Agenda and minutes

apologies received from Cllr Jane Scott, cllr Linda Packard (replaced by Cllr Ian West) and Cllr Sheila Parker (replaced by Cllr Mike Hewitt).

It was also noted that Michael Hudson, the s151 Officer for Wiltshire Council, was on holiday.

There were no announcements.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting held on 23 June 2015, copy attached.   

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2015 were presented.

Resolved:

To approve as correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2015, subject to the following amendment:

That the final paragraph of Minute 29 be amended to read:

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.

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

There were no declarations of interest made.

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 the agenda (acting on behalf of the Corporate Director) no later than 5pm on Tuesday 22^nd July 2015. 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 questions from the public or members of the Committee under this item.

Matt Tiller, Chief Accountant for Wiltshire Council, introduced KPMG’s “Report to those charged with governance” to the Audit Committee, and invited Members to consider their response. Darren Gilbert from KPMG discussed the report in more detail

In the course of the presentation and the discussion, the issues discussed included: that it was anticipated that an unqualified opinion for the accounts and for arrangements to secure Value for Money (VFM) would be given; that the Pension Fund draft Annual Report had been considered; that Council should be pleased for getting accounts prepared and approved well before the deadline; how the systems had improved in recent years; the adjustments to the accounts that had been suggested, and that the level of adjustments suggest were in to be expected in a large and complex set of accounts; the national guidance on treating schools within the accounts; and that previous recommendation made had been addressed.

In response to a question from Cllr Steve Oldrieve, Darren Gilbert stated that a report had been made to KPMG  in accordance with the Whistleblowing Policy, which had since been passed on to the Internal Auditors, SWAP, for review. Whilst this incident had delayed the signing of the Certificate, he expected that the matter would be resolved and that the Certificate could be approved.

In response to a question from Cllr Mike Hewittewitt, Darren Gilbert stated that governors are responsible for running their schools.

In response to a question from Cllr Julian Johnsonewitt, Dr Carlton Brand stated that the Council had a well-developed ICT security team dealing with 2000 attacks a day, and that this issue would form of part of the Information Commissioners report which would be considered by the Audit Committee in the Autumn.

In response to a question from Cllr Stuart Dobson, Darren Gilbert stated that external auditors had to focus their work on significant variances, giving a general assurance, and calculated what was to be the appropriate level of materiality given the size of the authority.

Resolved

1.    That the Audit Committee considers the ISA 260 report from external auditors in its receipt of the draft accounts for 2014/2015; and

2.    That based upon that advice, and subject to any issues raised as a result of that consideration, the Audit Committee delegates the signing of the letter of the management representation letter to the Chairman of the Audit Committee.

Ian Gibbons, Associate Director for Legal & Governance Services, presented the report which asked the Audit Committee to approve the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2014 -15 for publication with the Statement of Accounts.

In the course of the presentation and the discussion, the issues discussed included: that the AGS had been previously considered by the Audit Committee, the Standards Committee and the Cabinet; KPMG were satisfied that it accorded with the guidance; that changes would be made to include more reference to the Health & Wellbeing Board’s documentation; and that Wiltshire Council is accountable body for LEP.

In response to a question from Cllr Richard Britton, it was agreed that the wording regarding the Disaster Recovery Plan and the Business Continuity Plans would not be amended in the report, and that an item on this would be brought to a future of the Audit Committee.

In response to a question from Cllr Richard Britton, it was agreed that a short paragraph describing the role and responsibilities of the Independent Remuneration Panel would be included.

Cllr Richard Britton commented that, whilst he was not suggesting that it be changed, the current wording regarding the new approach to combined assurance reviews paints picture of it being a wholly positive approach, and does not reflect that one of the drivers for the new approach was the need to reduce budgets.

Dave Hill, of the internal Auditors responded that the new approach should reduce the amount of unnecessary overlapping assurance work undertaken.

It was noted that members of the Audit Committee would have an opportunity to discuss, at their informal meeting, the audit plans.

Resolved

To approve the AGS 2014-15 for publication with the Statement of Accounts, subject to the inclusion of a short paragraph setting out statutory basis and the operation of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

Matt Tiller, Chief Accountant for Wiltshire Council, Finance, presented the draft Statement of Accounts in respect of the 2014/2015 financial year for Wiltshire Council.

In the course of the presentation and the discussion, the issues discussed included: that this was a culmination of large piece of work, started in January 2015, and involving a large amount of different departments; that the deadline for sign off was the 30 June and that the initial statement had been completed on 4 June before sending to external auditors a few days later; that Wiltshire

Council was one of the first to get sign off of accounts prior to 30 September deadline; the adjustments that had been made during drafting and audit; how the accounts comply with national and international standards; and how explanatory notes are used to made the accounts more accessible to the public.

Questions from Cllr Richard Britton, and the answers received, are appended to these minutes.

In response to a question from Cllr Richard Britton, Mathew Tiller noted that the accounting adjustment regarding the additional pension contribution was explained in an accounting note.

In response to a question from Cllr Tony Deane, Darren Gilbert stated that they were satisfied that Council had taken sufficient action with regards to potential liabilities.

In response to a question from Cllr Jeff Osborn, Mathew Tiller stated that the adequacy of reserves could be reviewed as and when changes to circumstances, such as the economic outlook, warranted it. In addition, Cllr Dick Tonge stated that work was ongoing to ensure that teams work together to help members of the public minimise their debt.

In response to a question from Cllr Tony Deane, Cllr Dick Tonge stated that he was happy with the way reserves were managed but that he recognised the need to manage budgets to ensure reserves weren’t used to fund overspends.

Resolved

1.    To receive and note the draft Statement of Accounts for 2014/2015; and

2.    That the team of officers responsible for putting together the Statement of Accounts be thanked for their exemplary work.

David Hill from internal auditors, SWAP, presented the report which provided an update on the performance of the Internal Audit (IA) Section for the first quarter of 2015/16.

In the course of the presentation and the discussion, the issues raised included: that there had a been a members training session to consider the new approach, and that there will be a meeting in September to see initial results ahead of formal meeting in October; that new data interrogation techniques help improve timeliness of work; the desire to change the timing of reports so that one opinion is given to help streamline process; the additional work done in the year including investigation of a whistleblowing case; the schedule of audit work and how risks are identified; the impact of the Ofsted report on work with Children’s services; how outstanding recommendations will be followed up; and the impact of changing systems and structures.

In response to an issue raised by Cllr Richard Britton, who stated that he was pleased to hear that outstanding recommendations would be chased up, it was agreed that process by which low risk extant recommendations are written-off, and the format of Internal Audit reports to Committee could be discussed at the informal meeting in September.

In response to an issue raised by Cllr Tony Deane, it was agreed that the level of access and the amount of information shared with Committee members could be discussed at the informal meeting in September.

In response to a question raised by Cllr Jeff Osborn, officers were asked to provide a written update regarding those items on the report where ‘no management response’ was recorded.

Resolved

To note the findings from Internal Audit audits to date.

To note that the next regular meeting of the Committee will be held on 27^th October 2015, as the 1^st September 2015 meeting was cancelled.

The meeting noted that the next regular meeting of the Committee would be held on 27^thOctober 2015, as the 1st September 2015 meeting was cancelled.

There were no urgent items.