Agenda and minutes
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Apologies for Absence and Named Substitutes Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R. Jenkins, M. Middleton and C. Spencer with Councillors C. Hotham, H. Jones and M. Glass in attendance as named substitutes respectively. In the absence of the Chairman, Councillor L. Mallett, Councillor A. Kriss chaired the meeting in his capacity as Vice-Chairman of the Committee.
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Declarations of Interest and Whipping Arrangements To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.
Minutes: There were no Declarations of Interest nor of any Whipping Arrangements.
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Additional documents: Minutes: Mr. J. Murray, Grant Thornton, presented the Section 24 Report. In doing so, it was explained that, as auditors, Grant Thornton, had powers under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to make, if necessary, statutory recommendations under Section 24 of the Act. The Committee were informed that following discussions with colleagues it was the judgement of Grant Thornton that the issues outlined within the report warranted statutory recommendations under the Act.
The background to the statutory recommendation was outlined for Members information and it was reported that a new financial ledger system had been implemented in February 2021. However, there had been significant challenges in respect of the Cash Receipting module in the new system.
Members were reassured that Officers had worked exceptionally hard with the suppliers of the Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system, Tech1 and that the Cash Receipting module issues had been resolved and this module was now live. However, despite the progress that had been made in the Cash Receipting module the delays experienced had resulted in the non-delivery of the financial statements for 2019/20. This, in turn, had also impacted on thedelivery of the publication of the 2020/21 accounts, which were due by the end of July 2022. As the Council had also fallen significantly behind in the finalisation of the accounts, other Government returns, such as Revenue Outturn and Capital Outturn had also been impacted.
It was highlighted that the Council had recognised these issues and in Q1 of 2022/23, planning had begunfor the 2020/21 financial audit, which was when the issues highlighted above had cometo the attention of the auditors.
The management response to the statutory recommendation had been provided within the report and Mr. Murray noted that some actions had already been undertaken. He explained that Grant Thornton would continue to liaise with management to understand the actions that the Council had taken and also to review the work that had been undertaken with Tech1. Finally, Grant Thornton would then look at the 2020/21 statements once they had been prepared. It was hoped that the 2021/22 financial statements would follow shortly after.
Once the presentation had concluded, Members were invited to ask questions in respect of the report. It was queried why, given the last meeting of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee, which had only taken place 3 weeks previously in October 2022, had the Section 24 notice not been highlighted at that point? Grant Thornton explained that once a statutory recommendation was issued, there were very strict timescales and protocols that needed to be followed by the Council and auditors. Because the recommendation had not been issued at that point it would not have been appropriate to raise it at the October meeting. It was clarified that at the October 2022 meeting there had been a detailed update provided to Members regarding the financial ledger system. In addition to this it was confirmed that a Financial Recovery Report had been considered at theCabinet meeting held on ... view the full minutes text for item 28/22 |
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Interim Auditor's Annual Report 2020-21 Additional documents: Minutes: Mr J. Murray presented the Interim Auditor's Annual Report 2020-21 on behalf of Grant Thornton and in doing so the following was highlighted for Members attention:
· This report was interim and would not be final until an audit opinion could be issued on the financial statements 2020/2021. It was the first time that Committee Members had considered this report in this format. The National Audit Office, who set the code of practice that auditors followed, had updated the format of these types of reports in 2021, specifically highlighting Value for Money arrangements. This new code removed the necessity of provision of an audit opinion and required a commentary which resulted in a more lengthy report than had been considered by the Committee in previous years. Members were informed that the report highlighted 3 key areas, as follows:-.
