scrutiny items, functions, or activities for Audit and Scrutiny Panel meetings Scrutiny of this item, function, or activity aims to … Update as at January 2025 Cycle 1 24th Feb 2025 Cycle 2 8th May 2025 Cycle 3 28th Aug 2025 Cycle 4 13th Nov 2025 Cycle 1 26th Feb 2026 frameworks and activities the council undertakes to deliver the best possible outcomes and services that improve the everyday lives of local people. With the Strategic Self-Evaluation Framework aligned to the national Best Value guidance it is now well established and unlikely to change much from year to year moving forward, the annual position statement report will continue to incorporate a regular update on any significant changes to this Framework as well as implementation of its review programme to avoid a separate report to the Panel each year. Similarly, as the Strategic Policy Framework is aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire and Programme of Work it is well established and regularly reviewed. The annual position statement report will continue to incorporate a regular update on any significant changes to this Framework as well as implementation of its review programme. Fulfil the Panel’s purpose as per the Scheme of Administration to provide “independent review of the council’s governance, risk management, performance and control frameworks”. Ensure good governance principles are in place to enable the council to effectively pursue the ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire within appropriate controls and the management of risk. This is also central to ensuring effective scrutiny and delivery of statutory Best Value obligations. This means ensuring resources are directed in line with agreed policies, priorities, and project management procedures, and there is sound and inclusive decision making and clear accountability for the use of those resources in achieving improved outcomes for service users and communities. Project Management Framework independent strategic oversight and assurance Elected Member oversight in terms of the quality assurance process and review programme for the Project Management Framework. Fulfil good practice in project management which recommends that a council's audit and scrutiny committee have an important role to play in providing independent assurances about the delivery of major programmes and projects. The Panel’s role in this respect is therefore to be assured that suitable review procedures have been adopted and to gain assurance about the value of independent reviews that are undertaken during the project life cycle. • Report at for Panel meeting on 26/02/24: link to report. ✓ ✓ Self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel Effectiveness of the performance and activities of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in discharging the scrutiny aspects of its role. Follow up self-evaluation scheduled to be undertaken in early summer of 2025, with the outcome reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in cycle 3 of 2025. Fulfil corporate governance principle E2.4 in line with the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016) in terms of developing capabilities to ensure Elected Members have the appropriate skills, knowledge, resources, and support to fulfil their roles and responsibilities and ensure they are able to update their knowledge on a continuing basis. Address the risk identified by Internal Audit in terms of the council being able to adequately demonstrate that it has effective audit committee arrangements and/or arrangements to ensure Elected Members have the skills, knowledge and (where appropriate or required) access to relevant training and resources to effectively undertake their role. • Report at Panel meeting on 20/11/23: link to report. ✓ Training and development on the Scrutiny function for Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel Elected Member training includes all relevant aspects of Scrutiny and covers (a) the role of Scrutiny in terms of ensuring the council can demonstrate Best Value through the existence of robust arrangements for performance reporting and scrutiny, and (b) the approach to scrutiny led by members of the Panel and the supporting Assessment and Prioritisation Process. This includes the supporting strategic frameworks (i.e. Policy, Governance, Performance, Self-Evaluation, and Project Management) in terms of their relevance to each Member’s role on the Panel. Support the Best Value vision and leadership theme in terms of Elected Members being self-aware and committed to training and personal development to update and enhance their knowledge, skills, capacity, and capabilities to deliver Best Value and perform their leadership roles, and they receive sufficient support to do so. Fulfil corporate governance principle E2.4 in line with the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016) in terms of developing capabilities to ensure Elected Members have the appropriate skills, knowledge, resources, and support to fulfil their roles and responsibilities and ensure they are able to update their knowledge on a continuing basis. Fulfil the action on the Improvement Plan approved at the Panel meeting in November 2023 following the initial self-evaluation of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel to formally establish a regular face to • Follow up training materials under development with the assistance of the training and organisational development team scheduled to be launched at the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in cycle 3 of 2025. • Two training sessions held with members of the Panel in respect of the Scrutiny function of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel held on 28th May and 6th August 2024. ✓ Page 152 of 176
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Scrutiny items, functions, or activities for Audit and Scrutiny Panel meetings Scrutiny of this item, function, or activity aims to … Update as at January 2025 Cycle 1 24th Feb 2025 Cycle 2 8th May 2025 Cycle 3 28th Aug 2025 Cycle 4 13th Nov 2025 Cycle 1 26th Feb 2026 face learning and development programme for the Audit and Scrutiny Panel to ensure members of the Panel have the appropriate skills and knowledge and (where required) access to relevant training and resources to effectively undertake their role. Business continuity Report that provides the required assurances in respect of the corporate Business Continuity Plan and ICT Disaster Recovery arrangements. Fulfil Best Value requirements in relation to ensuring the local authority has a responsible attitude to managing risk, and business continuity plans (including civil contingencies and emergency plans) are in place to allow an effective and appropriate response to planned and unplanned events and circumstances. • Report scheduled to be reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in cycle 1 of 2026. ✓ Page 153 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref KH/SL Date 24/02/25 Quality Assurance for the Project Management Framework and Programme of Work - annual Audit and Scrutiny Panel review From K Hassell, Chief Officer (Business and Digital) E-mail HassellK@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096 121 Executive Summary As the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are aware, the Programme of Work is key to achieving the shared ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. To date it has collectively facilitated a co-ordinated approach to successfully delivering a wide range of programmes, projects, and large-scale transformational activities, including the council’s capital investment programme. To deliver successful investment and transformational programmes and projects the council needs to ensure plans are well-designed and well-executed. Good project management arrangements and good governance therefore go hand in hand as essential components to ensure investment is well-directed, delivered to time, cost, and quality targets, and provides the expected benefits and improved outcomes locally. As such, delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire is subject to a set of Quality Assurance