A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Catmose

Contact: Kim Cross  01572 758862

Items
No. Item

282.

MINUTES

To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 19 July 2016.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 19th July 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

 

283.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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.

Minutes:

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

 

284.

PETITIONS, DEPUTATIONS AND QUESTIONS

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.

Minutes:

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

 

285.

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS pdf icon PDF 53 KB

To receive Report No. 118/2016 from the Director for Resources

 

NOTE: The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 require the approval of the Statement of Accounts by 30 September. This date falls within the period normally allowed for Members to refer a committee decision to the Council. In accordance with Procedure Rule 110(7), the Committee will be asked to decide that the matter is of such urgency that no referral of the Committee’s decision should be allowed.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 118/2016 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of which was to present the statutory Statement of Accounts for 2015/16 in the form prescribed by regulations to meet the statutory requirement for the Committee to approve and publish its annual statement of accounts by 30 September 2016.

 

During the discussion the following points were noted:

 

      i.        The Chair of the Committee had met separately with the Finance Manager to go through the Statement of Accounts and ask questions;

 

    ii.        The Council had a contingent liability disclosed in the Statement of Accounts relating to a compensation claim.  A detailed report on this potential liability had been presented to Council on 12th September 2016 (Exempt Report 180/2016).  It was reported that if new information emerged, before the 30th September, regarding this claim, the Assistant Director – Finance would review the disclosure in the accounts and determine whether any change is need to the current accounting treatment.  Any adjustments would be agreed with the external auditor and the Chair of this committee.  It was for that reason that the Committee was asked to give delegated authority to the Chair of Audit and Risk to sign the accounts on behalf of the Committee;

 

  1. The external auditors were intending to give the Council an unqualified audit opinion;

 

  1. The Committee sought clarification regarding the services that had been provided with the money under the ‘other’ heading in the pie chart on page 24.

 

  1. A question was asked as to why Grant Income figure for Universal Infant Free School Meals had decreased in2015/16 from 2014/15; and

 

  1. The Committee asked for a breakdown of the amounts owed set out in Note 16.

 

  1. The Director was asked as to whether the Council was likely to get any significant claims associated with Municipal Mutual Insurance.  The Director confirmed that no claims had been received to date and that it was not known whether there might be claims but the risk was low.

 

RESOLVED

 

a)    The Committee APPROVED delegation of the signing of the Statement of Accounts which included the Annual Governance Statement to the Assistant Director and the Chair of the Committee.

 

b)    The Committee AGREED the Finance Manager would respond to questions raised directly to the Audit & Risk Committee before the next Meeting 

286.

EXTERNAL AUDIT ISA 260 pdf icon PDF 24 KB

To receive Report No. 174/2016 from the Director for Resources

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 174/2016 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of the report was to inform the Committee on matters arising from the audit of the financial statements and the results of the work undertaken to assess the Council’s arrangements to secure value for money in its use of resources

 

During the discussion the following points were noted

 

  1. The external auditors were intending to issue an unqualified opinion on the Statement of Accounts and on the Value for Money conclusion.

 

  1. Not all Members had returned Annual Declarations. Group Leaders would receive a list of Members who had not returned the Annual Declaration.

 

RESOLVED

 

a)    The Committee CONSIDERED the External Audit Report and any issues arising;

 

b)    The Committee APPROVED the letter of representation in Appendix 1 for signing by the Chair of this Committee and the S151 Officer;

 

c)    The Committee AGREED the Group Leaders would receive a list of Members who had not returned Annual Declarations.

 

287.

ANNUAL FRAUD REPORT pdf icon PDF 47 KB

To receive Report No. 172/2016 from the Director for Resources

Minutes:

Report No. 172/2016 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of the report was to provide an overview of any fraud related activity, which had affected Rutland County Council during the period 2015-2016. The report also sought to provide assurance regarding the Council’s resilience against the risk of fraud. The report was provided in accordance with the Committee’s Terms of Reference to provide assurance of the adequacy of the risk management framework and control environment.  

 

During the discussion the following points were noted

 

  1. The Committee requested additional information in respect of outstanding Benefit Related Fraud cases, in particular the range in values of fraud detected.

 

RESOLVED

 

a)    The Committee NOTED the contents of the annual fraud report and the arrangements in place to mitigate the risk of fraud against Rutland County Council

 

b)    The Committee AGREED the Assistant Director for Finance would respond to concerns directly to the Audit & Risk Committee before the next Meeting 

 

 

288.

INTERNAL AUDIT UPDATE pdf icon PDF 232 KB

To receive Report No 176/2016 from the Director for Resources.

Minutes:

Report No. 176/2016 was received from the Head of internal Audit. The purpose of the report was to update Members on the progress made in delivering the 2016/17 Annual Audit Plan and key findings arising from audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting.

 

During the discussion the following points were noted

 

  1. The Committee requested the taxi licensing ‘Policy Guidance Note’ be renamed ‘Procedure Guidance Note’ for clarity;

 

  1. Concerns were raised that the Driver Suitability test which included a test on Child Sexual Exploitation was not robust enough as it only applied to new applicants;

 

  1. Clarification was sought regarding the terms of reference and policy in respect of whether a conviction for  indecency offences would preclude an individual from obtaining a licence.

 

RESOLVED

 

a)    The Committee NOTED the Internal Audit Update Report;

 

b)    The Committee APPROVED the proposed amendment to the Audit Pan to incorporate a review of SEN Transport and remove the review of NDR and Council Tax Fraud;

 

c)    The Committee REQUESTED the recommendations from Internal Audit regarding the Driver Suitability Test be explored further; and

 

d)    The Committee REQUESTED further explanation regarding convictions of indecency offences before the next Audit & risk meeting.

 

289.

RISK REGISTER pdf icon PDF 24 KB

To receive Report No. 179/2016 from the Director for Resources

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 179/2016 was received from the Director for Resources. The purpose of the report was to present the Strategic Risk Register to the Committee and provide assurance that strategic risks were being adequately managed.

 

During the discussion the following points were noted

 

  1. The new Risk Management system was being populated and an update would be provided at the next meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the risk register

 

290.

EXTERNAL AUDIT PROCUREMENT

To receive a verbal update from the Director for Resources.

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update from the Assistant Director, Finance in respect of external audit procurement. 

The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 gives local bodies the freedom to appoint their own auditors and to manage their own audit arrangements.  Section 8 of the Act sets out the procedure for appointing auditors if appointed by the Council and imposes an obligation on the Council to set up an auditor panel with an independent chair to advise on the appointment. A separate set of regulations, The Local Audit (Appointing Person) Regulations 2015, allow the Government to approve an organisation to act as a sector-led body (The Secretary of State has designated Public Sector Auditor Appointments (PSAA) Ltd as this body) and given them the necessary powers and duties to act as a collective procurement body.  This means that PSAA can make auditor appointments for local government bodies that choose to opt into the national appointment arrangements.

The Assistant Director explained that officers were of the view that opting into the new national arrangements was preferable.  A range of comments were made by Members but all were in agreement with the view expressed by the Assistant Director.

 

The Assistant Director advised that Full Council would be asked to make a decision in due course.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the verbal external audit procurement update

291.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)

To receive a verbal update from the Director of Resources

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update from the Director for Resources to inform them that the RIPA policy had not been used in the last quarter

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the verbal RIPA update

 

292.

ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

The Committee agreed the training before the next meeting in January would focus on Internal Audit

 

 

 

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The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.03pm

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