Agenda item

Ian Gibbons, Associate Director for Legal & Governance Services, presented the report which asked the Audit Committee to consider a draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2014 -15 for preliminary comment before final approval was sought from the Committee at its meeting on 31 July 2015.

In the course of the presentation and the discussion, the issues discussed included: that the statement’s format followed the advice of CIPFA; how significant governance risks are identified; that the Council had invited the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO) to consider their arrangements, and how the Council was responding to the recommendations which would be reporting to Audit Committee, probably in Autumn; that changes, such as the new Pensions Board and the LEP Assurance Framework, are referred to; and that the opinion of the Internal Audit was referred to in the statement, but that the opinion from the External Auditor would be added as the statement was finalised.

The Chair invited the Committee to consider if there were any areas of omission from the Statement.

It was noted, following an issue raised by Councillor Jeff Osborne, that whilst the matter of integration between the NHS and Adult Social Care was a key issue for the Council, the positive results of the peer review and arrangements in place for governance, meant that the current reference to the matter in the Statement was appropriate under the criteria laid down by CIPFA.

Ian Gibbons stated, in response to a question from Richard Britton, that officers would be meeting with Internal Audit to ensure that their views are reflected appropriately in the statement, and that the use of the word ‘capacity’ would be reviewed to remove any ambiguity.

It was noted, following an issue raised by Councillor Richard Britton, that whilst the ICO report had raised some significant issues, which had not previously been highlighted by either internal or external auditors, that these matters had not been so significant as to impact on the fundamentally financial matters considered by the External Auditors. Additionally, Michael Hudson stated that Council wished to continue to work positively and proactively with third-party inspectors to benefit from their advice.

It was noted, following an issue raised by Councillor Richard Britton, that consideration would be given to whether references to the Disaster Recovery Plan and the Business Continuity Plans should be updated in the light of advice from auditors.

Resolved

1.       Tonote the draftAnnual Governance Statement (AGS)assetoutinAppendix1; and

2.       Tonote thatthe draftAnnual Governance Statement (AGS)will be revisedin the light of commentsfrom the Cabinet, StandardsCommittee andfurtherwork by the GovernanceAssuranceGroupbeforebeingbrought back to this committeeforfinalapproval and publication with the Statementof Accountsat the end of July.