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ENVIRONMENT & TRANSPORT DIRECTORATE
Directorate / Service Corporate Governance Questionnaire 2005
For completion by Chief Officers and return to Peter Frost, Audit Services by 23December 2005
Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
Management structures and reporting lines
1 There is a clearly defined management structuresupported by organisation charts for all roles.
Yes Human Resources aredeveloping structure charts
through the new HR system.
Paul LowesCSD (HR) Business
PartnerExtn 5835
2 The structure is regularly reviewed. Yes Assistant Directors andThird Tier Managers
3 The Chief Officer is supported by a DirectorateManagement Team.
Yes Schedule of fortnightlymeetings
Lucy RobinsonDirector ofEnvironment &
TransportExtn 4376
4 DMT meet regularly, with planned agendas. Themeetings are minuted, with actions clearly noted.
Yes Notes of Meetings "
5 The personal responsibilities of senior officers areclearly identified.
Yes Job Specifications; CoreCompetencies and SeniorManager Competencies
Paul LowesCSD (HR) Business
PartnerExtn 5835
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
6 There is a documented scheme of delegatedauthority in place, which is updated to reflectchanges in staffing or service delivery and whichprovides managers with the power needed toconduct business.
Yes Scheme of Delegation ofFinancial Management
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
7 The nominated Section 151 Officer has appointeda suitably qualified and experienced seniormanager who is given responsibility for thefinancial affairs of the department.
Yes Eric Prince AssistantDirector (StrategicFinance, OtherServices)Extn 4268
8 Decisions made by managers/committees arerecorded and communicated to the appropriate
member of staff to action.
Yes Divisional Team Meetingminutes.
Virement procedures.
Assistant Directors
9 There is a mechanism for keeping staff informedof decisions made by the departmentalmanagement and key issues.
Yes Notes of DMB and otherimportant issues are cascadeddown the management network.
AssistantDirectors/Third TierManagers
10 Effective communication is in place to keep staffinformed of new and existing corporate anddepartmental policies / procedures / issues.
Yes Cascaded from DMB throughDivisional Team Meetings
"
11 Each member of staff have clearly defined jobdescriptions and set performance targets whichare updated annually.
Yes JDs on record.Targets within PDR.Divisional business plans assign
responsibility for priorities.
Assistant Directors andThird Tier Managers
12 Appraisals of staff performance are carried out atleast annually.
Yes Relevant paperwork Assistant Directors
13 New staff receive appropriate induction/trainingto perform their roles.
Yes Induction checklist.Corporate induction event for all
Assistant Director PAsAssistant
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
new staff. Directors/Third TierManagers
14 The department has a staff training plan toaddress skill gaps identified through theperformance development and service planningprocesses.
PDR training requirements arecollated to address this issue. Ahigh level directorate trainingplan has been produced but isnow due for renewal as part ofour approach to workforceplanning.
"
15 Existing staff have training plans in place toenable them to perform their function.
Yes Within PDR and DivisionalBusiness Plans
Assistant Directors
16 Training plans include training on:
improving performance
Yes The directorate training plan
addresses some of these issues.Management development hasincluded departmental eventson performance.
Assistant Directors
corporate governance Staff are regularly encouragedto attend council committeemeetings as part of theirtraining. Corporate governanceissues form a regular part of ADand senior managementmeetings.
"
conduct and reporting concerns at work Human Resources haveproduced advice on this.
"
risk. The Corporate Risk Manager hasattended numerous
"
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
management team meetings totrain managers in corporate riskmanagement processes.
Strategy and planning17 Are there controls in place to ensure that all
services are delivered within the rules of the SCCConstitution?
Yes Constitution set down andavailable on the web site.
Lucy RobinsonDirector ofEnvironment &
TransportExtn 4376
18 There is a directorate / service strategy lastingthree years or more, which is updated annually,with clear links to the corporate objectives.
No Service Plan covers one yearbut we are corporately about toembark on three year planning.
"
19 The directorate / service strategy is based onindividual service plans for all services within thedepartment.
Yes Divisional Business Plans Assistant Directors
20 Service plans include: a detailed budget workforce plan performance indicators clear measurable actions with evaluation
criteria, time scales and responsibleofficers
Yes A more uniform approach is tobe taken across all Directoratesto Business Planning in2006/07.Action Plans and KeyPerformance Indicators areincluded in Business Plans.
Lucy RobinsonDirector ofEnvironment &
TransportExtn 4376
21 Service plans reflect consideration of corporateobjectives and policies (e.g. sustainability,equalities)
Yes "
22 Service plans reflect consultation with service Yes The key service targets are "
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
users and other stakeholders. governed by variousconsultations.
