Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Iris Bishop - Tele 01896 825525  Email:  iris.bishop@borders.scot.nhs.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Mr Andrew Bone, Director of Finance, NHS Borders, Mrs Gillian Woolman, Audit Scotland, Ms Sue Holmes, Principal Internal Auditor.

 

The Chair confirmed the meeting was quorate.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members should declare any financial and non financial interests they have in the items of business for consideration, identifying the relevant agenda item and the nature of their interest

Minutes:

The Chair sought any verbal declarations of interest pertaining to items on the Agenda.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted there were none.

3.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 164 KB

08.03.2021

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Integration Joint Board Audit Committee held on 8 March 2021 were approved.

4.

MATTERS ARISING pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Action Tracker

Minutes:

4.1     Mr Jim Wilson referred to a previous conversation in regard to a “question time type exercise” and sought an update. Mr Rob McCulloch-Graham advised that two “live conversations” had taken place with Mr Ralph Roberts, Chief Executive, NHS Borders and himself answering questions. The sessions had been chaired by Mrs June Smyth, Director of Planning & Performance, NHS Borders. The first session was attended by 16 people and 7 people attended the second session. The lessons learnt from those 2 sessions included: being more proactive in advertising; refining the format; considering whether to continuing to host them jointly with Health or undertake them as a single conversation concentrating on the delegated services to the IJB; and looking at ways to reach the harder to reach groups.

 

4.2     Mr Wilson enquired if the public Board meetings were well advertised and attended. Mr McCulloch-Graham advised that the Integration Joint Board meetings were held in public. They were advertised and papers made available to the public via the Scottish Borders Council website. Consideration was likely to be given to live streaming of the meetings in future.

 

4.3     Action 10: Mr McCulloch-Graham advised that he would circulate the Delayed Discharges Audit Report to the Committee. The action would then be closed on the action tracker.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted the action tracker.

5.

Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board Audit Committee Annual Report 2020/21

Minutes:

Discussion focused on: the potential for informal sessions to be held alongside formal meetings to provide an opportunity for members of the Committee to develop and fulfil their remit; the mechanism to match overspends with assurance statements; financial carry forwards by the IJB for ring fenced funding of functions; and reference to the diagram in the Strategic Plan which showed the funding flows in to and out of the IJB.

 

Cllr Tom Weatherston noted that the attendance record for the IJB Audit Committee was excellent.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE approved the IJB Audit Committee Annual Report 2020/21 (Appendix 1) which incorporates its self-assessments (Appendices 2 and 3) using the CIPFA Audit Committees Guidance; and

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE agreed that the IJB Audit Committee Annual Report 2020/21 (Appendix 1) should be presented to the IJB.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE agreed that regular information sessions should be set up on budget.

6.

Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board Internal Audit Annual Assurance Report 2020/21

Minutes:

Mrs Jill Stacey provided an overview of the content of the report.

 

Cllr John Greenwell noted the increase in reserves and enquired if they were unrestricted reserves or ring fenced. Mr Rob McCulloch-Graham commented that the vast majority were ring fenced, although there was some limited flexibility on how they could be utilised. He referenced the Primary Care Improvement Plan funding where some programmes overlapped with existing services outwith primary care such as some mental health services, so there could be some slight flexibility on the funding, but it would be limited.

 

Mr Paul McMenamin advised the Committee that in regard to reserves, the reserves policy had been enacted at the end of 2020. Advice had been taken from the Independent Auditor to enact the policy and the reserves fund had increased. He advised that a significant proportion of the reserves were ring fenced and related to funding allocations from the Scottish Government. Benchmarking had been carried out against other partnerships and he assured the Committee that the position in Scottish Borders was not disproportionate.

 

Cllr Tom Weatherston enquired if the shortage of workforce and increased rates of pay in the hospitality sector would further impact on the ability to recruit to social care staff. The Chair commented that the health sector was also finding it difficult to recruit staff. She further commented that the Feeley Report had recognised there was a need for a career structure to be put in place for those staff and the work they undertook had been undervalued.

 

Mr Jim Wilson enquired about progress with the appointment of a Chief Financial Officer. Mr McCulloch-Graham commented that it had been difficult to recruit to that position and Mr McMenamin had carried most of the burden of that role with Mr David Robertson, Chief Financial Officer, Scottish Borders Council and Mr Andrew Bone, Director of Finance, NHS Borders fulfilling the statutory requirements of the position. It remained a priority to recruit to the position.

 

Mrs Stacey highlighted Appendix 2 of the report and sought any feedback on the contents.

 

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE considered the Internal Audit Annual Assurance Report 2020/21 for the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board (Appendix 1), and provide any comments.

 

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE considered the list of Internal Audit reports by partners’ Internal Auditors presented to their respective Audit Committees that are relevant to SBIJB for assurance purposes (Appendix 2), consider the assurances contained therein, and provide any commentary thereon.

7.

Annual Governance Statement 2020/21 of the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board

Minutes:

Mr Rob McCulloch-Graham recorded his thanks to Mr Paul McMenamin for all of the work he had carried out on the Annual Governance Statement. The Chair echoed Mr McCulloch-Graham’s comments.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE considered the details of the Annual Governance Statement 2020/21 for the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board (Appendix 1) to ensure it reflects the risk environment and governance in place to achieve objectives, and acknowledges the actions identified by Management to improve internal controls and governance arrangements; and

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE approved that it be published in the Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 of the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board.

8.

Scottish Borders Integration Joint Board Annual Accounts 2020/21 (Unaudited)

Minutes:

Mr Paul McMenamin provided an overview of the content of the annual accounts. He drew the attention of the Committee to the legislative requirement for the annual accounts to be signed off by the IJB Chief Financial Officer. The previous year Mr David Robertson had signed the accounts in that role and it was intended that he would again sign off the accounts in that role for the IJB for 2020/21.

 

Mr Jim Wilson enquired to what extent planning ahead was taking in place in regard to population demographics in 5 and 10 years time and provision of care homes, reablement and care packages that would be required. Mr McCulloch-Graham commented that it was a pertinent question and predictions and modelling were constantly undertaken.

 

Further discussion focused on: the potential for a role for public health in proper clinically led needs assessments; the knock on effect on services of people retiring in the Scottish Borders; the recognition of the appointment of Linda Jackson, LGBTPlus as a non voting member of the IJB; and the requirement to hold an extra ordinary Audit Committee in October to sign off the annual accounts for submission to the IJB for formal approval.

 

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted the 2020/21 Annual Accounts (unaudited).

 

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE approved their submission to the External Auditor (Audit Scotland) for their annual audit review.

9.

Work Programme 2021/22 for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission

Minutes:

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted the details of the Work Programme 2021/22 for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission.

 

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE agreed to consider the relevant reports when they are published on the Audit Scotland website.

10.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that none had been notified.

11.

DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

Monday 13 September 2021

2.00pm to 4pm

Microsoft Teams

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that the next scheduled meeting of the IJB Audit Committee would be held on Monday 13 September 2021 at 2.00pm via Microsoft Teams, however an Extra Ordinary meeting of the Audit Committee would be held at 10am on Wednesday 20 October 2021 to approve the 2020/21 Annual Accounts.

 

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Scottish Borders Council

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