To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 30 January 2018.

The minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 30 January 2018 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Ms Ashley-Caunt gave an update on minute number 554 d).  Main Registered Providers and the HCA (now Homes England) were consulted.  Responses were received from Spire and from the HCA.  The responses raised some issues which had been considered.  As at the end of March, the following view had been reached by officers:

That for sites where there is a planning requirement to have a local sales restriction [typically rural exception sites and some other rural sites], the Council should seek a clause in new section 106 agreements requiring the Council to be notified following commencement of marketing of a property for resale.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no Declarations of Interest in respect of items on the agenda.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No Petitions, Deputations or Questions had been received from members of the public.

To consider any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 95.

There were no questions received from Members.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted under Procedure Rule 97.

There were no notices of motion received from Members.

The remaining business on the agenda was taken in the order as appears in these minutes.

To receive Report No.74/2018 from the Head of Internal Audit.

Report No. 74/2018 was received from the Head of Internal Audit, Ms Rachel Ashely-Caunt. The purpose of the report was to update Members on the progress made in delivering the 2017/18 annual internal audit Plan and outcomes from audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting.

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    A copy of the Safer Rutland audit report was provided at Appendix F for information, as agreed with the Chair of the Committee.

b)    Mrs Mogg confirmed the majority of outstanding actions for the Resources directorate would be covered by the GDPR work that was being undertaken.

c)    Appendix F – Safer Recruitment in Schools 2017/18

Mrs Curtis confirmed Safer Recruitment training is available to all schools and settings in Rutland, all of which receive regular education bulletins, with safeguarding updates, and notification of training sessions; an Annual Safeguarding through Education Audit was sent to all schools and settings and out of county settings where our children are placed on Monday, the audit requested names of school staff and Governors trained in Safer Recruitment and the dates they received the training, so far a positive response had been received.                           

RESOLVED

1. The Committee NOTED the Internal Audit update report (Appendix A).

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Mrs Curtis and Mr Wilby left the meeting at 7.48pm

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To receive Report No. 77/2018 from the Director for Resources.

Report No. 77/2018 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of the report was to update the Committee on the progress in respect of the external audit for 2017/18.

RESOLVED

1. The Committee NOTED the progress report from the external auditors, KPMG LLP and in particular that no concerns had been raised in respect of their audit work to date

To receive Report No. 75/2018 from the Head of Internal Audit.

Report No. 75/2018 was received from the Head of Internal Audit. The purpose of the report was to seek the Committee’s approval of the Internal Audit Plan for 2018/19 and the Internal Audit charter, in line with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    Members discussed whether an internal audit around an element of the St Georges project should be added to the 2018/19 audit plan.  The Committee did not agree a specific area for review but the Chair agreed to meet with Ms Ashley-Caunt and other officers to discuss this further.

RESOLVED

1. The Committee REVIEWED and APPROVED the Internal Audit Plan for 2018/19 and the Internal Audit Charter; and
2. GAVE authority to the Assistant Director – Finance to make changes to the audit Plan 2018/19 in consultation with the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee.

To receive Report No 76/2018 from the Director for Places.

(Report to follow)

Report No. 76/2018 was received from the Director for Places (Environment, Planning & Transport). The purpose of the report was to present the findings of the highways Maintenance Contract 2016/17 audit and to inform Members of the actions taken in response to this.

RESOLVED

1. The Committee NOTED the Highways Maintenance Contract 2016/17 report and the actions taken by Officers to address issues raised.
2. The Committee AGREED that a further update on any outstanding issues would be provided in June 2018.

To receive Report No. 72/2018 from the Director for Resources.

Report No. 72/2018 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of the report was to meet the statutory requirement for the Council to approve an AGS for inclusion in its published Statement of Accounts (SoA) for 2017/185. Ina advance of formal approval in July, The Committee was invited to consider an early draft.

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    Members advised on any issues they wished to see addressed or expanded upon in the Annual Governance Statement (AGS), the issues raised were as follows:

                       I.        A more detailed explanation would be included in the final AGS regarding RCC partnerships.

                      II.        Acknowledgement within the AGS that the Council was working on the financial position and that the current situation was not tenable forever without taking other action.

                    III.        Committee requested that a separate section on The Officers Mess project at St Georges Barracks be included.

RESOLVED

1. The Committee CONSIDERED whether the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) fairly represented the governance framework in place at the Council and ADVISED on any issues they wished to see addresses or expanded upon in the Annual Governance Statement.

To receive a verbal update from the Director for Resources.

A verbal update was received from the Director for Resources, Mrs Mogg confirmed the powers of RIPA had not been used this quarter and gave a nil report.

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

There were no items of urgent business.