Venue: Woodside Room George Meehan House - Outside Venue
Contact: Philip Slawther, Principal Committee Co-ordinator
Note: This meeting will be webcast - use the link on the agenda frontsheet or copy and paste the following link into your internet browser: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZDYxZDcyNWYtNzg2MC00OTQ4LTllNTQtMGRlOTBkNzIxNjk5%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226ddfa760-8cd5-44a8-8e48-d8ca487731c3%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22f5230856-79e8-4651-a903-97aa289e8eff%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d&btype=a&role=a
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FILMING AT MEETINGS Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.
By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.
The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council. Minutes: The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein. |
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Apologies for Absence and Substitutions (if any) Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Ejiofor.
Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Ibrahim.
Cllrs Rossetti and Demir attended the meeting virtually. |
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Urgent Business 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 will be dealt with at item ) Minutes: There were no items of Urgent Business. |
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Declarations of Interest A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:
(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and (ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.
A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.
Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct. Minutes: None. |
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Deputations / Petitions / Presentations / Questions To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution. Minutes: None. |
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To consider and agree the minutes of the meeting held on 17th March 2021. Minutes: The Committee requested an update around the follow-up audit of the purchase of Alexandra House. In response, officers set out that at its last meeting, the Committee received a report from Mazars into the initial decision not to purchase Alex House when the opportunity first arose. Subsequent to this, Internal Audit received a report from the external auditors around the later decision to purchase, which set out a number of areas of assurance that the Head of Audit accepted. The Head of Audit advised that he was happy to consider any further concerns raised by the Committee and whether a further piece of audit work was required. The Chair suggested that this could be picked up outside of the meeting.
A Member of the Committee sought clarification around what issues the Chair was hoping to pursue outside of the meeting. The Chair set out that there were still some outstanding issues around the initial decision not to purchase and the decision making processes involved therein. The Chair suggested that he would like to see some further assurances that similar mistakes would not be made in the future. The Chair proposed that he would have some further discussions with officers outside of the meeting and that the issue would come back to the Committee at a subsequent meeting.
A Committee Member suggested that these concerns should be outlined in the meeting in a public forum. It was commented that the Committee had already received a report at a previous meeting, and it was suggested that the justification for a further report was unclear. The Member cautioned against other members of the Committee being seen to pursue a political agenda. The Chair reiterated his concerns around good governance and value for money and advised that the discussions he had initially suggested were merely around the scope of further inquiry. The Chair accepted the point raised about the need for any future report to come back to a future meeting and be discussed in public.
The Committee Member in question reiterated the need for decisions to be taken in the meeting and suggested that, given this was a new Committee, perhaps the initial report should be brought back to the Committee in the first instance, with questions put to officers.
Cllr Amin requested that her strong opposition to the process be recorded in the minutes along with her concerns that this seemed to be part of a political agenda.
The Chair requested that an item around a possible follow-up audit on the decision to purchase Alex House would be added to the agenda for the next Committee. (Action: Clerk).
RESOLVED
That the minutes of the meeting held on 17th March 2021 were agreed as a correct record.
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Update on Statement of Accounts 2020-21 Verbal Update. Minutes: The Committee received a verbal update in relation to the Statement of Accounts 2020/21. At the last meeting, the Committee set out that it would like to see the establishment of a working group to look into some of the operational issues that had been raised in the external audit report on the annual Statement of Accounts. Subsequent to that meeting, the Director of Finance met with the previous Chair of the Committee and advised that officers would provide updates to the Committee on this issue instead. The Chief Accountant advised the Committee that:
Officers advised that the readjusting to the new ways of working due to COVID led to the final accounts team not picking up on the disposal of the Laurels that took place just 3 months before the lockdown. This was however, picked up before the audit started and corrected it but auditors still had to report it as it was corrected after the draft account was produced. On the error relating to gross internal areas, officers advised that these were usually spotted once we receive the data from external valuers. That these are usually corrected by physically visiting and remeasuring. This did not happen in this case due to COVID restrictions. Officers advised that in response to the ... view the full minutes text for item 34. |
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Treasury Management Outturn 2020/21 Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report which set out the Council’s Treasury Management activities and performance in the year to 31st March 2021, in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Management Code of Practice. The report was introduced by Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury as set out in the agenda pack at pages 15-29. The following arose during the discussion of the report:
RESOLVED That the Corporate Committee:
to 31st March 2021; and the performance achieved which was set out in Appendix 1 of the report;
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Annual Governance Statement 2020/21 Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Head of Audit and Risk Management which set out the draft annual governance statement (AGS) relating to the 2020/21 financial year, for review and approval. The report was included in the agenda pack at pages 31-64. The following arose during the discussion of the report:
RESOLVED
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Annual internal Audit Report 20/21 Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report which sought to inform Members of the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the system of internal control and risk management operating throughout 2020/21 and present a summary of the audit work undertaken to formulate the opinion, including reliance placed on work by other bodies. The report fulfilled the relevant statutory requirements of the 2017 UK Public Sector Internal Audit Standards; the 2017 Local Government Transparency Code; and the Committee’s own Terms of Reference. The report was introduced by Minesh Jani, Head of Audit and Risk Management, as set out in the agenda pack at pages 65-101. The following arose as part of the discussion of the report:
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Audit & Risk Update Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report which detailed the work undertaken by the in-house Audit and Fraud team as well as Mazars, for the quarter ending 31 March 2021. The report was introduced by Minesh Jani, Head of Audit and Risk Management as set out in the agenda pack at pages 103-116. The following arose during the discussion of the report:
The Head of Audit advised that during the process of auditing the Procurement service, it was apparent that the two main reasons for seeking waivers were because of the need to procure something quickly or in instances where a contractor had a particular speciality.
RESOLVED
That the Corporate Committee noted the activities of the Audit and Fraud team during quarter four of 2020/21.
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Annual Schools Audit Report - 2020/21 Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report which set out of the outcomes of the 2020/21 schools audit programme and the follow-up of 2019/20 audits carried out in 2020/21. The report was introduced by Minesh Jani, Head of Audit and Risk Management as set out in the agenda pack at pages 117-131. The following arose during the discussion of the report:
RESOLVED That the Committee noted the report.
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Any other business of an urgent nature To consider any items admitted at item 2 above. Minutes: None |
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Date and Time of Next Meeting 23 September 2021 Minutes: 9th September |