Decision details

Louise Taylor, interim executive director for children and young people presented an update on the actions taken in response to the internal audit report on Children and Young People (CYP) services.

Previously the committee had been informed of a number of areas within the CYP directorate where the audit team had given limited assurance.  These included:

Adoption allowances (namely Special Guardianship Orders and Residence Orders payments)

Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) service (starred recommendations)

Working Together With Families (WTWF)

Case file audits

The committee was informed that the measures being undertaken in respect of adoption allowances included a written agreement with adopters requiring them to notify the council of any change in circumstances. In addition, the directorate was proposing to write out to adopters once a year reminding them of this obligation.

A series of measures had been put in place to monitor and track the 'starred recommendations' of the Independent Reviewing Officers. The measures included assigning a quality and review manager to take lead responsibility for overseeing and auditing 'starred recommendations' on a monthly basis and the production of a quarterly report.

In respect of WTWF, it was noted that an action plan had been developed and implemented and that a revised assurance level was expected to be secured shortly. It was also noted that the directorate was now confident an agreement could be reached with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the criteria for the funding and the number of families they expected the council to be engaged with.

The directorate acknowledged that it did not always achieve the target number of case file audits. However, it considered that the targets had been set too high. It was therefore proposed to reduce the number of audits to avoid causing too much disruption to front line staff. 

The audit statements together with a comprehensive list of the actions taken in response to the findings of the Internal Audit Service were set out at Appendices A and B to the report respectively.

Resolved: That the report be noted.