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

139.

MINUTES

To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 25 April 2017.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 25th April 2017 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

 

140.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

There were no matters arising.

141.

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.

142.

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.

 

143.

Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 46 KB

To note the terms of reference, number of places and voting places, membership and dates of meetings of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Minutes:

The committee NOTED the Terms of Reference, number of places and voting places, membership and dates of meetings of the Audit & Risk Committee.

 

2017-2018 Meetings

 

19 September 2017 (Statement of Accounts)

30 January 2018

24 April 2018

 

144.

External Audit Update

To receive a verbal update from KMPG LLP, the external auditors.

Minutes:

The Committee received a written update from KMPG LLP, the external auditors.

 

The interim audit was carried out in April 2017 and there were no matters of concern that needed to be reported to the Committee. The work included a short review by the IT audit colleagues of the Council’s arrangements for migrating data during its 2016/17 Agresso upgrade. There were no specific findings from that assessment that needed to be brought to the Committee’s attention.

 

KPMG’s work over the coming quarter would include:

 

·         ongoing liaison with finance staff and Internal Audit and further meetings with senior officers as part of the audit process to better understand the current and longer term issues that the council is addressing;

·         starting the final accounts audits, which would start 17 July 2017; and

·         revisiting the Value For Money (VFM) conclusion risk assessment and forming a VFM conclusion for 2016/17.

·         The results of the audit would be reported to the 19 September 2017 Audit and Risk Committee.

 

KPMG had confirmed the arrangements for the certification of this year’s Housing Benefits claim and the testing was in progress. There were no matters arising from the work carried out to date that needed to be brought to the Committee’s attention.

 

No non-audit work had been carried out at the Council since the Committee’s last meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the written External Audit Update.

 

External Audit Update pdf icon PDF 122 KB

145.

Annual Report of Audit & Risk Committee pdf icon PDF 57 KB

To receive Report No.125/2017 from the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 125/2017 was received from Mr Della Rocca. The purpose of the report was to set out the work of the Committee in an annual report in line with best practice.

 

The effectiveness review was undertaken in 2016 and based on the results it was proposed that the review would be completed again in 2018 in conjunction with the new chair of the committee.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee APPROVED the annual report of the Audit & Risk Committee.

 

146.

Annual Governance Statement pdf icon PDF 69 KB

To receive Report No 122/2017 from the Director for Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 122/2017 was received from Ms Mogg. The purpose of the report was to meet the statutory requirement for the Council to approve an Annual Government Statement (AGS) for inclusion in its published Statement of Accounts (SoA) for 2016/17 and to update the Committee on changes made to the AGS following the Audit & Risk Committee comments in April 2017.

 

Following the Audit & Risk Committee feedback at the meeting on 25 April 2017 the following sections had been updated:

 

·         Political balance

·         Rutland Together

·         Head of Internal Audit opinion

·         Financial Performance

·         Corporate Performance

·         Business Continuity

·         Joint Safety Committee

·         Assurance Statements

·         Public Service Network Compliance (PSN)

 

The AGS would not be finalised until September and the committee were reminded there would be time to make any changes pertinent to the statement.

 

During the discussion the following points were noted:

 

      I.        The white paper on the Poverty Review was not presented to Council in June and the AGS would be updated to reflect the schedule change.

 

    II.        A query was raised by Cllr Begy regarding the meaning of the term “sustainable growth”

 

   III.        Ms Mogg confirmed that the Joint Safety Committee was included in the programme of meetings for 2017/18

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the updates made to the (AGS)

 

147.

Strategic Risk Register pdf icon PDF 56 KB

To receive Report No 127/2017 from the Director for Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 127/2017 was received from Ms Mogg. The purpose of the report was to provide assurance to the Committee that the strategic risks were being adequately managed.

 

During the discussion the following points were noted:

 

      I.        Ms Mogg confirmed the Strategic Risk Register was in risk rating order.

 

    II.        The Strategic Risk Register was a standing item on the Senior Management Team (SMT) agenda and reviewed regularly.

 

   III.        It was agreed that future risk registers would contain a clear explanation of the inherent to residual graph and its meaning.

 

  IV.        Ms Mogg clarified some details in the register including that alternative options in respect of supplier failure were considered as part of procurement arrangements, and that Officer’s understanding is that school staff did receive training on safeguarding issues and this was considered in OFSTED inspections.

 

   V.        Concern was raised that the feasibility study due to be undertaken for Oakham Hub One Public Estate did not mention the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) implementation, it’s impact and the lack of financial details and sustainability which had not been forthcoming, however the Committee were satisfied the current risk rating adequately reflected the current risk and acknowledged it would change in future as further details emerged. Ms Mogg agreed to refer Members concerns to Dr O’Neill – Director for People.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the contents of the Risk Register and the actions underway to address risks.

 

148.

Internal Audit Annual Report pdf icon PDF 54 KB

To receive Report No 124/2017 from the Head of internal Audit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 124/2017 was received from Miss Ashley-Caunt. The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with the Head of Internal Audit’s Assurance Opinion for 2016/17 and the Annual Report detailing the basis for the opinion, for review and approval.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

      I.        Ms Mogg gave an update on IT Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity, confirming the Council now has a fully operational site replication on servers at Oakham Enterprise Park (OEP), and further clarified that some IT systems the Council use are also externally hosted off site.

 

    II.        Members asked for clarification that data would be secure; Ms Mogg confirmed assurance would be given annually when the Council meet Public Sector Network (PSN) compliance.

 

   III.        Mr Begy sought clarification that the Council were prepared for the Data Protection Law Changing in May 2018. Ms Mogg confirmed she is in the early stages of assessing what was required and that any changes required would be in place by May 2018.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee APPROVED the Annual Internal Audit Report and Assurance Opinion for 2016/17.

 

149.

Internal Audit Charter 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To receive Report No 123/2017 from the Head of Internal Audit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 123/2017 was received from Miss Ashley-Caunt. The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with the revised Internal Audit Charter and Strategy for annual review and approval.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

      I.        The Committee agreed that the changes proposed to the Internal Audit Charter would make it more transparent and they would be more assured.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee APPROVED the Internal Audit Charter and Strategy.

 

150.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) Update

To receive a verbal update from the Director for Resources.

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update from Ms Mogg. Ms Mogg confirmed there had been no incidents where RIPA had been used.

 

151.

ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed the next training session would take place 30 minutes before the meeting of the Committee in January.

 

The Chair proposed an extra meeting of the Committee in August to receive a report on the Children’s Centre Project along with an update from Internal Audit on the Highways Maintenance review, if possible, meeting date to be confirmed.