Meeting documents

 

 

Draft Minutes

of the Meeting of the

Audit Committee

Wednesday, 30th January 2019

held at the Town Hall, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

 

Meeting Commenced: 2pm Meeting Concluded: 3.30pm

 

Councillors:

 

P Mary Blatchford (Chairman)

P Reyna Knight (Vice-Chairman)

 

P Bob Garner	John Ley-Morgan
P Marcia Pepperall

 

 

P: Present

A: Apologies for absence submitted

 

Independent Member: Tony Roche

 

Officers in attendance: Mark Anderson (Corporate Services), Peter Cann (Audit West), Mark Roddan (Corporate Services), Heather Sanders (Corporate Services), Mel Watts (Corporate Services), Jeff Wring (Audit West)

 

AUD 12

Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (Agenda item 3)

None.

 

AUD 13

Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 November 2018 (Agenda item 4)

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting be approved as a correct record.

 

AUD 14

Procurement & Contract Monitoring (Agenda item 6)

The Head of Strategic Procurement gave Members an update on the Councils Procurement Strategy. Advising that the service had worked closely with Bath & North East Somerset Council and Wiltshire County Council in developing the procurement strategy, he reported that that the Strategic Procurement Service operated on a business partnering basis with procurement teams across all areas of the Council.

The Head of Strategic Procurement then responded to members questions and queries regarding the difference the strategy had made; areas of success and plans to further develop the service going forward, including establishing a series of relevant Key Performance Indicators.

AUD 15

External Audit (Agenda item 7)

The Committee considered the reports submitted by the Councils external auditor. The Chairman ruled that Appendix 1 (Audit Plan 2018-19) was considered as an urgent items of business because it formed part of the expected agenda for the meeting and was required to be considered to ensure the terms of reference of the Audit Committee could be complied with and so mitigate any risk to the public interest from the report not being considered and ensuring full transparency.

 

Grant Thorntons engagement lead Barrie Morris presented the grant certification letter detailing the work carried out by the Councils external auditor in certifying the Housing Benefit subsidy claim for 2017/18, together with details of the fee for the certification work undertaken. He presented the Audit Plan for the year to March 2019, which provided an overview of the work the External Auditor intended to conduct in respect of the statutory audit of the Councils financial statements and Value for Money arrangements. And concluded by presenting a progress report on work undertaken by the external auditor, which also included a sector update, reference to a number of national initiatives, announcements and relevant publications.

 

Resolved: that the contents of the grant certification letter, Audit Plan report, and progress report be noted.

 

AUD 16

Treasury Management Strategy 2019/20 (Agenda item 8)

The Chairman ruled that this report was considered as an urgent items of business because it formed part of the expected agenda for the meeting and was required to be considered to ensure the terms of reference of the Audit Committee could be complied with and so mitigate any risk to the public interest from the report not being considered and ensuring full transparency.

 

The Principal Accountant (Resources) presented the report which set out the Councils treasury management strategy for the 2019/20 financial year, including the prudential indicators and the policy for making minimum revenue provision within the budget. Responding to a question about difficulties in the retail sector, the Head of Corporate Accountancy confirmed that returns on commercial investments were expected to be consistent

with the forecast.

 

Resolved: that the Treasury Management Strategy 2019/20, together with the Prudential Indicators and Minimum Revenue Provision policy be noted.

 

AUD 17

Risk Management Strategy (Agenda item 9)

The Head of Audit West reported on a review of the Councils risk management framework, inviting the Committee to endorse the proposed strategy. In response to a question about scrutiny engagement, the Head of Audit West advised that the strategy and toolkit would help ensure that the Council had an effective approach towards identifying and managing risk and would be useful in guiding Members and officers through the scrutiny process.

 

Resolved: that the Risk Management Strategy 2019-2024 be endorsed.

 

 

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Chairman

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