arrangements in line with the corporate Project Management Framework. These arrangements have been aligned to the governance supporting the Programme of Work to 2028 to ensure the council can (a) demonstrate compliance with the Project Management Framework, and (b) monitor delivery of projects and activities supporting the Programme of Work. Good practice recommends that a council's audit and scrutiny committee play an important role in providing independent assurances about the delivery of major programmes and projects. As such, a report to the Panel in February 2024 set out an initial overview of the Quality Assurance arrangements for the Panel’s information in advance of future annual assurance reports to support Elected Member oversight in terms of the quality assurance process and review programme; this report herewith now enables that oversight. Recommendations It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny Panel: (1) Acknowledge the implementation of the Quality Assurance arrangements which have resulted in the information set out in this report for Elected Member oversight in terms of the quality assurance process and review programme, and (2) Note the role of the Panel set out of the next steps (set out in paragraphs 2.11 and 2.12) to ensure ongoing oversight and quality assurance in terms of demonstrating progress in delivering the Programme of Work and achieving the vision set out in The Item 10 Page 155 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 As the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are aware, The Plan for North Lanarkshire sets the vision and strategic direction for North Lanarkshire as a place and provides a very clear focus and compelling narrative in terms of what the council is working towards. The Programme of Work is key to realising the shared ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire and delivering on the vision of inclusive growth and prosperity for all to bring equal benefits and a fairer distribution of wealth to all North Lanarkshire’s people and communities. 1.2 Consistently embedded throughout all policy statements agreed by the council, as well as all strategic management, strategy development, service delivery, and corporate governance approaches, the one Plan narrative of The Plan for North Lanarkshire has been the constant basis to enable the Programme of Work (as the delivery vehicle for The Plan for North Lanarkshire) to bring together strategic planning and community investment in a cohesive manner and in a way that has established solid foundations for the place-based approach. 1.3 With the approval of the new five-year Programme of Work to 2028 at the Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2023 and the subsequent Single Integrated Programme of Work high-level Delivery Plan in September 2023, a clear set of deliverables are in place to inform the detailed Delivery Plans formally implemented from 2024/25 onwards for each of the seven Programme of Work priorities. 1.4 These detailed Delivery Plans (which were presented to the Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2024) include a wide range of programmes, projects, and activities that are considered critical to delivering the vision of The Plan for North Lanarkshire. To deliver successful investment and transformational programmes and projects the council needs to ensure delivery plans are well-designed and well-executed. As such, good project management arrangements and good governance go hand in hand as essential components to ensure investment is well-directed, delivered to time, cost, and quality targets, and provides the expected benefits and improved outcomes locally. Therefore, delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire is subject to a set of Quality Assurance arrangements in line with the corporate Project Management Framework. 1.5 An update regarding implementation of the Project Management Framework was set out in the strategic frameworks annual position statement reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2024, this report noted that: • Following an extensive council wide review exercise, the corporate Project Management Framework was updated and launched in December 2022. • The overarching purpose of the Project Management Framework document is to provide a comprehensive Framework that outlines the processes and techniques which aim to help to scope and manage a project, meet agreed milestones, fulfil appropriate reporting and assurance requirements, involve the right people at the Plan for North Lanarkshire. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 156 of 176
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right time, implement each stage of delivery from start to finish, and achieve the expected benefits or improved outcomes of each project. • The Project Management Framework does not attempt to set out all the complexities of project management - or say there is only one way to manage a project - or define which methodology a particular project should use. The flexibility set out therein is intentional to allow each Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) and Project Manager the ability to identify the approaches that best suit the requirements of a particular project and will most effectively support the delivery of the expected benefits and outcomes to cost, time, and quality - but to do so within the fundamentals of good project management and good governance. • Following a successful pilot, Project Management training was rolled out across the organisation from February 2023 and has continued throughout 2024. This comprises a programme of half and full day training sessions for which Chief Officers identified employees requiring to undergo the training. • During 2024, the Project Management Framework has undergone a lite touch review process to ensure it continues to remain fit for purpose. This refresh took account any significant feedback arising from the aforementioned training programme, reiterated the requirement to undertake a post project evaluation, incorporated the gateway check process from the Invest in North Lanarkshire Programme of Work, reiterated the importance of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) being given due consideration at the beginning of a project, and raised awareness that project management and change management need to complement each other and work in tandem to support delivery of the Programme of Work to 2028 and this would be facilitated through the development of a change management toolkit. 1.6 The strategic frameworks annual position statement to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2024 also advised that quality assurance arrangements had been established and aligned to the governance supporting the Programme of Work to 2028 to ensure the council can (a) demonstrate compliance with the Project Management Framework, and (b) monitor delivery of projects and activities supporting the Programme of Work in line with the dimensions within which a project requires to be delivered, i.e. scope, quality, time, cost, resources, risk, and completed status. 1.7 The review programme to assess (a) compliance with the Project Management Framework was finalised and implemented during 2023/24. An overview of the results and findings arising following the analysis of the completed baseline self-assessment forms has informed improvement plans for each Chief Officer and the areas for improvement identified through the review programme are currently being progressed. This report herewith provides the Audit and Scrutiny Panel with a high-level summary of findings from the baseline self-assessment and the next steps to allow Elected Members to undertake their role (as set out in the report to the Panel in February 2024) in terms of providing independent quality assurance governance oversight in relation to the delivery of major programmes and projects in line with the Project Management Framework. 1.8 In respect of (b) monitoring delivery of projects and activities supporting the Programme of Work in line with the dimensions within which a project requires to be delivered, a report is considered regularly by the Policy and Strategy Committee to support them to maintain their strategic oversight role of the overall Programme of Work to 2028 in relation to the “development, co-ordination, and monitoring of The Plan for North Lanarkshire” and to keep under review such “programmes as the Committee considers necessary to achieve the council’s long-term aims and objectives”. The most recent report in this respect was considered by the Policy and Strategy Committee in September 2024 (link) and an update is scheduled for reporting in cycle 1 of 2025. Page 157 of 176
