Finance and Digital Services Business Improvement Plan

This Business Improvement Plan (BIP) sets out the main actions that Finance and Digital Services intends to carry out over the period of 2024-27.

These actions will deliver core priorities and the related objectives of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and the Strategic Planning & Performance Framework.

Finance & Digital Services provides support to all services in the Council in the management and safeguarding of resources, and provides a lead for digital transformation. The areas covered include Finance, Revenue & Benefits, Business & Digital Change, Shared Services, Rent Arrears, ICT Services, Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud. In carrying out these services, we aim to meet statutory obligations, current best practice and provide a responsive and quality service to our internal customers and external stakeholders. The Strategic Grouping contributes to the Corporate Governance of the Council through the Statutory Roles of the S.95 Officer and the team’s focus on supporting and strengthening controls and monitoring legislative compliance.

Specific link between the teams’ activities and delivery of the wider Strategic Group Priorities and LOIP outcomes and guiding principles are as follows:

Finance

• Financial planning to support the Council’s decision making; to address projected budget deficits, whilst delivering investment and sustaining priorities
• Providing detailed budgeting, accounting, financial monitoring support and advice to managers and budget holders, and advising Elected Members on budget management performance. Key resource management, business planning, and business systems are supported. This includes support for the HSCP, Early Years, Housing business plan, service reviews, budget reduction strategies, Trusts, and with the Business and Digital Change Service
• Providing financial policy guidance and advice to Elected Members, CMT, Executive Officers and service managers on all corporate and operational financial matters, including support to managers in preparation and monitoring of revenue and capital budgets, options appraisal and corporate governance arrangements
• Ensuring compliance with accounting codes of practice, regulations and legislation, to ensure Annual Accounts are delivered within statutory deadlines and achieve a clean audit certificate
• Acting as a central reference point for technical accounting and budgeting, financial systems development, VAT and accounting for capital within the fixed asset register
• Providing a treasury management service including the borrowing, investment, cash balances and Prudential code elements of Council activity, providing information on capital investment and resources, and ensuring that plans are affordable and sustainable.

Compliance and Systems (Revenues & Benefits)

The Compliance and Systems team (Revenues and Benefits) assumes the lead role in the provision of revenues and benefits systems incorporating income management, performance management, reporting and statistical information. Key work undertaken by the team includes:

• Ensuring all income received by the Council is properly and timeously allocated to the correct systems and financial codes to provide accurate information for all services
• Administering Revenues & Benefits reconciliations
• Ensuring accuracy, development and enhancement of all relevant systems
• Sustaining and improving performance
• Ensuring Compliance with statutory functions.

Revenues and benefits

The Revenue and Benefits team provides all revenues and benefits services to the citizens of East Dunbartonshire. The team aims to deliver these services in an effective and efficient manner, ensuring that all processes are carried out accurately and within the recommended timescales. The team delivers housing benefit services on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions and The Scottish Welfare fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. The purpose of the team is to:

• Administer applications for benefits in line with legislation
• Administer all aspects of council tax for the 46,000+ properties in the Council area, Administer all aspects of Non Domestic Rates for commercial properties and businesses in the Council area
• Deliver the Scottish Welfare Fund locally on behalf of the Scottish Government
• Provide and implement Universal Credit payments on behalf of the Scottish Government.

ICT Services

The ICT Team is a key enabler in the Council’s transformation programme and is focused on delivering a programme to support the Council’s strategic plans. The Service also helps to ensure the Council adopts a strategic approach to ICT by leading the identification of the most appropriate technology to support its core business needs, by working closely with key stakeholders in making recommendations to ensure fit for purpose, cost effective solutions are implemented and supported. Key priorities include to:

Ensure that the Council’s ICT systems are developed and maintained to support the transformation agenda, and corporate objectives with particular emphasis on delivering efficiencies and achieving best value in service delivery

Provide an ICT Support Service to ensure effective and efficient operation of the Council’s ICT systems in line with business needs and agreed SLAs

• Develop and maintain effective business continuity plans to counteract systems failure, support business recovery and provide essential emergency front-line services
• Develop the Council’s information security policies and strategies - to minimise risk and protect the integrity of the Council’s data and inappropriate use of the Council’s ICT facilities.

Shared Services

The Internal Shared Service team provides transactional finance and administrative support to other Council services. The team aims to deliver an independent and efficient service that will meet agreed SLAs and deliver excellent internal and external customer service. The purpose of the team is to:

• Provide a centralised and efficient approach to the delivery of administration and transactional support for services · Provide accurate and timeous management information to services
• Identify and implement improvements in the systems/processes within the service
• Work with Council Services to develop and monitor SLA’s for service delivery.

Housing Rent Arrears

The Housing Rents Service provides a broad range of services aimed at improving outcomes for residents within East Dunbartonshire. The maximisation of housing rental income and pursuit of rent arrears continues to be a priority for the service, to safeguard income. This is achieved by a dedicated team of Officers, whose role is to actively pursue rent arrears and provide advice and support to tenants struggling to pay their rent. This includes early intervention advice on rent charges, payment options and discussing rent affordability to new tenants at the time of offer acceptance of their new tenancy; signposting tenants struggling financially to relevant support services to ensure household incomes are maximised; and providing additional support to tenants receiving Universal Credit housing element by having a presence in Kirkintilloch Job Centre.

Business & Digital Change

The Business & Digital Change Team brings together two key services: Business Systems and Project & Change Management. These multi-disciplinary teams drive transformation, change and modernisation across all services within the Council, influencing and leading a culture of innovation and collaboration.

