Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Adamou and from Councillors Ibrahim and M Blake for lateness.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (late items will be considered under the agenda items where they appear).  New items which are non-exempt will be dealt with at item 11, and those which are exempt will be dealt with at item 13.

There were no items of urgent business.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were none.

To consider and agree the minutes of the meeting held on 26 June 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th June 2014 be approved as a correct record, subject to the name of Councillor Opoku being included in the list of those councillors who were present at the meeting.

Report of the Assistant Director for Finance on the Council’s treasury management activities and performance in the quarter to 30^th June 2014.

George Bruce, Head of Finance – Treasury and Pensions, introduced the report as set out in the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the Treasury Management activity undertaken during the quarter to 30^th June 2014, and the performance achieved, be noted.

The report of the Assistant Director for Finance details the Statement of Accounts for 2013/14 following the completion of the external audit. The report also presents the statutory Annual Report of the external auditors, Grant Thornton, which reports on their annual audit of the Council’s statutory accounts, value for money and other relevant information.

Kevin Bartle, Assistant Director of Finance and Chief Finance Officer, introduced the report which presented the Statement of Accounts for 2013/14 following the completion of the external audit.

The Committee also considered the Annual Report from Grant Thornton on their annual audit of the Council’s statutory accounts, value for money and other relevant information.  The report was presented by Paul Dossett and Paul Jacklin of Grant Thornton who began by drawing attention to the Executive Summary contained on page 173 of the agenda.  They stated that the key messages arising from the audit of the Council’s financial statements were:

a)    The Council had continued to improve the quality of its financial statements and the quality of information supporting the transactions and balances within the financial statements had proven to be robust.

b)    A notable improvement in both the quantity and quality of the working papers provided at the start of the audit which were appropriately referenced to the financial statements.

The Grant Thornton representatives continued by saying that the outstanding items referred to in the Executive Summary had been cleared and that they were therefore just waiting for receipt of the Letter of Representation from the Council, which could be sent once the Committee had given its approval to the Statement of Accounts.

They went on to refer to two recommendations contained in the Action Plan at Appendix A on page 197 of the report which were:

a)    That all members of staff should have a signed contract of employment that is filed with their HR records and

b)    The Council should ensure that relevant listings of debtors are run at the year end and saved as evidence to support balances within the financial statements.

The Grant Thornton representatives stated that the Council had continued to strengthen its financial arrangements and manage its budget better than in previous years.  They concluded by saying that not only had the Council managed things well during 2014, but also put in place things to ensure good management over the next two to three years, adding that overall they had seen a very positive assessment of value for money.

Officers then responded to a number of questions from, and concerns raised by, members of the Committee relating to wording on the Council’s website regarding the minuting of Area Forum meetings; the filing of staff contracts; an increase in sickness levels, and measures to increase income from business rates.

Oliver Craxton, Principal Committee Coordinator, stated that he would take up the concern raised regarding the fact that included in the Annual Governance Statement was the wording ‘Area Forum and Committee agendas and minutes are available on the Council’s website’ but that Area Forums are not in fact minuted, only Area Committees, and he undertook to ensure that the wording on the Council’s website was amended to reflect current practice.

Officers acknowledged that sickness rates had increased slightly, but it was reported that analysis had been undertaken of the situation and that the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 369.

Report of Grant Thornton on progress delivering their responsibilities as the Council’s external auditors.

The Committee received the report of Grant Thornton.

RESOLVED:

That the progress report provided by the external auditor, Grant Thornton, be noted.

Report of the Assistant Director of Corporate Governance to advise the Committee on the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Service in completing the 2013/14 annual audit plan, together with the responsive and pro-active fraud investigation work, including housing benefit fraud investigations.

The report was introduced by Anne Woods, Head of Audit and Risk Management.   She drew attention to action being taken in regard to tenancy fraud and the fact that two council properties had been recovered and that a further 41 applications were currently under investigation.  Anne Woods went on to say that a ‘key amnesty’ was being planned, to encourage people who were illegally sub-letting council properties to return their keys, without facing prosecution for tenancy fraud.

It was reported that in addition to fraud checks being carried out when Right- to-Buy applications were submitted, a considerable amount of information sharing, both within the Council, and with other authorities, was also undertaken to check, amongst other things, if applicants were on benefits, and if so, for how long.

In response to a question from a member of the Committee, Anne Woods stated that if there was a case for criminal prosecution arising from internal employee investigations, the Council would always liaise with the police, and that in-house disciplinary measures were carried out at the same time as any criminal prosecution.

In response to a question, Tracie Evans, Chief Operating Officer, stated that the Annual Audit Plan was presented to the Committee each March.  Consequently, if Members had proposals regarding identifying and prioritising areas of work, and what should be included in the Plan, they should discuss the matter with herself and Kevin Bartle, Assistant Director – Finance, and If it appropriate the matter would be added to the Annual Plan..

The Chair referred to schools taking action to address priority recommendations arising from the probity audit, which had been identified following a visit to the school.   He stressed that it had been made very clear that if the Committee felt that a school was not performing to a sufficient standard they would be asked to attend a meeting of the Committee to provide an explanation.

Responding to questions from the Committee, Anne Woods stated every school in the borough was audited every three years, but possibly sooner if there were concerns about its financial affairs.   She went on to say that in regard to schools, and any other audits carried out, follow-up audit work was undertaken to monitor previous outcomes, and that these were included in the regular progress reports submitted to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the audit coverage and counter-fraud work completed be noted, along with the actions taken during the quarter to ensure audit recommendations are implemented and to address the outstanding recommendations during the first quarter 2014/15.

2.    That as soon as practicable, the Committee be updated on progress taken by Highgate Wood School and Tiverton Primary School to address the priority recommendations identified in the probity audit following visits to the schools as part of the 2013/14 Internal Audit Plan.

3.    That Anne Woods, Head of Audit and Risk Management, also undertook to investigate the situation regarding the clearing of cases associated with council property tenancy fraud and report back to the Committee.

There were no items of exempt urgent business.

The following item(s) are likely to be subject of a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; paragraphs 1 and 3, information relating to any individual and information relating to the business or financial affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

It was not necessary to pass a resolution to exclude the public and press when consideration was given by the Committee to agenda item 12, as none were present at the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the Council and Employee Joint Consultative Committee held on 14 July 2014.

RESOLVED:

1.    The exempt minutes of the meeting of the Council and Employee Joint Consultative Committee (CEJCC) held on 14^th July 2014 be received.

2.    That it be noted that in future, the minutes of the CEJCC would be submitted to the Staffing and Remuneration Committee for consideration, and not the Corporate Committee, as the CEJCC was now a sub-committee of the Staffing and Remuneration Committee, following its establishment by Full Council on 21^st July 2014, and not the Corporate Committee, as was the case previously.

There were no items of exempt urgent business.

Tuesday 25 November 2014 at 7.00pm

It was noted that the next meeting was due to be held on Tuesday 25^th November 2014 at 7.00pm.