23 The departmental strategy and annual serviceplan has been agreed by the DMT.
Yes "
24 The service plan is monitored by DMT on aregular basis (at least half-yearly) and action istaken where targets are not likely to be met.
Yes "
25 Performance indicator information (national andlocal performance indicators) is collected andused for monitoring performance on an ongoingbasis.
Yes Quarterly reports to DMB,looking at performance andaction is agreed wherenecessary to get performanceon track.
Belinda GodboldResearch & MonitoringManagerExtn 4303
26 Budgets are regularly monitored and reallocatedin line with revised risk/resource needs.
Yes Monthly reporting to DMB. CSDalso supports quarterly budgetmeetings for each service in theDivisions.
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
27 BVPIs are reviewed regularly to monitorprogress of performance and update actions andperformance indicators.
Yes Quarterly reporting to DMB.In the Environment Divisionthere are quarterly budget andperformance meetings for eachservice.Action agreed where necessaryto get performance on track.DMB also receive an annualreport on the quartile position ofBVPIs that is cascaded to seniormanagers to assist target
Belinda GodboldResearch & MonitoringManagerExtn 4303Belinda GodboldResearch & MonitoringManagerExtn 4303
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
setting.28 Best value reviews are carried out in line with
corporate procedures, with actions plans drawnup and monitored.
Yes Where appropriate.Local best value reviews arenow the main vehicle forchange.
Assistant Directors
Risk management29 There is an embedded risk management process
in the directorate / service, following corporateguidance, which ensures that all directorate /service risks are identified and reviewed at leastannually and supported by an action plan to
address weaknesses.
Yes Risk Register Martin FisherCustomer RelationsOfficerExtn 4299
30 The risk management process ensures that:
managers are accountable for managing theirrisks
staff receive appropriate training onmanaging risk
there is a timetable for identification andevaluation of risks
risks assessments cover all areas of activity,
identify all risks (including emerging risks)and are carried out at least annually byappropriate staff
scoring is consistent across the department
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesNo
Yes
Quarterly Process
Although RMG have access toregister.
Martin FisherCustomer RelationsOfficerExtn 4299
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
risks are identified via normal managementprocesses
an annual report is presented to the corporateRisk Management Group
an action plan ensures that high level risksare managed and monitored
key risk indicators are documented andmonitored.
Yes High level risks escalated to
corporate list
31 A system of internal control is established andincludes specific controls to mitigate risks.Controls are owned by managers and reviewedindependently by internal audit, external audit or
other forms of inspection.
Yes Action Plans Risk Owner as definedin the Risk Register
32 Risk assessments are undertaken before thecommencement of major projects and included inreports on which the decision to proceed isbased.
Yes e.g. Waste Project, CommitteeReports
Project Lead
33 Risk assessments are regularly reviewed duringthe life of major projects.
Yes e.g. SLRR Scrutiny WorkingGroup Report
The Waste Programme Boardreviews red risks at each of itsmeetings.
Project Manager
34 Potential partners are required to produce andsubmit risk assessments. Yes e.g Reconstruction of BallingdonBridge "
35 Partnerships are reviewed in terms of risk beforethey are entered into and the risks are reviewed.Where possible risks are shared (through
Yes e.g Suffolk HighwaysPartnership tender process.e.g DEFRA funded in-vessel
"
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
contractual arrangements). composter at Lackford. Theproject involved a contractorand 2 District Councils. A risklog was used to allocate risks.
Ethics:36 Codes of conduct / other relevant statutory
regulations governing conduct e.g. National CareStandards Commission are in place and havebeen agreed by staff.
Yes SCC Constitution Lucy RobinsonDirector ofEnvironment &
TransportExtn 4376
37 Breaches in the code of conduct / other
regulations are identified,documented andaction is taken to address the breach.Yes Lucy Robinson
Director ofEnvironment &
TransportExtn 4376
38 Departmental managers and staff are aware ofhow to report any concerns identified.
Yes "
39 Where issues are reported:- records are kept of incidents records are kept of actions taken cases are reviewed by departmental
managers.
Yes "
40 Arrangements are in place and staff are aware ofthe need to declare interests, such asrelationships with members or interests insuppliers /contractors.
Yes Brian FosterSenior Buyer,Environment &
Transport
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job titleExtn 5189
41 Arrangements are in place and staff are aware ofthe need to declare gifts and hospitality receivedassociated with conducting their duties.
Yes Register maintained. Martin FisherCustomer RelationsOfficerExtn 4299
Service delivery42 SLAs/Trading agreements are in place for all
services delivered across the County Council /other public sector clients, and there are propercontrols to ensure that all changes are properlydealt with.
Yes Most support services aresupplied by Customer ServicesDirect and SLAs have recentlybeen developed for these.