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2. Quality Assurance compliance assessment - summary as at January 2025 2.1 As previously reported to the Panel, the introduction of a composite Project Register was the crucial starting point to enable Quality Assurance arrangements to be established for the Project Management Framework. This process is part of the council’s year end governance arrangements and, as such, Chief Officers are required to review and update their individual Project Registers twice a year - as at the end of September and as at the end of March. 2.2 Following work to review and update their Project Registers, Chief Officers identified the projects that were to be on the inaugural review programme and therefore subject to the Quality Assurance process. The initial step for the new review programme was a Baseline Review undertaken through a self-assessment. Moving forward and as Project Registers are updated, and the rolling review programme evolves, there are four types of assessments (listed below and detailed in Appendix 1) which will be used to support the Quality Assurance process: (1) Baseline Review - undertaken once (as at a point in time) to establish the baseline information that will be used to assess compliance and identify areas requiring improvement. (2) Check In Review - undertaken either during a project or after a project closes to assess compliance, progress in implementing previously agreed improvement actions, or identify new areas requiring improvement. (3) Deep Dive Review - if the outcome from a review at (1) and/or (2) demonstrates significant non-compliance then a Deep Dive Review will be programmed to be undertaken. (4) Senior Management Team Review - where supported by significant concerns that can be evidenced, the senior management team of the council can request ad hoc reviews of a particular project. 2.3 132 projects from Chief Officer’s Project Registers were subject to the initial Quality Assurance compliance assessment which was all projects on the Registers with the exception of the undernoted. In these instances, a tailored approach was agreed with the respective Chief Officer in order to avoid an overly bureaucratic, time consuming, or resource intensive process given the substantial volume of projects within these areas of service. The intent from the tailored approach was that any lessons learned from the sample would be shared with all within the respective service and/or programme. • For the new supply programme, a sample was selected that meant every fifth project on the Register was required to undergo the Quality Assurance compliance assessment; this was a 21% sample. • From the housing property register submitted, a sample of 20% was selected (in respect of a range of different areas of delivery) to undergo the Quality Assurance compliance assessment. This sample was checked and verified by the Chief Officer, but was subsequently reduced to a 12% sample when it was advised by Project / Senior Managers that certain projects were classed as business as usual. • From the corporate assets / hubs register, all projects over the value of £1.5m and live during 2023/24 were submitted on the Project Register and therefore required to undergo the Quality Assurance compliance assessment. Summary of findings from the Baseline Review 2.4 The Baseline Review comprised five sections (A to E, aligned to the five stages in a Page 158 of 176
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project’s life cycle as per the Project Management Framework) and 30 compliance statements (set out in Appendix 2). The information input for each completed self- assessment form in the Baseline Review was subject to an independent review and analysis exercise. Following this, the results were aggregated and are set out below to provide a summary of the overall council baseline compliance position: 1. Generally, the outputs show a relatively positive picture in terms of the volume of positive responses to many of the compliance statements. 2. The evidence provided showed the existence of Project Plans in many projects together with the quality of these which was considered to be an area of good practice. As was ensuring that where there is a Project Team in place, their roles and responsibilities have been made clear to them. 3. The accuracy and quality of the information input to the forms was dependent on each Project Manager providing this. While it was recognised that this was to some extent a subjective exercise, further evidence was requested to verify the information provided; this took the form of (a) qualitative responses to some of the questions, and (b) the submission of key documentation that is noted as mandatory in the council’s Project Management Framework. (a) The qualitative information alone provided a wide-ranging picture across the projects and across the organisation. It also suggested some areas of inconsistencies and partial compliance with the Framework, and in some instances a lack of knowledge or understanding in this respect and, as this was the first ever self-assessment of this kind, unclear or incomplete responses provided through the self-assessment form. (b) Six questions asked for evidence to be provided to support the Project Manager’s statement of compliance. Based on these statements and the lifecycle each project that completed the self-assessment form was at, 370 pieces of evidence should have been submitted and 75% (279) were provided suggesting that there was no evidence to substantiate the remaining 25% of statements, or it had been omitted from the submission for another reason. 4. The review of the documentary evidence provided (in line with the statements of compliance) found that in instances where the council’s Project Management Framework was listed as the methodology used, the corporate documentation was not consistently in use. In addition, the quality of the evidence provided - and extent to which it demonstrated compliance with the Project Management Framework - varied considerably. The main points in this respect are noted below: • Items (such as covering committee reports) were provided as evidence of a Project Brief or a Project Business Case. This also meant that, in some instances, neither were in place. While a committee report may be considered to have provided sufficient information to outline a brief about a project, it is not necessarily an adequate substitute for a Project Business Case. • Where Project Briefs and/or Project Business Case were provided the quality and completeness of the information provided therein varied. • Progress and performance monitoring reports varied in format and content and in their use of a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) status to highlight areas of concern. An extensive list in terms of frequency of reporting and the audience(s) for monitoring reports, was provided but this did not wholly evidence that the required assurances were wholly in place in this respect. • The approach to undertaking a Position Risk Assessment and identifying, monitoring, and managing risks and issues was relatively positive, however this area was not wholly compliant and there was a lack of consistency and awareness of this requirement in some instances. • The process for Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) / Chief Officer sign off for Page 159 of 176
