Issue - meetings

Report of the Assistant Director, Corporate Services, (AG/24/21) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Assistant Director, Corporate Services (AGC/24/21) which provided updates on the actions taken to address the findings of those internal audits with an opinion of “limited assurance” together with explanations where actions had been extended by more than 12 months.

The following was highlighted for the Committee:

• The Applications of Learning audit report had been approved for closure;

• The number of overdue actions had decreased by 92% since the last Committee meeting;

• 36 of the 84 high and medium priority risk actions were on target to complete with publication of key policies during December and January; and

• Where action time frames had been extended, this was attributed to resource and capacity challenges within the Service which the Service Leadership Team kept under regular review.

Referencing the reported seven priority risk areas due to be completed at the end of November 2024, with the publication of the Recruitment Policy, the Committee enquired if this was on track.  Officers confirmed that the policy consultation period had passed and the final review and publication was expected imminently.

Identifying the Service’s increasing use of data solutions, the Committee sought assurance that systems and processes were in place to mitigate IT failures.  The Committee was advised that data solutions were simplified wherever possible, and training was in place to upskill colleagues in their use.

Concern was expressed about the overdue actions resulting from the audit of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 2021/22.  The Committee was apprised that training was in place to ensure PPE was worn appropriately by staff.  Some staff had not completed the training in the requisite time frame due to competing statutory training requirements and other workload priorities.  The Committee was assured that the existing PPE was compliant with regulations and funding had been allocated within the Medium-Term Financial Plan. 

Mr Perks queried the reasons for the reported delays against the Contamination Project.  The Committee understood that this was a national issue relating to older stations not meeting modern regulations.  The Service had identified actions to ensure compliance was achieved.

The Service undertook to provide the Committee with an interim update against Action PPE 2021/22 and to submit a formal progress report at its next meeting on 20^th January 2025.  The Service also undertook to include greater detail in future Committee reports about the reasons and mitigations for overdue actions.