Meeting documents

Audit Committee
Tuesday, 31st January, 2006 7.00 pm

Date:
Tuesday, 31st January, 2006
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
Lancashire Fusiliers Room, Town Hall, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor J P Costello (in the Chair);
Councillors K Audin, I B Gartside, A Matthews, K Rothwell and B Vincent
Co-opted:
Mr A Withington (Independent Member)

No members of the public attended the meeting
Apologies for absence:
Councillors R A Bibby (CL), A J Garner, and G Sharkey
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
AU.1004 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble for item AU.1004
 
AU.1005 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Preamble for item AU.1005
 
AU.1006 Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday, 20th October, 2005 7.00pm
 Delegated decision:

That the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 October 2005 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
AU.1007 STATEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROL 2004/05 - MONITORING
Preamble for item AU.1007
Delegated decisions:

1. That progress against the Statement of Internal Control be noted and that the suggested up-date to reflect reconciliation issues be approved.

2. That a sub group comprising 3 members and the independent member be formed to meet prior to the full meeting of the Audit Committee in June 2006.

3. That the Director of Finance and E-Government be thanked for his presentation.
AU.1008 USE OF RESOURCES - JUDGEMENT
Preamble for item AU.1008
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the reports be noted.
AU.1009 BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN - STATUTORY REPORT
Preamble for item AU.1009
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
AU.1010 EXTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS STATEMENT
Preamble for item AU.1010
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
AU.1011 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
 Delegated decision:

That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business since it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information relating to any action taken, or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime.
Exempt
AU.1012 INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT
  • (Attachment: 6)A report from the Head of Audit and Risk Management
  • |
    (Attachment: 7)Appendix A
  • |
    (Attachment: 8)Appendix B
  • |
    (Attachment: 9)Appendix C
 
AU.1013 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS - MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
  • (Attachment: 10) A report from the Head of Audit and Risk Management
  
The meeting started at 7pm and ended at 8.20pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
AU.1004Councillor Rothwell declared a personal interest in Item AU.1012 below - Internal Audit Progress Report.
AU.1005There were no members of the public present to ask questions at the meeting.
AU.1007The Director of Finance and E-Government gave a presentation explaining the progress made on the Statement on Internal Control. The Audit Committee had approved a report setting out the Statement at its meeting on 27 July 2005.

It was explained that the targets set out within the Action Plan were mostly on target to be achieved by the dates set out or had been achieved, and there were no major weaknesses identified in the control framework during 2005/06, although the statement will be updated to reflect issues around reconciliation procedures.

The timetable for the preparation of the Statement on Internal Control 2005/2006 was set out within the presentation and it was explained that the Statement would have to be produced in time for inclusion in the 2005/2006 Statement of Accounts which would have to be approved by the Audit Committee in the last week of June 2006.

It was suggested that a sub-group comprising 3 members plus the Independent Member meet to work through the Statement of Internal Control prior to its submission to the Committee.
AU.1008Representatives of KMPG, the Council’s External Auditor submitted a report setting out their findings on an assessment on the Use of Resources 2005.

It was explained that the Council was assessed against the Audit Commission’s Five Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOE):

KLOE 1 - Financial Reporting
KLOE 2 - Financial Management
KLOE 3 - Financial Standing
KLOE 4 - Internal Control
KLOE 5 - Value for Money

Scores were then given in accordance with the following criteria:

1 = Inadequate performance
2 = Adequate performance
3 = Performing well
4 = Performing strongly

The Council scored the following:

Financial Reporting - 1
Financial Monitoring - 2
Financial Standing - 2
Internal Control - 2
Value for Money - 3

The score gave Bury MBC an overall score of 2.

The Director of Finance and E-Government submitted a response and Action Plan which set out the Authority’s improvement agenda.

The Plan would be overseen and monitored by the Use of Resources Team which had been established under the CPA/JAR planning framework.

Included within the report was the Team’s terms of reference.
AU.1009Rashpal Khangura from External Audit presented the Auditors Statutory Report on the Best Value Performance Plan for the 2005/2006 Financial Year.

KPMG, as the Council’s Auditors were required, in accordance with Section 7 of the Local Government Act 1999 and the Audit Commission’s Code of Audit Practice, to carry out an audit of the Best Value Performance Plan, to certify that they had done so, and:

- to report whether they believe that the Plan has been prepared and published in accordance with statutory requirements set out in Section 6 of the Act and statutory guidance and, where appropriate, recommending how the Plan should be amended so as to accord with statutory requirements;

- to recommend, where appropriate, procedures to be followed in relation to the Plan; and

- to determine whether the Audit Commission should carry out a Best Value inspection of the Council under Section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999;

The unqualified Opinion of the Audit Commission was stated as:

‘In our opinion, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council has prepared and published its Best Value Performance Plan in all significant respects in accordance with Section 6 of the Local Government Act 1999 and statutory guidance issued by the Government.
AU.1010A report setting out the proposed audit and inspection work to be carried out 2005/2006 was submitted to the Committee.