Al CollierHead of TransformationExtn 5088
43 Do you currently hold a quality accreditation e.g.ISO, Chartermark or service specific?
Yes Certain service specific ones arein place.
Assistant Directors
44 Re-accreditation takes place regularly in line withagreed accreditation timescales.
Yes Assistant Directors
45 Are there controls to ensure that all services aredelivered within the framework of compliancewith relevant legislation and/or best practiceguidance, and/or policy?
Yes Assistant Directors
46 Are there procedures in place to ensureprocesses are amended appropriately forchanges in legislation and/or best practiceguidance, and/or policy?
Yes "
47 Are there adequate contingency procedures toensure that services can be resumed in case ofemergency? If so, are these contingency
Yes Risk Management Action Plan "
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
procedures well communicated to all staff?48 The directorate / service maintains a list of the
partnerships it has in place.Yes List Peter Jasper
CSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 4274
49 There is a contractual agreement in place for allpartnerships, covering: constitution legal, financial and personnel responsibilities roles and responsibilities budgetary and accounting arrangements the monitoring of service delivery.
Yesforsome
e.g Brandon Country Parkmanaged in conjunction withForest Heath DC.
Assistant Directors
50 The framework of each partnership is clearlydocumented and agreed by both parties.
Yesforsome
Assistant Directors
51 Partnership agreements outline legalresponsibilities in respect of: health and safety data protection employment legislation.
Yesforsome
Secured via the procurementadvice when setting up apartnership
Assistant Directors
52 Partnership agreements include clear aims and
objectives, which are measurable.
Yes
forsome
Assistant Directors
53 Partnership agreements include clear Yes e.g Suffolk Highways Assistant Directors
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
performance measures, which are reported onregularly and action plans drawn up to addressissues where performance is poor or whereobjectives are not met.
forsome
Partnership
54 Business / service continuity plans have beendrawn up for all critical service areas and theplans are subject to regular testing and regularreview.
Yesforsome
Assistant Directors
Performance management:55 There is a clearly defined performance
management framework that identifies:
all sources of performance measures who is responsible for achieving each
performance measure who is responsible for collating the data for
each one who determines and approves the
performance measures who receives reports on performance how
often how data quality is assured
how performance data are captured and theirintegrity maintained
how poor performance is addressed how performance is driven upwards over time.
Yes Overall performancemanagement process set up
with target owners and regularmanagement reports.
Belinda GodboldResearch & Monitoring
ManagerExtn 4303
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
56 Key performance indicators have beenestablished and approved for each serviceelement and are included in service plans.
Yes Belinda GodboldResearch & MonitoringManagerExtn 4303
57 A robust monitoring system has been approvedand implemented.
Yes Quarterly reports to DMB "
58 There are regular reports on progress ondelivering approved key performance indicatorsand their continued suitability for securingcontinuous improvement.
Yes "
59 Actions are identified as a result of performancereviews.
Yes "
60 Delivery of these actions is regularly monitored. Yes "61 Benchmarking exercises are carried out to
compare methods and efficiency of servicedelivery.
Partial
"
62 The Council maintains an objective andprofessional relationship with its externalauditors and statutory inspectors.
Yes "
63 External assurance reports / Statement ofInternal Control are reviewed by appropriatemanagement and action plans for improvementare drawn up and monitored where necessary.
Yes "
Policies and procedures64 There are clearly defined policies and procedures
for both financial and non-financial systems,Yes Scheme of Delegation of
Financial ManagementSue GarbettCSD (Finance) Business
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
which are available to all members, managersand staff and which are updated regularly bynominated officers and approved by memberswhere necessary.
PartnerExtn 5674
65 Policies are communicated to departmental staff. Yes "66 Polices are amended in line with legislation /
government standards.Yes "
67 A complaints / compliments procedure is in placewhich is based on the corporate complaintsprocedure.
Yes 'M' track system that is beingreplaced by the new CustomerServices systems.
Liz CheneryCustomer RelationsOfficerExtn 4270
68 Complaints and actions taken as a result of
complaints, are reviewed regularly at a seniorlevel.
Yes Assistant Director and
Management Teams
Assistant Director
69 There are procedures to ensure timely responsesto customer and stakeholder queries?
Yes Assistant Director andManagement Teams
"
70 The directorate / service is aware of thecorporate sustainability policy and has plans toaddress the issues.
Yes DMB and DivisionalManagement Teams
Fran ToomeyAssistant Director(StrategicDevelopment)Extn 4830
71 The department is aware of the corporate e-government policy and action plan and has plansto meet the objectives.
Yes DMB and DivisionalManagement Teams
Matt HardingCSD (ICT) BusinessPartnerExtn 5699
72 Managers are aware of, and are using, thecorporate standards for Records Management
Yes Policy held on SCC Intranet;developing local directorate
Rebecca AtkinsonBusiness &
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000. infrastructure and proceduresbased on corporate policy tofacilitate move to electronicrecords management systems.
