Agenda item

The Use of Resources Auditor Judgements report was introduced by the Audit Manager from the Audit Commission – Ms Sheila Hill. It was noted that this was the third Use of Resources assessment undertaken by the Audit Commission at the London Borough of Haringey. The Council had received an overall score of 3 out of a possible 4, and had been notified of the results of the assessment on 10 December 2007. Scores had been maintained in four out of the five themes of the assessment since the previous year. It was highlighted that the score for the key line of enquiry 5.2, ‘The Council manages and improves value for money’, had improved from 2 to 3 since the previous year and that the Pre Business Plan Review process was felt to be robust. The Committee was invited to note that the overall score for the theme of Financial reporting had dropped from a 3 to a 2, largely because the Council had not maintained the ‘notable practice’ status achieved in the previous year through the Annual Report consultation process. The Council had developed an action plan to address some of the areas for improvement identified in the report, and work would continue with the new Auditors, Grant Thornton to make further progress.

The Chair thanked Ms Hill for her introduction, and asked if there were any questions from the Committee. Cllr Gorrie asked for clarification as to the precise period covered by the report. In response Ms Hill advised that the period covered by the report was the financial year 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, although the publishing convention of the Audit Commission meant that the front cover was dated ‘Audit 2007-2008’ as the report was part of the audit fee for 2007-2008. It was noted that amendments made subsequent to the 31 March 2007 could be taken into account as part of this report, subject to an assessment by the Audit Commission of whether they were sufficiently embedded.

Cllr Gorrie asked for clarification as to what Appendix 1 of the report represented. Ms Hill reported that this document showed the revisions to the key lines of enquiry, against which the Council would be assessed this year. It was intended that this would assist officers in determining whether arrangements were in place for satisfying the key lines of enquiry where changes had been made. It was noted that it was not necessary to define criteria for a score of 1, as this would automatically be scored if the criteria for attaining a 2 were not satisfied.

Cllr Gorrie noted that the issue of underspend against the capital budget at year end was raised as an issue in the report, under the key findings for the theme Financial Standing, and reported that this had been further emphasised in the performance for the financial year 2007-2008, as underspend towards the year end had been even greater. Cllr Gorrie challenged the report’s assessment that the Council had been successful in planning for and achieving efficiency savings in light of the results for the financial year 2007-2008, where savings targets had not been attained and the Achieving Excellence programme had fallen behind schedule.

The Chair expressed the Committee’s disappointment at the score of 2 for Financial Reporting and called attention to the revisions to the key lines of enquiry to ensure that these were acted on. There being no further comments it was:

RESOLVED

i.                    That the contents of the report be noted, together with the comments made by the Committee.

ii.         That it be noted that the report covered the period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.