Agenda and minutes

Members were asked to intimate any declarations of interest.

The Committee resolved:-

to note that there were no declarations of interest for items on the agenda.

The Committee were asked to determine any exempt or confidential business.

The Committee resolved:-

to note that there were no items of exempt or confidential business on the agenda.

The Committee had before it the minute of their previous meeting of 11 September 2018.

In relation to article 6, resolution (iii) Martin Allan advised that he was working with colleagues from Aberdeen City Council on risk management to ensure consistency on the reporting and that an update on the Strategic Risk Register would be provided at the next meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the minute as a correct record: and

(ii)      to note the information provided.

The Committee had before it the latest version of the Business Planner.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to delete items 5 (Contracts Register), 6 (Audited Annual Accounts), 7 (Internal Audit Report – Care Management), 8 (Confirmation of Assurance), 10 (Performance Monitoring) and 13 (IJB Complaints Handling Procedure); and

(ii)      to otherwise note the content of the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by Iain Robertson (Committee Services Officer – ACC) which proposed meeting dates for the Audit and Performance Systems Committee for 2019-20.

The report recommended:

That the Committee -

(a)      Approve the meeting schedule for 2019-20;

(b)      Instruct the Chief Officer to publish the meeting schedule on the Partnership’s website; and

(c)      Agree to re-schedule the Committee’s meeting from 26 February 2019 to 12 February 2019.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained in the report.

The Committee had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer, ACHSCP) which provided a summary of the current year revenue budget performance for the services within the remit of the Integration Joint Board as at Period 6 (end of September 2018) and advised on any areas of risk and management action relating to the revenue budget performance of the Integration Joint Board (IJB) services.

The report recommended:

That the Committee –

(a)            notes the report in relation to the IJB budget and the information on areas of risk and management action; and

(b)            notes the budget virements as indicated in Appendix E.

The Committee had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer, ACHSCP) which presented a revised version of the IJB’s Financial Regulations for approval.

The report recommended:

That the Committee approve the revised Financial Regulations, as set out in  Appendix A.

Alex Stephen advised that there were two major changes to the financial regulations those being a change to reflect that the IJB had a reserves strategy which was reviewed annually and in relation to grants that officers could use delegated powers to apply for grants quickly without requiring IJB approval each time.

He further advised that in relation to reporting on amounts set aside for hospital services that at present the information was supplied once per year and not quarterly as required and that this was due to the requirement for a suitable system to be in place nationally.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendation contained in the report; and

(ii)      to note the information provided.

The Committee had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer, ACHSCP) which (1) presented the Committee with the Scottish Government’s Medium-Term Health & Social Care Financial Framework; and (2) explained that the Framework explored Health and Social Care expenditure and reform analysis which underlined the imperative of using total resources across the whole system to drive best value, reform and long-term financial sustainability of the Health and Social Care system.

The report recommended:

That the Committee note the Scottish Government’s Medium-Term Health & Social Care Financial Framework, as attached at appendix A.

Jonathan Passmore shared his thoughts on the Scottish Government Medium Term Health & Social Care Financial Framework specifically relating to efficiency savings, the need to look at productivity changes rather than efficiency savings, the challenges that the IJB would face and how those would be mitigated against.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in the short term, to request the Chief Finance Officer to discuss with officers how the report impacts on services during financial workshops scheduled for later in the month;

(ii)      to request the Chief Finance Officer to produce a detailed action plan to address the longer term impact on services and submit a report to the Committee on 12 February 2019;

(iii)      to otherwise approve the recommendation contained in the report.

The Committee had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer, ACHSCP) which provided the Committee with the opportunity to discuss and comment on the Care Inspectorate’s report ‘Progress Review Following a Joint Inspection’.

The report recommended:

That the Committee reviews, discusses and comments on the report as attached at Appendix A.

Claire Duncan (Lead Social Worker, ACHSCP) advised that the initial inspection was undertaken in 2015/16 which produced eight recommendations.  The outcome of the review is that the ACHSCP had made good progress in relation to five of the recommendations, reasonable progress in relation to two, and limited progress in relation to one (locality management teams).

Jonathan Passmore and the Chairperson intimated their congratulations to those involved in this area.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note the thanks offered to those involved within this sector;

(ii)      to otherwise note the content of the report.

The Committee had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer, ACHSCP) which provided the Committee with an opportunity to discuss and comment on Audit Scotland’s Report ‘NHS in Scotland 2018’ which was published on 25 October 2018.

The report recommended:

That the Committee reviews, discusses and comments on the report as attached at Appendix A.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to a question regarding whether the brokerage arrangement in place for IJB’s would be written off, to request the Chief Finance Officer to discuss with his counterparts from other IJB’s the potential for the brokerage with IJB’s being written off similar to that of the arrangements with the NHS;

(ii)      in relation to effective leadership, to request the Chief Finance Officer to prepare a report in relation to leadership development and the support model in place for the leadership group and submit it to this Committee within six months;

(ii)      to otherwise note the recommendation in the report.

The Chairperson provided Members with an opportunity to request additional sources of assurance for items on today’s agenda or other areas of business, and thereafter asked the Committee to confirm it had received reasonable assurance to fulfil its duties as outlined within its Terms of Reference.

Jonathan Passmore sought additional assurance in relation to delayed discharges to enable the Committee to view the performance information to inform them of any areas of concern.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to request the Chief Officer to prepare a performance report on Delayed Discharges and present the report to the Committee’s next meeting on 12 February 2019; and

(ii)      to otherwise confirm the receipt of reasonable assurance for items on the agenda.

- RHONA ATKINSON, Chairperson.