Agenda and minutes

To record the attendance of substitute councillors, if any, who have been authorised to attend in accordance with the provisions of standing order 17(1), with notification having been given to the proper officer before the start of the meeting and to receive apologies for absence. 

None

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 20 March 2013. 

RESOLVED: to adopt as a correct record the minutes of the committee meeting held on 20 March 2013 and agree that the chairman signs them. 

To review the actions arising from the last two committee meetings and receive an update on progress. 

The committee considered the strategic director’s report on actions arising from previous committee meetings and updated the schedule. 

RESOLVED: to update the actions arising schedule as follows:

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

None

To receive notification of any matters, which the chairman determines, should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances, which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman. 

None

Any statements, petitions and questions from the public under standing order 32 will be made or presented at the meeting.

None

To consider the report of the head HR, IT, and customer services. 

The committee considered the report from the head of HR, IT, and customer services.  This sought the committee’s agreement to approve the business continuity strategy and the risk management strategy for 2013 to 2016. 

Despite there being no significant changes from the previous strategies, the committee noted that the two updated strategies would help the council to:

• continue to provide public services in the event of a business disruption
• embed business continuity arrangements by setting out the means of continuing service delivery in the event of a disruption
• meet its strategic and operational objectives and improve service delivery
• simplify arrangements and achieve economies of effort through having a single process for both the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils
• comply with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and audit regulations
• embed the risk management process by setting out the means of identifying and managing risks
• meet its strategic and operational objectives, improve service delivery and support better project management

The committee noted that the county council emergency planning team ran exercises to test the council’s business continuity arrangements.  Councillors supported the proposed strategies but suggested that the business continuity strategy should refer to the frequency of business continuity testing exercises. 

RESOLVED: to approve the business continuity strategy and the risk management strategy for the period 2013 to 2016, subject to amending the business continuity strategy to refer to the frequency of business continuity testing exercises. 

To consider the audit manager’s report. 

The committee considered the report of the audit manager on the work of the council’s internal audit team during the year 2012/13.  The audit manager gave an unqualified opinion of satisfactory assurance to the council’s risk management, control, and governance processes, and confirmed that there was a sound system of internal control.  Where internal audit had identified weaknesses, the team had agreed improvement actions with service managers.  

The committee noted that the audit manager was pleased with the internal audit team’s performance during the year; the committee concurred and congratulated the manager and her team. 

RESOLVED: to note the internal audit annual report for 2012/13 and congratulate the audit manager and her team on their performance during the year.

To consider the audit manager’s report. 

The committee considered the audit manager’s report on internal audit activity in the first quarter 2013/14, covering April to June 2013.  Of the audits referred to in the report, three had received a full assurance rating from internal audit, and four had received a satisfactory rating.  In this quarterly report, there were no audit reports with limited or nil assurance.  The report also referred to five follow-up audits, of which one had received full assurance, three were satisfactory, and one had received limited assurance from internal audit. 

The audit manager only brought limited or nil assurance audit reports to the committee meetings for consideration.  However, the audit manager sent to all committee members every internal audit report produced.  The strategic director agreed to check this occurred.  Committee members could then request any internal audit report to appear on the committee’s agenda for debate at the meeting.  With this safeguard, the committee supported this form of exception reporting. 

The committee also noted appendix 1, which updated on the systemic control weaknesses identified by internal audit.  These were recurring weaknesses identified across a number of service areas and included policies and procedures not being comprehensive, up-to-date, not being the responsibility of a single officer.  The committee agreed to monitor these weaknesses carefully. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)               note the internal audit activity report for the first quarter in 2013/14;

(b)               confirm the method of exception reporting of internal audit reports whereby every internal audit report is sent to every committee member, but only limited or nil assurance rated audit reports are brought to the committee for consideration unless a committee member requests that any satisfactory or full reports should also be considered;

(c)               request the strategic director to ensure that all committee members are sent every internal audit report; and

(d)               monitor the systemic control weaknesses carefully.  

To consider the audit manager’s report.  

The committee considered the audit manager’s report on management issues within internal audit service during the first quarter 2013/14.  The committee noted that the audit manager was to commence maternity leave shortly and the head of finance had appointed a temporary audit manager, Craig Pullen, on a part-time basis to cover this work. 

RESOLVED: to note the internal audit management report for the first quarter of 2013/14. 

To consider the external auditor’s progress report. 

The committee considered the external auditor’s progress report.  Maria Grindley of Ernst & Young, the council’s external auditor, reported that since September 2012, she had tested some of the council’s control mechanisms and was conducting a value for money assessment.  Work would start in the summer to certify the council’s grant claims from the government and audit the council’s statement of accounts.  As the council would not be introducing a fixed asset system before compiling the 2012/13 accounts, this would not be included in this year’s audit work.  However, work had commenced on auditing the fixed asset adjustments. 

The committee noted that although the external auditor used to have a statutory responsibility to conduct benchmarking of councils through comprehensive performance assessment, this was no longer required.  The external auditor’s role was now to audit the council’s financial arrangements.  However, the auditor also had a duty to alert the council to any issues or suggest good practice from other councils. 

Following a suggestion from the committee, the strategic director agreed to consider consulting on the public’s comprehension of council financial information such as the statement of accounts and budget. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)               note the external auditor’s progress report; and

(b)               request the strategic director to consider consulting on the public’s comprehension of council financial information. 

To consider the draft annual governance statement 2012/13. 

RECOMMENDED: To approve the draft annual governance statement 2012/13. 

The committee considered the draft annual governance statement for 2012/13.  This statement would accompany the statement of accounts and was open to the committee and the council’s external auditors to suggest any improvements before the committee adopted the statement at its meeting in September. 

The committee suggested that the officers: 

• reviewed paragraph 75 to better explain the council’s budget-making process in 2012/13
• made reference in paragraph 115 to the committee’s role in dealing with code of conduct complaints against district, town and parish councillors

The chairman asked committee members to submit any suggested amendments to Democratic Services before the next committee meeting. 

RESOLVED: to amend the draft annual governance statement 2012/13 as set out above and consider any further suggestions from committee members before the next committee meeting. 

To review the audit and governance work programme. 

The committee is asked to note that prior to approving the statement of accounts on 23 September, there will be a question and answer session on the accounts for committee members on Monday 16 September. 

The committee reviewed its work programme for the remainder of 2013. 

The committee queried whether internal audit should carry out an audit of the planning service given its current weak performance.  The strategic director reported that although the board report showed that the time taken to determine planning applications was below target, an audit of the service looked at internal controls and financial arrangements, which were not directly related to performance.  He agreed to send committee members a copy of the recent internal audit report of the development management part of the planning service. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)               note the committee’s work programme; and

(b)               request the strategic director to circulate a copy of the recent internal audit report on the development management part of the planning service. 

To note that training on the committee’s internal audit role took place on 12 June and there will be a training session on treasury management on 9 July.  

The committee noted that a training session had taken place on 12 June 2013 when the audit manager trained four new committee members on the role of internal audit and the committee’s role in ensuring that the council’s systems were robust.  A further training session would be held on 9 July for councillors on treasury management.  The committee also noted that there would be a briefing and question/answer session for committee members on 16 September on the committee’s role in approving the statement of accounts.  The officers agreed to organise a further training session for committee members on treasury management before the committee reviewed the council’s treasury management strategy in January 2014. 

RESOLVED: to continue to hold training sessions for committee members as outlined above. 

None