Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Stuart Dobson, Ian Thorn, Mike Hewitt, Leo Randall and Andy Phillips.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2019.

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2019.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To note any Chairman’s announcements.

The Chairman welcomed Charlotte Wilson, SWAP, to the meeting.

The Chairman noted that the Chairman’s briefing did not take place as intended and that communication would take place with officers before the next meeting. 

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 10 April 2019 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 12 April 2019. 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.

There were no public in attendance or any questions received.

To consider an update on the Quarter 4 Internal Audit and Year End Summary from SWAP.

David Hill, SWAP, introduced the report informing the committee that SWAP had identified a significant risk, in this case an action plan had been agreed and monitoring of the implementation would continue; in other cases a no assurance and partial assurance had been identified, action plans were also in place and SWAP would continue to monitor their progress.  

It was also noted that there were a number of outstanding recommendations which SWAP had been chasing with mixed response. A full list of the outstanding recommendations would be brought to the next meeting.

In response to questions SWAP informed the meeting that; SWAP were happy with their performance throughout the year; discussions were taking place on whether the 5 day reporting process should be increased to 10 days which was more realistic; some of the 18/19 projects would roll over into 19/20, those projects would be completed within the 18/19 budget and liaised with the S151 officer.

To consider the Draft Internal Audit Plan.

The Draft Internal Audit Plan was briefly discussed. In response to questions asked, SWAP noted that they were currently carrying out a self-assessment against the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. There is a requirement to undertake an assessment every five years to ensure conformance to these Standards, SWAP undertake a review every three years. Their next step would be to appoint an external assessor and the results would be available in November 2019.

To consider the report on 2018/19 Close Down and External Audit Update.

Deloitte explained that there was a detailed close down plan and that all was on course to be completed in accordance with the statutory deadlines.

It was noted that the draft Annual Governance Statement would be would be brought to an extraordinary Audit Committee in June.

To consider the report on Risk and Performance Policy.

Cllr Whitehead introduced the item noting that the report had already been agreed by Cabinet. Implementation of the policy was briefly discussed and the Chairman explained that it was the Audit Committees responsibility to have oversight of the policy’s implementation and would like to see an update at the November committee meeting.

There was a discussion of the scoring of the organisation’s reputational risk and its potential financial consequences and it was agreed to lower the risk level to 12.

At the end it was;

Resolved

To recommend that the reputational score level be lowered to 12.

Becky Hellard, Interim Director of Finance and Procurement, introduced the item noting that two significant changes in accounting policies had taken place. Both changes related to the IFRS code of practice, which was the guidance used to create the statement of accounts.

As a response to questions asked it was noted that: All costs associated with asset disposal were fully accounted for; Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments were issues on a six monthly basis, drew down within the same year and officers worked closely with the CIL team to understand the financial position and encouraged members to work with the local parishes to utilise the funds.

Deloitte confirmed that the Council was unable to separate the pension accounts from the councils accounts.

To consider a report on a framework for governance of partnership working.

Ian Gibbons, Director , Legal, Electoral & Registration Services & Monitoring Officer, introduced the report which proposed a framework for governing the council’s partnership arrangements. The framework had a risk based approach which aligned with business priorities.

The Chairman welcomed the report.

It was noted that the recommendation should be reworded to ‘To ask the Standards Committee to’.

To receive a presentation from SWAP on the approach taken to prepare the Annual Governance Statement.  

David Hill, SWAP, referred to the presentation slides included with the agenda and explained the new approach being taken to prepare the Annual Governance Statement. The approach involved reviewing the Local Code of Corporate Governance quarterly.

To consider a revised draft of the local code of corporate governance.

It was noted that the revised draft suggested that quarterly reviews of the Local Code of Governance should take place and a member of the Audit Committee was invited to join. The Chairman agreed to email all of the committee members after the meeting due to some members being absent.

To consider the following:

Anti-Fraud, Theft and Bribery Policy

Anti-Fraud, Theft and Bribery Strategy

Anti-Money Laundering Policy

Becky Hellard, Interim Director Finance & Procurement, presented the revised policies and strategy, noting that detailed action plans would be presented at the next meeting.

To consider the revised Anti-Fraud, Theft and Bribery Policy.

A question was raised on the recognition and reward for whistle blowers and it was noted that mandatory training took place during employee inductions and the annual governance statement reviewed its effectiveness, more of a concern was the challenge of creating an organisational culture where employees were more aware of each other. It was also noted that, the Council had access to third party records as it was written into standard contract arrangements.

To consider the revised Anti-Fraud, Theft and Bribery Strategy 2019-22.

The Chairman thanked officers for the revised strategy and suggested some word changes.

To consider the revised Anti-Money Laundering Policy.

The Chairman requested that the definition of money laundering be brought forward so it would be earlier in the policy.

To receive an update.

There was no update.

To note the Forward Work Programme

The forward work plan would be updated and circulated.

To note that the next regular meeting of the Committee will be held on 24 July 2019.

The next meeting would be an extraordinary meeting to review a draft of the Annual Governance Statement and would be confirmed as soon as possible.

There were no urgent items.