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the Project Brief or Project Business Case (as appropriate) was not always clear. • Very little was able to be ascertained from the final section of the compliance statements (i.e. section E, project closure) given the small number of projects that had reached this particular stage in the project lifecycle when the baseline self-assessments were being undertaken (this is depicted in the figure below). There were also more blanks in this section than other sections with no information being provided. However, from the information provided it would suggest that further awareness raising is required of the importance of post project evaluations and in terms of ensuring lessons learned are captured and implemented throughout a project’s duration. 5. Notwithstanding the above points, a key factor in the ability to complete the compliance form - and in the final RAG status applied - appeared to be the level of understanding in terms of potentially what was, and what was not, a project (in line with the definition that is in the Project Management Framework). There also seemed to be issues in completing the form where items were classed to be programmes (not projects). This definition was expanded on for one service’s management team to support the completion of their Project Register and it was subsequently shared with all members of the Programme of Work Strategic Board and has been incorporated into the updated Project Management Framework. 6. For several projects, it was subsequently advised that the name of the Project Manager identified on the Project Register was incorrect which meant the compliance form had to be updated and re-sent to another named individual to complete. In several instances more than one Project Manager (or lead officer) was identified for a single project. 7. When a comparison was undertaken of (a) the project managers identified as requiring to complete the Baseline Review self-assessment form with (b) the list of individuals who had completed either the full or half day Project Management Framework training during 2023 or 2024, this identified around 35 individuals on (a) who had not yet completed either the full or half day Project Management Framework training. Areas for improvement 2.5 When considering the summary in paragraph 2.4 above, it should be noted that: (i) This is the first ever large-scale organisation wide quality assurance compliance exercise undertaken on all projects listed across all Chief Officer’s Project Registers. (ii) These projects are at varying stages in their life cycle and many have significant Page 160 of 176
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interdependencies and other internal / external requirements to be fulfilled, which add to the complexities of managing a project. (iii) The operating environment and accountability structures of a local authority do not necessarily lend themselves to the practical implementation of project management in the same way as it would for a for profit organisation. (iv) For many managers across the council, project management is an add-on to their existing roles and responsibilities, i.e. they are required to assume more roles than just that of Project Manager when it comes to managing a project. 2.6 It should also be noted that while the five sections in the Quality Assurance self- assessment are aligned to the five stages in a project’s life cycle as per the Project Management Framework, the Framework document itself recognises that not all projects follow a linear process and therefore these stages are not necessarily sequential. This may have had an impact on the ability of some projects to complete the self-assessment form in a logical manner. 2.7 Following the aforementioned independent review and analysis exercise to obtain a summary of the outputs, a RAG status was applied to each project (based on the criteria set out in Appendix 1); this was then aggregated to provide the overall council baseline compliance position (depicted in the graph on the right). This position will be subject to ongoing updates and monitoring to assess continuous improvement in this respect. 2.8 Taking into consideration the summary set out in paragraph 2.4 above (and the detailed findings which sit behind this) as well as the caveats noted in paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6 above, three organisational level areas for improvement were identified: 1. Formally agree the next steps to progress each Chief Officer’s specific improvement actions arising from the self-assessment compliance review of the baseline information to improve organisation wide consistency in the governance and management of capital and non-capital projects and in compliance with the Project Management Framework. 2. Improve awareness and understanding of the importance of ensuring that the council’s investment in key projects is well-directed, delivered to time, cost, and quality targets, and provides the expected benefits and improved outcomes locally. 3. Ensure independent oversight, scrutiny, and assurances in terms of the delivery of the council’s major projects. 2.9 To implement these areas for improvement, 11 Chief Officer Improvement Plans have been established. Each Chief Officer’s Improvement Plan comprises (i) the actions to be implemented to fulfil area for improvement 1 and 2 identified in paragraph 2.7 above, and (ii) service / project / programme specific improvements which were identified through the review of the completed baseline self-assessment forms, the analysis of the outputs from the forms, and an assessment of the supplementary documentary evidence provided. 2.10 The improvements being implemented from the 11 Chief Officer Improvement Plans have been categorised and are summarised below: Improvement action / outcome 1. Undertake further engagement and awareness raising regarding future compliance requirements and lessons learned. This includes undertaking a range of engagement sessions with Chief Officers and their service / Page 161 of 176
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Improvement action / outcome programme management teams (as appropriate) in order to share the quality assurance results, discuss the improvements identified, cascade lessons learned and raise awareness of the quality assurance process and next steps. This will ensure wider scale awareness of the improvements that need to be implemented and a greater understanding and implementation of the areas of good practice / mandatory tasks and documentation (as well as post project evaluations) that need to be adhered to throughout the life cycle of a project. 2. Ensure take up of training is maximised and undertaken by all individuals managing projects, and/or provide tailored 1:1 support. This includes a review of staff who have / have not attended project management training during 2023 or 2024 to identify requirements for the corporate training programme in 2025/26. Where specifically required, tailored 1:1 sessions will be undertaken with the respective service / programme / project managers and officers to discuss specific improvement actions, lessons learned, and next steps. This will inform the corporate training programme for 2025/26 and the communications required to maximum attendance and learning and development opportunities and also ensure all staff will have undergone the council’s project management training (where required) in order to improve understanding of the key tasks and mandatory actions within the discipline of project management. This will improve compliance with the Project Management Framework. 3. Undertake further reviews in line with the rolling review programme to ensure ongoing improvements to the overall council quality assurance RAG position. In line with the four types of reviews (set out in Appendix 1) this relates to a range of reviews during 2025 on specific projects as identified on a case by case basis through the baseline process and subsequent engagement and actions with Chief Officers and service / programme / project managers and officers. This includes check in reviews to ensure reviews have been undertaken for projects which were not at the completed stage as at the time the baseline review was undertaken to ensure compliance in respect of all five stages in a project’s life cycle as per the Project Management Framework (i.e. A to E in Appendix 2). This also includes those projects which had not provided full and complete documentary evidence as part of the baseline review process, and a review of service sign off procedures. This will also include new baseline reviews for new projects added to the register and deep dives where issues were identified following the baseline review. 