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Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Edmund Blick  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

39.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Tony Deane and Cllr Andy Phillips.

40.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2017

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2017.

41.

Declarations of Interests

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

42.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman advised he had circulated proposals to establish a Working Group to explore the remit of the Audit Committee. It was considered the Council’s Constitution and Committee Terms of Reference should more clearly identify the roles and responsibilities of the Committee. The Chairman suggested that if such a Working Group be established, any recommendations formed should be taken forward to the Standards Committee and Full Council. The membership of a Working Group was discussed and Cllrs Jackson and Dobson indicated their interest to service on such a working group.  It was acknowledged that further work was required to develop proposals for a working group before formal consideration by the Committee.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the Chairman of the Audit Committee and officers will meet to discuss the potential for a Working Group to investigate the remit of the Audit Committee and bring formal proposals for a Working Group Terms of Reference to the February meeting

 

43.

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 Wednesday 6 December 2017 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 Friday 8 December 2017. 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.

44.

KPMG - Wiltshire Council - Annual Audit Letter 2016-17

To consider the Annual Audit Letter from Wiltshire Council’s external auditors.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Darren Gilbert, KPMG, explained the auditor had issued an unqualified opinion on the Authority’s financial statements on 26 July 2017 which meant the financial statements were considered to give a true view of the financial position of the Authority and of its expenditure and income for the year. The statements also included those of the Pension Fund.

 

Questions were raised as to the impact of the Wiltshire Pension Fund pooling assets into Brunel Pension Partnership; it was understood the auditors for Brunel and the Fund would work together to identify which areas they should focus on. It was also confirmed the Fund’s liabilities were Wiltshire specific. The Committee discussed the undervaluing of the Council’s housing stock by the external valuer as identified in the report. In response to this it was explained the undervaluation had not resulted in a financial loss to the Council, however the matter had been raised with the valuer which was in the final year of its contract.

 

Resolved:

 

To agree the Annual Audit Letter from Wiltshire Council’s external auditors.

45.

KPMG - Wiltshire Council - Audit Fee letter 2017-18

To consider the audit fee letter from Wiltshire Council’s external auditors

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

KMPG introduced their 2017-18 Audit Fee Letter which started the process for the 2017-18 audit and the process for fee-setting was explained. A discussion was had on the assumptions used to set the audit fee and it was confirmed KMPG had raised no issues in terms of previous process problems to be addressed.

 

Resolved:

 

To agree the audit fee letter from Wiltshire Council’s external auditors.

46.

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 November 2017. 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 Committee updated on the progress of the Internal Audit in respect of delivering the 2017/18 Internal Audit and Counter-Fraud Plans, managing response to audit recommendations and the Council’s overall control environment.

 

SWAP highlighted key improvements had been made since the last report to Committee and many outstanding issues had since been addressed. The Chairman commented he was pleased with the report and implementation of the audit recommendations.

 

Committee members asked about the development of the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy against fraud and were advised this was in the process of being reviewed to ensure it remained effective. In respect of Housing Benefit Fraud, councillors heard the public could report this through the website and did make use of this facility. Councillors encouraged that the finance team work with Communications to promote the Anti-Fraud Plan. The Chief Finance Officer confirmed the Anti Fraud and Corruption Strategy would be brought to the April meeting of the Committee. 

 

The process of the Healthy Schools work was discussed and it was highlighted 12 of the 14 schools had been audited. The Chairman thanked SWAP for an improved and  comprehensive report.

 

Resolved:

 

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

 

To encourage liaison with the Council’s Communications team to promote the Counter-Fraud Plan.

47.

Forward Work Programme

To note the Forward Work Programme

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered its Forward Work Programme and requested it be used to forecast further meetings ahead.

 

Resolved:

 

To request the Forward Work Programme be extended to cover future meeting dates.

48.

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next regular meeting of the Committee will be held at 10am on 14 February 2018.

Minutes:

The next meeting was to be held on 14 February 2018.

49.

Urgent Items

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

 

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.