Programmes ManagerExtn 4828
73 Each operational unit creates adequate, accuraterecords, for all its relevant activities, andmaintains them in a formal system from whichinformation can be retrieved quickly and easily.
Yes E&T Manual Filing System.
File structures are beingreviewed in line withdevelopments for electronicrecords management.
Sally DickersonCustomer RelationsManagerExtn 4269
Rebecca AtkinsonBusiness &Programmes Manager
Extn 4828
74 The movement and location of records iscontrolled with sufficient security for each unitssize and functions.
Yes Sally DickersonCustomer RelationsManagerExtn 4269
75 All units are aware of and using the most up-to-date versions of corporate policies for theretention of their records, where these havebeen drawn up by the Records ManagementService.
Yes Information Agents areidentified for all service areas toensure effective links betweencorporate Records Managementand individual services.
Rebecca AtkinsonBusiness &Programmes ManagerExtn 4828
76 Staff have been made aware of the importanceof good records management in their trainingconcerning Data Protection, Freedom ofInformation and the Environmental Information
Yes Information Agents Sandra GraffhamCommunicationsManagerExtn 4395/Rebecca
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
Regulations. AtkinsonBusiness &
Programmes ManagerExtn 4828
77 A key contact has been identified to take leadresponsibility for Freedom of Information in thedepartment.
Yes Sandra GraffhamCommunicationsManagerExtn 4395
78 The department has access to publishedFreedom of Information Act guidance whichidentifies the requirements for all staff to follow
and which agrees to the corporate requirements.
Yes "
79 All staff are aware of the Freedom of InformationAct requirements and the action they must takeif an enquiry is received.
Yes "
80 A record is maintained of all Freedom ofInformation enquiries and records theinformation to be made available.
Yes "
81 Evidence is recorded to show all Freedom ofInformation enquiries have been cleared.
Yes "
82 There is a finance manual in place which isavailable to all staff.
Yes Intranet, Scheme of ResourceManagement
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
83 The department has appropriate policies andprocedures in place to ensure equalities in its
Yes Corporate policiesCorporate Competency
Paul LowesCSD (HR) Business
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job title
treatment of staff and customers. PartnerExtn 5835
84 A health and safety policy is in place and staffand managers are aware of their responsibilities.
Yes Departmental Statement andPolicy in Core Safety Manual
Martin FisherCustomer RelationsOfficerExtn 4299
85 The directorate / service carries out annualreviews of health and safety (all locations).
Yes Directorate & Divisionalmeetings
"
86 There is an action plan in place to address healthand safety issues with responsibilities andtimescales assigned.
Yes Minutes of meetings "
87 Delivery of the health and safety action plan and
emerging issues are regularly monitored.
Yes Directorate & Divisional
meetings
"
Financial Controls88 Are there controls to ensure all income (i.e. fees,
charges etc.) is:- at appropriate levels / rates? collected? banked intact?
Yes Income rates reviewed eachyear as part of the budgetexercise.
Collection arrangementsregularly reviewed by internalaudit.
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
89 Are there controls to ensure all expenditure isproperly authorised? Yes Adherence to the Scheme ofDelegation of FinancialManagement
Eric PrinceAssistant Director(Strategic Finance,Other Services)
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Requirement Yes/no
Source of evidence Contact name,number and job titleExtn 4268
90 Are there controls to ensure all assets are: properly recorded? Safeguarded?
Yes Inventories, eg ROLMIS, Sage,TechnopolyStock Records
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
91 Are there controls to ensure the accuracy offinancial information held within the department?
Yes Budget management reportingarrangements regularlyscrutinise financial information
Sue GarbettCSD (Finance) BusinessPartnerExtn 5674
92 Are there controls to ensure all transactions areprocessed accurately, completely and on atimely basis?
Yes SLAs with CSD which are closelymonitored
Clive WelhamTransaction ManagerExtn 5683
93 Are there controls to ensure that all of thebusiness system output is fit for purpose (i.e.accurate, complete and relevant)
Yes CSD have daily procedures forensuring control totals, errorsuspense etc. are accurate andup to date.
Duane HowardRecording ServicesManagerExtn 4541
Questionnaire completed by (if not by Chief Officer) ______Eric Prince________________________
Date: ________11 January 2006__________________
Confirmation:
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I confirm that the questionnaire has been completed correctly and provides an accurate record of thecontrols in place.
Chief Officer: __________________________________________
Date: __________________________________________
Received by Audit Services:
Signature: __________________________________________
Date: __________________________________________
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