4. Review content of project registers to ensure resources are focussed on genuine projects (in line with the definition of a project) and improvement actions are focussed and add value accordingly. This includes a review and update of project registers to assess the contents on the basis of the criteria that differentiates between a project and business as usual. This will ensure the contents meet the criteria of a project and improve the validity of outputs arising from the Quality Assurance process and ensure improvement actions identified add value to delivering the Programme of Work. This will also identify any new projects on the Register which require to undergo the initial baseline review process. 5. Ensure independent oversight, scrutiny, and assurances in terms of the delivery of the council’s major projects. This includes: • An annual Quality Assurance report submitted to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel (as noted in paragraphs 2.11 and 2.12 below). • Findings regularly submitted to, and reviewed by, each Programme of Work Strategic Board. • Strategic oversight by the council’s senior management team in line with their respective governance role. • Continued integration within the council’s year end governance processes, i.e. the Chief Officers year end checklist and assurance statements and the Annual Governance Statement. Next steps 2.11 While the role of overseeing various components of major programmes and projects sits with the respective Service Committee, good practice (as noted in the Project Management Framework) recommends that a council's audit and scrutiny committee have an important role to play in providing assurances about the delivery of these. The Audit and Scrutiny Panel therefore has a key strategic oversight and assurance role in Page 162 of 176
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terms of the implementation of Project Management Framework and delivery of the Programme of Work. This role is to specifically: • Review and monitor the performance of the council in delivering upon its priorities, outcomes, Programme of Work, and targets in the council plan, specifically performance in improving local services and local outcomes and in demonstrating Best Value. • Consider the council's performance, improvement, and governance arrangements to ensure that approaches continue to facilitate effective and efficient delivery of planned services and outcomes and the council's vision. 2.12 The Quality Assurance arrangements set out in this report forms part of the work programme for the Scrutiny function of the council’s Audit and Scrutiny Panel to ensure an independent strategic oversight and assurance process. As noted in the Scrutiny Work Programme report on the agenda today, the Panel’s role in this respect is to be assured that suitable review procedures have been adopted so that the council can gain the relevant assurances about the value of independent reviews that are undertaken during the project life cycle and hereinafter an annual report will be presented to the Panel to support this role. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Measures of success will be evidenced through progress being made to deliver the portfolio of Programme of Work programmes, projects, and activities and achieve the long-term vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire (as demonstrated through the 28 Health Check Indicators). 4. Supporting documentation • Appendix 1: Quality Assurance Compliance Assessment - process to assess project compliance with the Project Management Framework. • Appendix 2: Quality Assurance compliance assessment - question set for the baseline review. Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business and Digital) 5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- Page 163 of 176
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scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 164 of 176
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Work to establish Quality Assurance arrangements in terms of ensuring compliance with the Project Management Framework and monitoring delivery of the programmes, projects, and activities that support the Programme of Work to 2028 contribute towards mitigating the risks on the Corporate Risk Register for (a) inability to deliver approved programmes of work, and (b) governance, leadership, and decision making. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 165 of 176
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Appendix 1 Quality Assurance Compliance Assessment - process to assess project compliance with the Project Management Framework The Project Management Framework comprises a governance section which sets out relevant information and guidance on the role of quality assurance in project management. In this respect, it is considered recommended good practice to ensure that quality assurance activities are in place to establish a systematic process of reviewing the documentation and methods adopted by a project and verifying that they are meeting the intended quality standards. In line with this governance section, four types of reviews have been established to support the Quality Assurance Compliance Assessment process: (1) Baseline Review - undertaken once (as at a point in time) to establish the baseline information that will be used to assess compliance and identify areas requiring improvement. This will be a self-assessment that will be completed by the respective Project Manager. This assessment will align to the lifecycle of a project and will include a focus on implementation of the mandatory tasks and advanced recommended practice (as set out in the Project Management Framework). The findings from these Baseline Reviews will also inform the need for, and frequency of, subsequent Check in Reviews or Deep Dive Reviews. (2) Check In Review - undertaken either during a project or after a project closes. The need for this type of review (and timing and frequency) will be informed by the Baseline Review and is therefore likely to be dependent on the type, size, complexity, and duration of a project, what the project aims to achieve, the project’s deliverables, and the requirements of any related industry standards. (3) Deep Dive Review - if the outcome from a review at (1) and/or (2) demonstrates significant non-compliance then a Deep Dive Review will be programmed to be undertaken. This will focus on the areas of non-compliance from the previous review(s) to identify the root cause of the specific issue(s) that need to be addressed and the remedial action that requires to be implemented in order to ensure compliance moving forward. (4) Senior Management Team Review - where supported by significant concerns that can be evidenced, the senior management team of the council can request ad hoc reviews of a particular project. The purpose of such a review would be to examine in-depth the identified issue(s) and ensure the outcome from the review adds value to what the council aims to achieve. Following the Baseline Review, the outputs undergo an independent assessment, and each project is assigned a Quality Assurance (QA) Compliance Rating: • Projects with a Red QA Compliance Rating are considered at risk due to non-compliance with the Project Management Framework. • Projects with an Amber QA Compliance Rating may be considered at risk, depending on the nature and significance of the review findings. • Projects with a Green QA Compliance Rating are considered compliant with the Project Management Framework. Note, following the initial baseline reviews many Red and Amber RAG status positions assigned to projects were due to a lack of supporting documentation to enable a fully informed judgement to be made on compliance. This was impacted by a lack of understanding in how to complete the self-evaluation form. Where the Compliance Rating is assessed to be Amber or Red, actions for improvement require to be identified by the respective Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) and implemented by the Project Manager. Implementation of these improvement actions is thereafter monitored corporately, and a range of follow ups undertaken to ensure the specific project moves to being wholly compliant with the Project Management Framework. Page 166 of 176
