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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Kennet Room - County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN. View directions

Contact: Jessica Croman  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from:

 

Councillor Stewart Dobson who was substituted by councillor Ian Blair-Pilling

Councillor Mike Hewitt who was substituted by councillor Peter Evans

Councillor Tony Trotman

 

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2017.

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2017.

3.

Declarations of Interests

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

4.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman made the following announcements:

 

·        That Michael Hudson, Director Finance and Procurement, would be leaving Wiltshire Council in May 2018. The Chairman thanked Michael for his hard work.

·        That Deloitte would be taking over as external auditors from KPMG in the new financial year. It was noted that a national procurement exercise had taken place in which Deloitte was the successful applicant. A meeting with key officers and members would take place on the 6 March with Deloitte to start planning the external auditing schedule and to manage the transition process. The Committee was advised that the transition process would need to be tightly managed by the Committee. An item would be on the next agenda for further discussion.

5.

Public Participation

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

 

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

 

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

 

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on (4 clear working days, e.g. Wednesday of week before a Wednesday meeting) in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on (2 clear working days, eg Friday of week before a Wednesday meeting). Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

 

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

 

Minutes:

There were no members of the public present.

6.

SWAP Internal Audit Activity Update

To provide an update to the Audit Committee on the work and performance of Internal Audit (IA) for 2017/18, at end of January 2018. It provides a summary of Progress made in:

 

              Delivering the 2017/18 Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Plans, by identifying audits completed, or in-progress compared to the original plan.

              The progress of management in responding to audit recommendations.

              The council’s overall control environment.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The report to the Committee updated on the progress of the Internal Audit in respect of delivering the 2017/18 Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Plans. this had been achieved by identifying audits completed or in-progress compared to the original plan; the progress of management responding to audit recommendations and the Council’s overall control environment.

 

Ian Withers, SWAP highlighted key improvements which had been made since the last report to committee noting that as of the 13 February 23 audit recommendations had yet to be implemented, down from 74. Those areas with outstanding audit recommendations were making positive progress to completing the implementations.

 

Committee members asked questions which focused on; whether Wiltshire Council had an internal system to monitor and sign off implemented recommendations; how 51 recommendations were implemented so quickly between the 2 February to 13 February; the level of assurance awarded versus the number and priority of projects and the number of audits carried out within the organisation being deferred and the impacts they had on staff.

 

It was noted that the Council no longer had an internal system to monitor the status of recommendations, although the SWAP could be used to send email reminders to managers. 51 recommendations had been implemented quickly due to chasing managers and the influence from the Committee and the Corporate Leadership Team, although the organisation needed to adopt a culture of continuous improvement and for mangers to own audit recommendations as part of their roles. The Committee was informed that the awarding of assurance was subjective and down to the judgement of the auditor. Finally the Committee was advised that the number of audits had significantly reduced over the last 8 years and it was key to find the right balance. The Chairman suggested making future plans more realistic and deliverable taking into account resources and other issues.

 

Resolved:

 

1.    To note the Internal Audit Activity for 2017/18 and the outcomes of the audit and counter fraud work completed to date.     

 

2.    To agree the amendments to the Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Plans for 2017/18 in respect of planned audits.

7.

KPMG - Wiltshire Council - Annual Grants Report 2017/18

To consider the Annual Grants Report 2017/18 from KPMG.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Darren Gilbert, KPMG, gave an overview of the annual grants report 2017/18 noting that work had been carried out within Housing Benefit, Teachers Pensions Contributions and Pooling of Housing Capital Receipts. It was noted that no significant errors had been identified although there were a number of items identified which were reported to the Department for Work and Pensions through a qualification letter.

 

Questions were asked about the increased risks/ errors from universal credit. It was noted that the issues within the report related to data entry errors by employees and that there was still a lot of work to be done on moving people onto universal credit. The issues were being dealt with through additional training and quality assurance. 

 

 

8.

KPMG - Wiltshire Council - Audit Plan 2017/18

To consider the Annual Audit Plan from KPMG.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

KPMG introduced the Audit Plan 2017/18 which highlighted a number of areas which had significant risks and where the external auditors would focus noting that frequent updates would be provided.

 

Accelerated accounts would come into force this new financial year which meant that the auditing of the accounts would need to be completed earlier, although Wiltshire council had been carrying out accelerated accounts for a while.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the External Audit Plan 2017/18.

9.

Audit Task and Finish Group

To approve the Audit Task and Finish group inline with the proposed Terms of Reference.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman referred to the Audit Task & Finish Group which had been introduced at the last meeting noting that the proposed terms of reference were attached which included an indicative work programme and schedule.

 

Resolved:

 

To approve the Audit Tsk & Finish Group inline with the Terms of Reference.

10.

Forward Work Programme

To note the Forward Work Programme

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman referred to the forward work plan noting that more information would become available on Deloitte once they had met on 6 March.

11.

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next regular meeting of the Committee will be held at 10am on 11 April 2018.

Minutes:

The next meeting would be held on the 11 April 2018.

12.

Urgent Items

Any other items of business, which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.