Auditing for achievement Does Partnering Work ? Partnerships

6th year as a partnership; Our founding partners were Devon, Torbay and Plymouth Council. In April 2014 the Police became a partner. Why ? In 2009 a Business Case was presented for the Partnership. It identified some objectives –reducing the cost of provision at higher cost authorities; –improving productivity and performance management; –improving the ability of the service to deliver the audit plan and react to ad hoc work; –providing greater potential for specialist audit skills; –providing audit coverage for a wide geographical area in an effective manner. What have we achieved? Successfully brought together 3 teams into 1 providing a greater resource pool to meet specialist and ad hoc demands Introduced an electronic, partnership wide audit management system; (consistency and quality) Have substantially reduced costs to partners - Eric Pickles agrees; Have maintained input (days) and a quality service (Customer Service Excellence and Public Sector Internal Audit Standards accredited); Have had a healthy turnover of staff, and have been able to retain and recruit quality staff. Auditing for Achievement A brief recap - Where are we now?

A partnership (as a section 106 agreement of the Local Government Act). We are hosted by Devon – Devon provides HR, Payroll, Finance and IT services etc. We started out as “a bunch of internal auditors” Now, a partnership, working as one, with a large range of clients We provide professional internal audit services to not-for-profit organisations. We deliver a service that offers high quality and value. Our major advantage is that we draw on the strengths of all our professional, personable staff to provide high quality, modern internal audit and management assurance services. We provide a local presence. Who are we? Auditing for Achievement

Our vision is to be recognised as a leading provider of internal audit services to public services in the South West. We provide high quality independent and objective assurance and consulting services that add value to their customers and protect public resources. We are a “not for profit” organisation, but we are commercially minded. We know that the public sector is facing significant financial pressures and requires every pound invested in our services to be used for the maximum benefit. We are a people organisation; audit is delivered by our experienced staff and although use of data analytics helps our processes it is our skilled staff that make a difference to our partners. We value our staff and will encourage them to develop their skills and knowledge to further enhance our service delivery. Our vision and values? Auditing for Achievement

The four partners (Devon, Torbay, Plymouth and Police) Other “not-for-profit” organisations including :- Fire, Torridge Council, Teignbridge Council, University of Plymouth, Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks and the majority of schools in the Devon geographical area. We know that the public sector faces severe financial pressures; we wish to retain the skills base of our audit team and to do this we aim to grow the business through developing further partnering opportunities and commercial opportunities Who do we provide services to? (our customer base) Auditing for Achievement

What’s the benefit for the Partners? The Partnership is not for profit and so any returns made from work with other bodies is not necessarily to provide cash surpluses for the partners. However, the partners have needed to reduce their contribution (as public sector funding cuts continue) but expect the same level of service. The income from external partners helps to fund overheads (accommodation, ICT, Legal, finance etc. which have to be paid) therefore ensuring that each partner’s contribution is maximised on audit time rather than servicing overheads. Having other partners allows the Partnership to operate at a “viable level” and retain specialist audit skills (for example IT auditors). If the partnership was to reduce, and such staff lost, then the skills for such work would need to be bought in (at considerably higher rates). Work at other partners enables “solutions to problems” to be shared between the partners. The “larger mass” of the partnership also enables peaks and troughs of service demand to be dealt with more effectively – for example we can effectively respond to requests for investigation work Why do work for other bodies? Auditing for Achievement

Staff – staff have been great. They embraced the change and have really worked hard to make it a success. Without them we would not be where we are now. IT – trying to access systems at 3 organisations has brought many challenges. Public Sector Network issues will provide more challenges in the future. Our solutions are far from perfect, and we continue to work at this Accommodation – We have a “head office” at Larkbeare (Topsham Rd, Exeter) which provides “independence” but also a central location. We have reduced embraced mobile working and reduced desk space - thus releasing accommodation that can be re-used by our partners. Providing quality with reduced resources – this is not a “race to the bottom” – but financial pressures do sometime put pressure on quality of work. We are mindful of this challenge and the need to keep quality “high” Lack of “spare” capacity – we encourage enquiries for new workbut need to ensure we can effectively resource and deliver this work. Our solution has been to work with staff offering shorter term contracts and build up a network of “associates” – both approaches are developing and working well. What have been the challenges? Auditing for Achievement

Cost - We have been able to significantly reduce costs in the first 5 years Quality - Sharing of expertise across the partners has increased quality of audit output Best Practice - Sharing of results from our work helps develop best practice and networks Flexibility - Larger staff resource enables more flexibility to deal with urgent demands for audit input Added Value – the audit “opinion” can include a wider not-for-profit view (e.g. safeguarding – involves many agencies) What are the benefits to all our Partners? Auditing for Achievement

Really good first 5 years but …. we want the next 5 to be just and even more successful ! Challenges – we need to make sure our IT works for us Our Partners have benefited in terms of :- –Cost –Quality –Best practice guidance –Flexibility –Added Value Most important of all….those charged with governance have confidence that Devon Audit Partnership is:- cost effective, high performing, and A forward looking organisation that provides the independent assurance required. In summary…. Auditing for Achievement