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Appendix 2 Quality Assurance compliance assessment - question set for the baseline review This comprised a form which contained various branching options: • Where specific questions had a drop down menu which meant the answer could only be one of the set of pre-defined options. • For questions where no, partially, don’t know was selected, further qualitative information was requested to substantiate the response. • If yes was selected for the mandatory documentation questions, then the documentary evidence had to be submitted when submitting the questionnaire. If no, partially, or don’t know was selected, further qualitative information was requested to substantiate the response. A. Baseline Information about a Project Please advise the date you completed this assessment. 1. Please advise the current % completion status of the project. 1b. If you answered Other to question 1, please specify. 2a. Please advise the start date of project. 2b. Please advise the end date of project. 2c. Is start date an estimate or actual? 2d. Is end date an estimate or actual? 3. Please advise size of the project in terms of how much it has / will cost. 4. Please advise any industry standards that your project requires to comply with in relation to quality assurance. 5. Please confirm how many sections of this form you will be able to complete based on what stage your project is at. B. Project Initiation 6a. Which methodology does the project use? 6b. If you answered Other to question 6a, please specify. 7a. Does the project have a Project Brief (or equivalent)? 7b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 7a, please advise why. 7c. If you answered Yes to question 7a, please provide a copy the Project Brief (or equivalent). 8a. Does the Project Brief (or equivalent) clearly outline what the project aims to achieve. 8b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 8a, please advise why. 9a. Have key risks been identified by carrying out a Position Risk Assessment (PRA)? 9b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 9a, please advise why. 10. Have all relevant stakeholders been identified, and has engagement been undertaken with them? 11a. Have all the required sign offs been attained before proceeding to the next stage of the project? 11b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 11a, please advise why. C. Planning and Set Up 12. Is there a Project Team in place and have they been fully briefed on the project and what it aims to achieve? 13. If a Project Team is in place, have their roles and responsibilities been made clear to them? 14a. Does the project have a Project Business Case (or equivalent)? 14b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 14a, please advise why. 14c. If you answered Yes to question 14a, please provide a copy of the Project Business Case (or equivalent). 15a. Does the project have a Project Plan? 15b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 15a, please advise why. 15c. If you answered Yes to question 15a, please provide a copy of the Project Plan. 16a. Does the project have structures in place to provide strong and effective oversight, challenge, and direction to you as the Project Manager? 16b. If you answered Yes to question 16a, please briefly outline the structures in place. 17. Have all the required sign offs been attained before proceeding to the next stage of the project? D. Delivery and Ongoing Management and Monitoring 18. Are key risks understood and regularly monitored throughout project delivery? Page 167 of 176
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19. Are risks and issues identified and regularly reviewed and addressed throughout project delivery? 20. Is there an effective mechanism in place to manage and control project changes? 21. Are the dimensions of the project sufficiently flexible enough to deal with unexpected impacts and/or changes in the internal operating context or the external environment? 22a. Is progress in terms of project delivery regularly monitored and assessed? 22b. If you answered Yes to question 22a, please advise frequency of reporting and audience(s). 22c. If you answered Yes to question 22a, please provide a copy of the Monitoring Report(s). 22d. If you answered Yes to question 22a, does monitoring include an ongoing review of project dimensions (i.e. scope, quality, time, cost / resources, and risk)? 23a. Is project performance being measured and monitored? 23b. If you answered Yes to question 23a, please provide an example of how this is undertaken. 24. Has the Project Business Case (or equivalent) continued to be reviewed and updated (as required) throughout the duration of the project? 25a. Have all relevant processes and decision been documented throughout the duration of the project? 25b. If you answered yes to question 25a, please list the main documentation that has been maintained. 26a. Has budget monitoring been undertaken on a regular basis? 26b. If you answered Yes to question 26a, please advise how and how often budget monitoring has been undertaken. E. Project Closure 27a. Has a post project evaluation been undertaken? 27b. If you answered Yes to question 27a, please provide a copy of the evaluation. 28a. Have lessons learned been captured and shared? 28b. If you answered No, Partially, or Don't Know to question 28a, please advise why. 28c. If you answered Yes to question 28a, please advise if lessons learned were captured throughout the project, or only at the project end, or a combination of both? 28d. If you answered Yes to question 28a, please advise if lessons learned have been shared wider. 29a. Has the overall success of the project been determined and have the benefits / improved outcomes been identified and reported? 29b. If you answered yes to question 29a, please advise who the benefits / improved outcomes were reported to. 29c. If you answered yes to question 29a, please provide a copy of the report. 30. Does the project have a clear plan for transfer to operations / business as usual for when the project has been completed? Page 168 of 176
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref KH/SL Date 24/02/25 Auditing Best Value in local government - update From Katrina Hassell, Chief Officer (Business and Digital) E-mail HassellK@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096 121 Executive Summary Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are well versed in the Best Value duty which requires the council to ensure arrangements are in place to secure continuous improvement in performance for all the functions and activities undertaken to deliver services and improve outcomes. Since implementation of the duty in 2004, all local authorities in Scotland have been subject to ongoing national and local audit processes to ensure they continue to be able to demonstrate Best Value in practice. A new national approach to auditing Best Value came into effect as part of the external auditor five-year appointments from 2022/23. This approach is twofold and means that: • Auditing Best Value is integrated within the wider scope of the external auditor’s annual audit work which is reported in their Annual Audit Report (AAR). This includes risk- based and follow up audit work on Best Value related recommendations from previous audit reports. • Thematic Best Value audit work is undertaken each year by the external auditor as per the Accounts Commission’s requirements to provide assurance on areas of risk / interest across Scotland as at a defined point in time. This means that the council undergoes an annual assessment of particular aspects of Best Value in order to provide the Accounts Commission (the public spending watchdog for local government in Scotland whose duty is to ensure that public money is spent properly, efficiently, and effectively) with the relevant assurances in terms of performance and the quality of services to the public. While Best Value has a focus on good governance and managing resources effectively, in practice it is about so much more - it’s about improving the functions and activities the council undertakes to deliver the best possible outcomes and services that improve the everyday lives of local people. Elected Members therefore have a key role to play to ensure the council continues to demonstrate Best Value in practice and - as members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are charged with oversight of the governance of the council - this report aims to help Panel members fulfil that role by providing an update on the national approach to auditing Best Value that will be implemented during 2025/26. Recommendations Item 11 Page 169 of 176
