Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Financial Officer to inform the Committee of the Auditor Judgements 2007 and of the Council’s proposed action plan arising from the CPA Use of Resources auditor’s assessment.

The Head of Corporate Finance, Kevin Bartle, introduced the Use of Resources – Auditor Judgements 2007 action plan. This report demonstrated the Council’s response to the Audit Commission’s report and recommendations. It was reported that an officer working party was in place to review opportunities for improvement. A full action plan to address key lines of enquiry had been produced, and an extract of this, highlighting specific areas for improvement, was appended to the report.

The Head of Finance (Accounting and Control), Mr Oliver, informed the Committee that measures were in place to improve on the areas identified in the Audit Commission report. Weekly planning meetings were taking place and officers were liaising closely with the external auditors, Grant Thornton, to ensure that, where necessary, areas were subject to early discussion. It was anticipated that this relationship with the external auditor would continue to develop. In relation to the key line of enquiry ref 1.2 ‘the Council promotes external accountability’, it was reported that consultation with Haringey Strategic partnership had been renewed, and that a questionnaire had been sent out to the Council’s partners to obtain feedback on the Annual Report and Accounts and to seek views on what else could be included. A project group had been established to look at issues such as the layout of the Annual Report and Accounts, and it was hoped that ‘notable practice’ status could be re-attained in the next assessment.

The Chair asked the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Almeroth, what it would take for the Council to achieve an overall score of 4 in the Use of Resources assessment. Mr Almeroth reported that robust processes were in place and resources were being focussed on attaining a score of 4, although this could not be guaranteed. The revisions to the key lines of enquiry demonstrated that the criteria against which the Council was assessed became tougher each year. The Chair noted that although the test was becoming harder, he was confident that the experience of officers and application of resources would enable a 4 to be achieved.

There being no further comments from the Committee it was:

RESOLVED

That that CPA Use of Resources Auditor Judgements 2007 and the Council’s action plan in response be noted, together with the comments put forward by the Committee and the Chief Financial Officer’s response.