1. Financial Sustainability 2. Governance 3. Improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness
· The report covered arrangements that were in place in the period up to 31st March 2021. Members were reminded that this was a backward look at the 3 key areas, as highlighted above, and that some of the recommendations contained within the report had been discussed earlier in the meeting and actions had already been taken against these recommendations. There were 5 key recommendations and 13 improvement recommendations contained within the report. The 5 key recommendations were in respect of the following:
1. The Medium Term Financial Plan – this recommendation covered the pressures that the Council was currently facing. It was noted that at the previous Audit, Standards and Governance Committee meeting the Interim Section 151 Officer has provided Members with a detailed update of the Councils’ financial pressures as it moved into the next budget round. In addition to this Mr. Murray reiterated that with an uncertain economic climate, the effects of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis it was a challenging environment. It was confirmed that Grant Thornton was content that Officers had a plan going forward and had considered the significant challenges that the Council faced. 2. Improvement of management of key projects – this recommendation was discussed as part of the previous item in respect of the implementation of the ERP system. 3. Performance Reporting and Monitoring – This recommendation dealt with the reinstatement of Performance Monitoring. Members were informed that there had been no formal Performance reporting to Members throughout the 2020/2021 financial year. It was noted that Members had been able to access the Performance Dashboard but that the information included was not publicly available. Mr Jackson stated that formal performance monitoring had already begun and that theQ1 Performance and Finance report was considered by Cabinet at its meeting held in October. This formal monitoring would continue on a quarterly basis. 4. Risk Management and Risk Monitoring – This recommendation outlined the need for formal risk management reporting through the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee. It was noted that this had already commenced, and the definition of a Corporate Risk had ... view the full minutes text for item 29/22 |
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Audit Assurance of Safeguarding and Fire Evacuation (Verbal Update) Minutes: The Chief Executive Officer presented the verbal update in respect of the Audit assurance of Safeguarding and Fire Evacuation. During consideration of this item the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:
· This update had been requested at the previous meeting of the Committee. The Corporate Management Team took all Limited and Moderate Assurance Audits extremely seriously and looked to ensure all recommendations were completed as soon as possible. · In respect of the Safeguarding Audit, it was clarified that this was given a moderate assurance and not a limited assurance as suggested by Members at the previous meeting. In April 2022, it was noted that the Committee received a report updating Members on the status of the Safeguarding Audit and were informed that all actions had been completed. It was planned that a further Safeguarding Audit would be undertaken in 2023-24 and all outcomes of that audit would be reported to the Committee. Members were assured that Safeguarding measures and controls were taken seriously and it was confirmed that the Safeguarding Policy had recently been updated. Safeguarding training had also been rolled out to all Officers across the Authority. · In terms of Fire Safety, it was again confirmed that the Health and Safety Training Records Audit, which had been undertaken in 2018 had been followed up. A report was presented to the Committee in October 2021 stating that all of the actions had been completed and addressed. However, it was acknowledged that the report did not appear in its entirety in the agenda provided for the October 2021 meeting and therefore this could potentially have caused confusion for Members. It was with this in mind that the manner in which audits and follow up audits were reported back to the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee would be explored in order to provide greater clarity for Members in the future. In addition to this, it was suggested that it may be worthwhile, should any audits be given Limited Assurance in the future,that a follow-up audit would be undertaken after 12 months in order to understand the status of the recommendations.
The Head of Internal Audit Shared Service also provided reassurance to Members that all recommendations in respect of the two audits had been completed and implementation of the recommendations had been evidenced by Officers.
Members were pleased that Safeguarding was being taken seriously, however concerns were expressed in respect of the public meetings and that robust measures in line with counter-terrorism guidelines were in place at these meetings.
Some Members queried ifSafeguarding training was compulsory for Members. It was noted that compulsory training was difficult to enforce amongst Members, but that some training had taken place online. The Chief Executive reported that compulsory training would be considered at the Member Development Steering Group. In addition to this, it was reported that it would be discussed as part of the New Member Induction Programme which was currently being planned.
RESOLVEDthat the Verbal Update on Audit Assurance of Safeguarding and Fire ... view the full minutes text for item 30/22 |
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Annual Appointment of Risk Champion Minutes: There were no nominations received for the role of the Risk Champion and therefore it was agreed that this item be considered at the next meeting of the Committee.
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Audit, Standards and Governance Committee Work Programme Minutes: As discussed earlier in the meeting the Interim Section 151 Officer informed Members there would be an extraordinary meeting of the Committee arranged in mid-December 2022 in order to sign off the draft Statement of Accounts 2019/2022.
It was noted that, the Chairman had raised the queries in respect of Safeguarding and Health and Safety Audits at the last meeting of the Committee, and a request was made by Councillor. A. Kriss, Vice-Chairman regarding the possibility of attendance by the Chief Executive at the next meeting of the Committee, in order to address any outstanding queries that the Chairman may still have. The Chief Executive confirmed that, subject to other commitments, he was happy to attend.
RESOLVEDthat the contents of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee’s Work Programme be noted.
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