Item includes full copy of the Ofsted Implementation Plan as an appendix.

The Director of Finance and Investment, Shaer Halewood, introduced her report that provided Members with a progress update on actions taken by officers to address items of concern identified in the Annual Governance Statement for 2016/17. The report informed that progress had been made to address all issues identified in the action plan. Targets, timescales and responsible officers having been identified and tasks allocated and work underway.

The Director of Finance and Investment informed the Audit and Risk Management Committee on the RAG status of each of the significant issues and progress updates as detailed in her report, namely:

• Improvement Notice issued by the Secretary of State for Education (30 September 2016) – status amber.
• ICT Business Continuity Planning – status green.
• ICT Resilience Planning – status amber.
• Compliance – Absence Management – status amber (sickness target not met – target 10.75 days, current projected levels 10.78 days).
• Essential Training – status red (date not met - rated red at 62% of staff RfI training module completed by deadline of 31 October 2017 – figure is now 83%).
• Compliance – Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) – status green.
• Performance Appraisals (not a significant Governance Issue in the 2016/17 AGS, and reported for information only) – status amber.

Members questioned the Director of Finance and Investment on the procedures in place to track and follow up those issues rated as amber. Members were informed that all significant issues were continually monitored and subject of report to the Audit and Risk Management Committee (ARM), and in the case of the action plan is respect of the OFSTED item the Director of Children had also been invited to provide assurance of progress to the as requested. The Chair added that Members may also request reports on any topics or issues of concern they may have.

The Chair asked Members to note the report, and in doing so requested that Committee’s positive feedback be passed back to the relevant officers. The Chair further requested that a quarterly report on staff performance appraisals be brought back to the ARM Committee to include some form of qualitative review, possibly gathered via a satisfaction survey of a proportion of staff. The Chief Internal Auditor informed that a small data sample could be collected for this purpose. 

Resolved – That the report be noted.