The Business Systems team ensure the effective and efficient development, deployment, management and support of the councils Business Systems across all Council services.

The Project Management & Change team manage the successful delivery of a range of multi-disciplinary and cross functional projects; ensuring the effective provision of project and change management integral to the Council’s Digital Development programme. They also support development of long-term innovation to maximise opportunities for transforming services across the Council. The team also includes the remit of Governance, ensuring best practice is deployed in all aspects of programme/project delivery.

Internal Audit

The Internal Audit Team provides Internal Audit services to the Council and the HSCP through delivery of a risk based plan. The scope of the work extends to unplanned reactive work in response to emerging risks. The internal audit team contributes to the delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP), helping management ensure that the Council has appropriate systems, controls and governance arrangements through which it seeks to deliver its Vision and Local Outcomes. The main pieces of work delivered are:

• Internal audit reports, which typically review a system, provide an opinion on the controls in place and highlight any risks identified, making recommendations for improvement
• Consultancy notes, which are normally narrower in scope and provide focused advice. These are provided subject to availability of skills and resources and consideration is given to any impact on core assurance work
• Less formal advice, which can be verbal or via email and is often in relation to new processes or changes to existing processes.

Corporate Fraud

The Corporate Fraud Team provides a counter fraud service to the Council and leads the development of an anti-fraud culture within the council. Key areas of work include:

• Providing support and assistance to all services in the development of an anti-fraud culture
• Data matching to identify possible instances of fraud
• Reactive investigatory work in relation to fraud and whistleblowing reports, received from Council services and members of the public
• Vetting of applications for Council Services to identify potential instances of fraud e.g. vetting of housing applications to prior to the allocation of the property
• Supporting the licencing team as a consultee on licence applications.

The above work assists in making East Dunbartonshire a safe and sustainable environment in which to live, work and visit.

For the years 2024-27, Finance & Digital Services has identified Strategic Priorities. They have been identified as assisting the team in meeting their statutory obligations under:

• The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which specifies the requirement to make arrangements for the proper administration of the Council’s financial affairs
• The Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 which require adequate and effective financial management and the operation of a professional and objective internal auditing service in accordance with recognised standards and practices.

The Strategic Priorities have also been identified as helping to meet the Council’s guiding principles of Best Value, Coproduction and Engagement and Prevention and Early Intervention.

The Strategic Priorities are detailed as follows:

Finance

• Ensuring the continued sustainability of the Council’s finances through a prudent approach to budget setting and to reserves management
• Work collaboratively with services and elected members on the establishment of a balanced budget for each year
• Undertake financial diligence to reduce risk and improve efficiencies
• Seek savings by engaging with the Transformation Programme, comparing performance against other Councils and looking at other means such as sharing services and working with other Councils and public sector organisations
• Investigate alternative ways of raising money to pay for Council services, for example through income generation activities and charging policy
• Promoting and leading managers through the Council’s financial regulations and processes to support improvements in budgetary control and financial stewardship
• Ensuring compliance with Accounting codes, legislation and regulations
• Support control improvements and developments within core Financial Systems. This includes supporting the General Ledger Replacement via the Oracle Fusion implementation to ensure an efficient and resilient service can continue to be provided by the team in future years
• Support corporate activities where financial input and information is required e.g. Transformation Programme and Local Government Benchmarking
• Produce the Council's accounts to the statutory deadline and support the work of External Auditors as part of that process.

Internal Audit and Fraud

• Provision of a professional, independent and objective internal audit service
• Work in partnership with management to improve the control environment, add value and assist the Council in achieving its objectives
• Operate as a catalyst for improvement at the heart of the Council
• Complete a programme of work designed to evaluate and improve the Council’s control systems, risk management and governance arrangements
• Provision of assurance to the Audit & Risk Management Committee and to Senior Management including the annual audit opinion
• Provide advice at the outset of new processes, to help ensure an adequate control environment and the minimisation of fraud risk
• Co-ordinate the annual assessment of Governance arrangements to support the delivery of outcomes
• Assist in ensuring that the public purse is protected and providing support and assistance to all services in the development of an anti-fraud culture in keeping with the LOIP guiding principle of Prevention and Early Intervention
• Assist in ensuring adequate vetting mechanisms are in place so that financial assistance/services/licences/etc are only granted to those entitled
• Review of high risk business processes including new processes to ensure fraud prevention measures are embedded.

Business & Digital Change

• Develop a new digital strategy which sets out our priorities and commitments to enable us to realise our ambitions and continue to transform East Dunbartonshire’s delivery of connected, person-centred public services
• Delivery of an ambitious cross council digital development programme
• Embed service design principles to ensure that the people of East Dunbartonshire are supported and empowered to actively participate in the definition, design and delivery of their public services
• Ensure the effective and efficient development, deployment, management and support of the councils Business Systems across all Council services
• Redesign services through innovative transformation in response to the financial context using data to inform the design of sustainable service delivery models
• Continue to collaborate at a national level to maximise Digital development opportunities across Local Government and with the Scottish Local Government Digital Partnership, Improvement Service and SOLACE
• Develop and implement programme management delivery principles based on the National “Audit Scotland: Principles for a digital future report” for the governance of the Transformation Programme.

Housing Rent Arrears

• The maximisation of rental income continues to be a priority for the Housing Service, with tenants being offered advice and support in relation to ensuring that their rent is paid and arrears are reduced. Appropriate arrears action is however taken against tenants who do not pay, which can include eviction should their arrears continue to increase and are also above the threshold.

Joint working with other Housing Services including Estates and Homelessness to ensure pre-tenancy contact is made with new tenants to evaluate circumstances and plan payment methods.