Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director for Finance and Resources

Shabana Kausar, Head of Finance and Deputy Section 151 Officer presented a report which provided an update on the Council’s Finance Improvement Plan (FIP) as well as a progress update on the finance improvement programme.

The following information was highlighted:

a)  Of the 247 clearly defined financial improvement deliverables/actions identified as of January 2024, 42% are completed, 38% are in progress, 14% have not been started due to dependencies on other actions which are in progress, 1% are on hold due to dependencies on other actions, and 5% have been moved to business as usual.

b)   The Plan was a live document and there is very little that is not being worked on. The Committee received assurance that good progress is being made despite capacity issues and the service holding a number of vacant posts.

c)  There will be a review of the FIP at the end of the financial year taking into account the budget and a review of the available resources alongside areas that the Council need to focus on.

d)   The Committee was reminded that Ernest Young (EY) were commissioned to undertake a 12 week focussed controls remediation project in July 2023 seeking to ensure the Council has the essential basic controls in place. That was completed in September and 38 actions were identified. As of January 2024, 27 (71%) of the 38 remediation activities have been implemented and the remaining 11 (29%) are in progress.

During the discussion and in response to questions from the Committee, the following points were made:

e)  The Committee sought clarification on when the actions within the FIP will be completed. It was explained that a number of actions are dependant on other activities. Once complete Audit Committee will be updated.

f)  It is likely that the remediation activities will be complete by June’s meeting of the Audit Committee.

g)  The Committee queried the impact of the budget on capacity and training. It was explained that there is a risk to the Council in regards to the general market as it is highly competitive, but any reduction or inability to recruit staff may mean that the Council needs to reprioritise.

h)  The Committee discussed the mechanisms in which it can continue to receive assurance once the FIP has been implemented. Members noted that compliance assurance will be given and met through processes such as internal and external audit reports and health check assessments which will be regularly reported back to Audit Committee and CLT. The Group Assurance & Audit Governance Manager reminded the Committee that present and prospective guidance suggests controls and assurance should be developed within the financial activities themselves and be available for political oversight and to the S151 Officer, CLT and Audit Committee amongst others, as Internal Audit were not adequately resourced to do so.  The Committee agreed to keep this under review to ensure that the Council did not lose sight of the basics and did not regress on its financial improvement journey.

i)  Improvements continue to be made to Oracle Fusion.

Resolved:

1)  To note the progress made on the FIP and remediation controls project.

2)  To note the progress in achieving the City Council’s FIP.

3)  To note the specific improvements delivered since the last 12 months to January 2024.

4)  To note the planned activities within the FIP to the end of February 2024.

5)  To note the progress update on the Financial Controls Remediation Project carried out by Ernest Young.