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1. Background 1.1 Members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel will recall the reports to the Panel in February 2023 and 2024 which provided an outline of the new national approach to auditing Best Value which came into effect as part of the external auditor appointments for the five- year term from 2022/23. 1.2 This approach is twofold and means that: • Auditing Best Value is integrated within the wider scope of the external auditor’s annual audit work which is reported in their Annual Audit Report (AAR). This includes risk-based and follow up audit work on Best Value related recommendations from previous audit reports as well as reflecting on council reporting against priorities and in terms of the use of the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF). • Thematic Best Value audit work is undertaken each year by the external auditor as per the Accounts Commission’s requirements to provide assurance on areas of risk / interest across councils as at a defined point in time and enable comparisons across Scotland. This means that the council undergoes an annual assessment of particular aspects of Best Value in order to provide the Accounts Commission with the relevant assurances in terms of performance and the quality of services to the public. 1.3 Since the new approach was implemented, Elected Members have been able to view the various outcome reports (listed below) through the Audit and Scrutiny Panel and/or Policy and Strategy Committee: Annual Audit Report (AAR) • 2022/23 - link to report to Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2023. • 2023/24 - link to report to Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2024. Thematic report • The council’s 2022/23 outcome report on the theme in respect of the leadership of the development of new strategic priorities was presented to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in October 2023 and the Policy and Strategy Committee in December 2023. • The council’s 2023/24 outcome report on the theme for workforce innovation (specifically how the council is responding to current workforce challenges through building capacity, increasing productivity, and innovation) was presented to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in August 2024 and the Policy and Strategy Committee It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny Panel: (1) Are aware of the update to the national approach to auditing Best Value, the priority for the year three thematic Best Value audit work, and the implications for the council in this respect, and (2) Endorse their role (in line with the Scheme of Administration) in terms of ensuring the council continues to secure Best Value in practice in line with the statutory duty. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 170 of 176
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in September 2024. 1.4 With the national thematic Best Value priorities changing each year, this report provides members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel with an overview of the year three thematic Best Value audit work that will be undertaken during 2025/26, based on the information available at the current time. 2. Best Value audit approach in councils The duty of Best Value 2.1 The requirements for external auditors in all areas of their audit work, including Best Value, are set out in the Code of Audit Practice 2021. This is issued by Audit Scotland to define auditors’ objectives and responsibilities, and it is a condition of each auditors’ appointment that they follow the Code. Supplementary guidance is also provided to assist external auditors in meeting the Best Value requirements of the Code; this promotes a consistent approach to the audit work across all 32 councils. 2.2 Having been in place since 2004, the national Best Value guidance was updated in 2020 to better reflect the current environment in which councils deliver services with an increasing emphasis on citizens and personalised services, a focus on outcomes, and the need for innovation in designing public services for the future. The 2020 guidance frames Best Value around seven themes and councils are required to demonstrate a focus on continuous improvement in performance around each of these themes: 1. Vision and leadership. 2. Governance and accountability. 3. Effective use of resources. 4. Partnerships and collaborative working. 5. Working with communities. 6. Sustainability. 7. Fairness and equality. Sustainability, and fairness and equality, continue to be cross-cutting themes that should be integral to all of the functions and activities carried out by a council to deliver good outcomes and achieve Best Value. Annual Audit Reports (AARs) 2.3 The approach to auditing Best Value includes a regular review of Annual Audit Reports (AARs) by the Accounts Commission. • Annual Audit Reports (AARs) for each council will be reviewed by the Accounts Commission (under the cover of the statutory Controller of Audit report which is produced under Section 102 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) at least once over the five-year appointment to provide the Commission with assurance on Best Value in each individual council. • The programme of Controller of Audit reports will cover all 32 councils over the period from October 2023 to August 2027; eight councils will be reported each year. • The timetable is as noted in the table underneath; North Lanarkshire Council will undergo the Controller of Audit process and report to the Accounts Commission between October 2025 and August 2026. Year 3 councils for Controller of Audit reports are subject to change however, should another council’s risk profile change significantly. Page 171 of 176
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Council reports published to date Reports due to be published December 2024 to August 2025 Year 3 - reports due to be published October 2025 to August 2026 • South Ayrshire • Dundee City • Dumfries and Galloway • Orkney Islands • Moray • Falkirk • Clackmannanshire • City of Edinburgh • Scottish Borders • Renfrewshire • East Renfrewshire • Western Isles • Fife • Argyll and Bute • Highland • East Lothian • North Ayrshire • Aberdeenshire • North Lanarkshire • Shetland Islands • Glasgow City • Stirling • Inverclyde • Angus • Controller of Audit reports will cover each council’s latest Annual Audit Report (AAR) and be a summary of the information and judgements reported. The Accounts Commission will consider the report and may report findings publicly or request a hearing (in extreme circumstances). • External auditors will undergo a clearance process with each council for the Controller of Audit reports. Thereafter these reports will be expected to be submitted to the relevant committee for Elected Member’s discussion and oversight. National outcomes from the annual thematic Best Value audit work Year one - 2022/23 2.4 Following the conclusion of the thematic Best Value audit work for 2022/23, which focused on the leadership of the development of new strategic priorities, a national report (link) was published in July 2024 with key findings