Supplementary Memorandum by District Audit
(AC 12(a))
At the Select Committee's hearing on Tuesday
15 February 2000 it was agreed that I would submit supplementary
evidence regarding District Audit's staffing mix and training
provision.
1. STAFFING MIX
First, we have increased District Audit's permanent
staff by approximately 200. Our Corporate Plan (submitted as confidential
evidence) provided for an additional 200 staff, over and above
normal replacement requirements. The additional staff are:
— To ensure we are as well placed as
possible to respond to the additional demands of the Best Value
regime.
— Specifically to reduce contractor
levels in accordance with our Corporate Plan.
District Audit began the necessary recruitment
from mid 1999, and the table below summarises permanent staff
numbers.
Table 1
INCREASE IN PERMANENT STAFF—TOTAL NUMBERS
|
| Beginning
| Beginning | Now
| End |
| November 1998
| November 1999 | January 2000
| October 2000 |
|
| Budget | 1,181
| 1,344 | 1,343
| 1,355 |
| Actuals | 1,159
| 1,273 | 1,307
| n/a |
|
Recruitment is still continuing, both for normal staff replacements
and to augment our Best Value and Value for Money requirements.
We use contractors to manage the peaks and troughs in our
workload, and to avoid over-staffing. District Audit's key consideration
in the delivery of any audit is to ensure a quality service to
the audited body. Therefore all staff who plan and manage audits
(District Auditors and Audit Managers) are permanent District
Audit staff.
The table below summarises the budgeted reduction in the
use of contractors alongside the budgeted increase in permanent
staff numbers.
Table 2
BUDGETED REDUCTION IN CONTRACTORS AND INCREASE IN PERMANENT
STAFF
|
| Year | Percentage of audit days delivered by contractors
| Permanent Staff |
|
| 1998-99 Year end | 19%
| 1273 |
| 1999-2000 Year end (Budget) | 8.5%
| 1355 |
|
The contractor figures include both qualified and part qualified
accountants and also specialists with a service specific background
relevant to District Audit's work.
For example in District Audit's London region; District Audit
currently has education specialists, housing specialists and contractors
with experience of estates management, capital projects and private
finance initiatives. This ensures freshness of operational experience
in those recruited to carry out Audit Commission value for money
studies.
District Audit is an equal opportunities employer. District
Audit only uses the leading 4-5 agencies to provide contract staff
and all contractors are properly vetted for qualifications (and
working visas if appropriate). District Audit has also begun to
build up relationships with Audit New Zealand and the Auditor
General in New South Wales, Australia and has exchanged staff
on a developmental basis with both of these public sector audit
organisations. In this way, District Audit has been able to take
advantage of, and share best practice in public sector audit across
the world.
2. TRAINING
District Audit takes pride in its training record and is
committed to training and personal development at every level.
The report by District Audit's external Investors in People (IIP)
assessor at the recent re-accreditation stated:
"There is a strong and undiminished commitment to
develop people throughout the organisation . . ."
"There is a significant training budget and resources
in place. A high volume of relevant and effective training and
development activity continues to take place, . . . to develop
and improve the organisation and its people"
District Audit's training budget has increased by 76 per
cent since 1997-98.
District Audit has 133 Chartered Institute of Public Finance
(CIPFA) trainees at the moment which is an increase of 28 (26
per cent) on the 105 it had in 1997. District Audit also supports
staff studying for a number of other qualifications, including
MBAs.
District Audit typically has between 25-30 trainees qualifying
with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Administration
(CIPFA) each year. The table below shows District Audit's CIPFA
examination results over the past three years demonstrating that
it has a pass rate well above the national average. In the past
six years District Audit has had five of the first and second
national prizewinners in the CIPFA examinations.
Table 3
COMPARATIVE CIPFA EXAMINATION PASS RATES
|
| Stage | DA Pass 1999
| CIPFA National Pass Rate 1999
| DA Pass Rate 1998 |
CIPFA National Pass Rate 1998
| DA Pass Rate 1997 |
CIPFA National Pass Rate 1997
|
|
| P3 Qualification | 79%
| 56% | 74%
| 49% | 74%
| 54% |
| P2 | 100% |
85% | 87%
| 71% | 84%
| 80% |
| P1 | 93% |
56% | 65%
| 52% | 87.5%
| 52% |
| Foundation | 83%
| 70% | 92%
| 79% | 89%
| 84% |
|
David Prince
Chief Executive
February 2000
|
| 
