Issue - meetings

The Chairman welcomed Mr. P. Jones (Engagement Lead) and Ms. Z. Thomas (Engagement Manager) from Grant Thornton to the meeting.

The Board considered a report on the responses of the Section 151 Officer to the Annual Governance Report from the Audit Commission for 2011/2012. This report had been considered by Cabinet and Council in September.

Ms. Z. Thomas briefly explained the background to the Annual Governance Report which was part of the process for auditing the final accounts for 2011/2012 and reported that the Section 151 Officer had considered and agreed the five recommendations proposed by the Audit Commission. These were:

• Review the shared service plans accounting arrangements in order to simplify the process;
• Improve risk management arrangements and reporting;
• Continue to monitor the delivery of the Internal Audit Plan;
• Review the format of the monitoring of savings as presented to officers and Members; and
• Review the benefits transformation with the aim to bring to a close. 

It was reported that responses to the recommendations had been incorporated into an Action Plan which was attached as Appendix 1 to this report.

The Board discussed in particular the issue of monitoring savings arising from the shared service and transformation process. It was appreciated that it was important for the Authority to be able to demonstrate and monitor the savings achieved. The Head of Finance and Resources explained that through transformation work in a particular area, savings were sometimes achieved in other areas which may not have been envisaged at the start of the process.

The Executive Director (Finance and Resources) agreed this could make it more challenging to identify savings but explained officers were aware of this and were working towards improving the processes. It was intended that the information would be presented to Members as part of the quarterly financial monitoring reports.

Following discussion it was

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the responses to the Annual Governance Report 2011/2012 be noted; and

(b)       that officers be requested to report to the Board on a quarterly basis in respect of progress made on the actions to enable them to be monitored effectively.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet be requested to ensure that processes are put into place to enable savings achieved through the transformation process to be effectively monitored.