which included the following: • The leadership in all councils have established a clear vision supported by revised priorities informed by the views of citizens and communities. • Most councils have set out what they want to achieve in their priority areas, but improvements are needed in performance monitoring and reporting. • Councils need to do more to ensure budget decisions and financial strategies are aligned to priorities. Councils have a variety of strategic plans focused on workforce, digital, assets, and service plans but the extent to which these have been updated to reflect new priorities is varied. • Members and officers are working collaboratively, but maintaining and strengthening these relationships and ensuring strong governance and scrutiny is key to ensuring tough decisions are made effectively. • Community empowerment is a local priority for most councils. Source: Audit Scotland at an Improvement Service learning event, December 2024 It should be noted that none of the issues noted in paragraph 2.4 above were identified as an area for improvement within the North Lanarkshire Council thematic Best Value report for 2022/23. The report for the council in this respect identified three areas for improvement which have been implemented and signed off by the external auditors, these focussed on strategic planning feedback, community engagement, and elected members training and development. Year two - 2023/24 2.5 Following the conclusion of the thematic Best Value audit work for 2023/24, which focused on workforce innovation, a snapshot of key findings from Audit Scotland’s Page 172 of 176
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review of thematic reports for all 32 councils in Scotland is shown below. the corresponding national report is scheduled to be published later in 2025. • Councils take a structured and comprehensive approach to workforce planning at service level, but the corporate-level approach requires strengthening. Councils recognise that the need to make workforce planning more strategic. • Workforce strategies are clearly aligned to strategic priorities. Councils engaged effectively with Heads of Service and Trade Unions when developing their Workforce Strategy. • Councils have a workforce plan to support the delivery of its strategic objectives, but this needs to align with service plans and digital strategy. • Work is underway to capture the skills and development needs of the workforce and work to identify skills gaps is at an early stage. • Councils need to develop comprehensive workforce planning across their services. Plans should be underpinned by better data to support decision making and measure impact. Source: Audit Scotland at an Improvement Service learning event, December 2024 It should be noted that none of the issues noted in paragraph 2.5 above were identified as an area for improvement within the North Lanarkshire Council thematic Best Value report for 2023/24. The report for the council in this respect identified three areas for improvement which are being progressed during 2025/26, these focussed on acting on staff feedback, flexible and hybrid working policies, and data in respect of the temporary workforce. Year three - 2024/25 2.6 The thematic Best Value audit work for 2025/26 will see a focus on Transformation - how councils are redesigning and delivering more efficient services to achieve planned outcomes across all 32 councils in Scotland. In considering this matter, external auditors will focus on the following questions: a) To what extent does the council have clear plans for transformation that link to its priorities and support long-term financial sustainability? b) To what extent do the council’s programme management arrangements facilitate effective oversight of its transformation plans? c) To what extent are communities and partners involved in the development and delivery of the council’s plans for transformation? d) To what extent has the council considered the impact of its transformation activity, including on vulnerable or protected groups? 2.7 In providing added context in respect of the year three thematic audit, the external auditors have also highlighted that self-evaluation and evidence should always remain key to a council being able to demonstrate Best Value. 2.8 The information presented above in respect of the forthcoming year three thematic Best Value audit work has been considered by the senior management team of the council to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place to support the audit process. Discussions are expected to take place with the external auditors in the spring of 2025 when a more detailed audit specification will be provided to inform the evidence required to fulfil the audit. Next steps Page 173 of 176
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2.9 The Annual Audit Report (AAR) for 2024/25, and outcome report arising from the thematic Best Value audit work to be undertaken during 2025, are expected to be reported to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in the autumn of 2025. 2.10 Details of the national audit work programme each year (including both completed and still to be published work) are contained within the Audit Scotland website: https://audit.scot/what-we-do/our-work-programme. As a dynamic work programme, this information is kept under review and updated every three months to ensure it responds to changing circumstances. 2.11 National developments in terms of the approach to auditing Best Value, as well as key findings arising from other councils’ audits, will continue to be kept under review as the process evolves. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Measures of success include: • Regular oversight and monitoring of performance across the organisation to gain assurances in terms of governance and accountability. • Regular review and challenge processes to scrutinise the performance of the council to ensure effective use of resources and that resources are directed in accordance with agreed policy and according to priorities, while ensuring sound decision making and clear accountability for the use of resources in achieving improved outcomes for service users and the local community. • Performance monitoring, management, and reporting arrangements that support the demonstration of improved performance in local services and outcomes, and the delivery of Best Value. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Best Value work reported in Annual Audit Reports (AARs) and local management reports have been collated across Scotland into national thematic and overview reports. The links to these reports are available below for the supplementary information of Audit and Scrutiny Panel members. • Transformation in councils - sector led change and collaboration to achieve financial sustainability - October 2024. This aims to set the scene in advance of the year three thematic Best Value audit work. • Delivering for the future - why leadership matters (national output report following year one Best Value thematic audit) - July 2024 • How the Accounts Commission holds local government to account - blog January 2024 • 20 years of Best Value Auditing in Scotland - September 2023 Katrina Hassell Chief Officer (Business and Digital) 5. Impacts Page 174 of 176
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5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 introduced the duty of Best Value; this requires that councils “make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance”. The Local Government Act 1992 established the role of the Statutory Direction to direct councils in terms of the “publication of information as to standards of performance”. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 175 of 176
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Ensuring that members of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel are aware of their role and how this supports the council to demonstrate Best Value contributes to the mitigation of the risk on the Corporate Risk Register for governance, leadership, and decision making. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 176 of 176