Meeting documents

Audit Committee
Tuesday, 8th December, 2009 7.00 pm

Date:
Tuesday, 8th December, 2009
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
Meeting Rooms A & B, Town Hall
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor S P Penketh (in the Chair);
Councillors I Ahmed, K Audin, F Chaudhry, J Harris, S Hurst, A Isherwood and M J Wiseman.
Co-opted:
Rashpal Khangura and Heather Garrett from KPMG
Mr K Wainwright, Co - opted Member

No members of the public attended the meeting
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
AU.500 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.
AU.501 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
 There were no members of the public present to ask questions at the meeting.
AU.502 Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 22nd September, 2009 7.00pm
 Delegated decision:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 22 September 2009 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
AU.503 FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING REPORT - APRIL 2009 TO SEPTEMBER 2009
Preamble for item AU.503
Delegated Decision:

1. That Graham Atkinson and Sharon Vernon be thanked for attending the meeting to answer questions.

2. That the contents of the report and the presentation given be noted.
AU.504 QUARTERLY GOVERNANCE STATEMENT - JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2009
Preamble for item AU.504
Delegated decision:

1. That the contents of the report be noted

2. That the Audit Committee would continue to receive updates on a quarterly basis.
AU.505 GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
Preamble for item AU.505
Delegated decision:

1. That this Committee re-affirm their support for the importance of registering gifts and hospitality.

2. That this Committee endorse the current approach for declaring offers of gifts or hospitality.

3. That the declarations made to date be noted.

4. That future reports setting out declarations of gifts and hospitality contain more detailed information on the value of the gifts/hospitality.
AU.506 ADULT CARE SERVICES FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Preamble for item AU.506
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.507 REVIEW OF INTERNAL AUDIT
Preamble for item AU.507
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.508 EXTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT 2009/2010
Preamble for item AU.508
Delegated decision:

That the contents of the report be noted.
AU.509 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 items of business since they 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.510 INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT
  • (Attachment: 8)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
  • |
    (Attachment: 9)Appendix A
  • |
    (Attachment: 10)Appendix B
  • |
    (Attachment: 11)Appendix C
  • |
    (Attachment: 12)Appendix D
 
AU.511 INTERNAL AUDIT - MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
  • (Attachment: 13)A report from the Head of Internal Audit
  
The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 8.40 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
AU.503Mike Owen, the Director of Finance and E-Government presented a report updating Members of the Committee on the Authority’s financial and performance position in line with the Committee’s Statement of Purpose to ‘provide independent scrutiny of the Authority’s financial and non-financial performance to the extent that it affects the Authority’s exposure to risk and weakens the control environment’.

The report indicated that the Authority was projecting an overspend of £1.048m for the year based on spending and income information as at 30 September 2009. The projected overspend was regarded as a matter of concern, however, it could be accommodated within the General Fund balances without breaching the ‘Golden Rules’, as a consequence of which the estimated position was not seen as a major risk to the achievements of the Authority’s Ambitions and Priorities.

There were particular ‘hotspots’ that needed to be addressed relating primarily to Learning Disability Services, Leisure Services and various EDS income budgets. Star Chambers were monitoring actions plans which had been put in place to bring the budgets into line.

Mike Owen explained that at the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 22 September 2009, Members had asked that the Executive Director of Environment and Development Services attend a future Audit Committee meeting to report on budget pressures facing the department. Mike introduced Graham Atkinson, Executive Director of Environment and Development Services and Sharon Vernon, Head of Financial Services (EDS) to the Committee.

Sharon gave a presentation to the Committee setting out the month 6 projected over and under spends. The presentation went through each of the key pressure areas and highlighted where the budget issues were and what actions would be taken in response.

The key areas highlighted were:-

• Arts, Libraries and Adult Learning
• Environmental Services
• Leisure Services
• Property Services
• Planning, Engineering and Transportation Services
• Trading Services

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the information provided and the following points were raised:-

• Councillor Ahmed enquired as to whether there would be any changes made to the street cleaning services?

Graham explained that there were no plans to alter the service provided by the street cleaning teams. Graham also stated that Members would be consulted if there were any plans to change the service.

• Councillor Ahmed referred to the fact that the number of people parking in the Borough’s Pay and Display car parks was reducing which in turn was reducing the amount of income from this service. Councillor Ahmed asked whether the authority should consider lowering parking fees rather than raising them.

Graham explained that parking fees had been reduced when the VAT reduction has been implemented nationally, this would be coming to an end from January 2010. All of the pay and display machines would be set to reflect the new charges from this point and would include a slight increase in charges.

• Councillor Audin referred to the new refuse collection rounds that had recently been introduced and asked whether there had been any redundancies because of the changes that had been made.

Graham explained that there had been no redundancies but the reduction in the number of trucks now used had meant that fewer agency staff would be used. The reduction in Refuse Collection Vehicles had also reduced emissions and rationalised the rounds.

• Councillor Penketh asked what had been done in terms of making savings within Architectural Services.

It was explained that agency staff were being used as and when required and permanent vacancies that arose were left vacant.
AU.504Stephen Kenyon, Head of Strategic Finance presented a report providing Members with a quarterly update on the Annual Governance Statement which had been approved by the Audit Committee at its meeting on 25 June 2009.

The report gave an update on the continuous monitoring that was carried out and highlighted any relevant issues with regards to Risk Management, Business Continuity, Budget Monitoring, the work of Internal Audit, Review of Ethical Governance, the work of the Governance Panel, Gifts and Hospitality and the Local Pay Review.

It was reported that the governance panel had met five times since its inception in November 2008, and was proving a value arena to exchange information and concerns regarding the Council’s governance arrangements including Ombudsman Report and Data Loss risks.

There had been no significant internal control issues during the period covered by the report and the control environment would continue to be monitored throughout the year with updates being provided on a quarterly basis.
AU.505Steve Kenyon, Head of Strategic Finance presented a report giving Members an update on the system to declare, monitor and report gifts and hospitality offered to and received by staff.

The report set out a summary of declarations made for the period January to September 2009.

Paragraph 2.6 of the report included an analysis of the declarations by Department of the Council and the average value of the gifts or hospitality.

AU.506Further to Minute AU.297 of the meeting of this Committee held on 22 September 2009, Rashpal Khangura, representing KPMG, presented the Committee with a report which set out the findings of a review that had been carried out with regards to Adult Care Services - Financial Management.

KPMG had undertaken an independent review of the Adult Care Services financial position and financial management. Options used in other Authorities to reduce the costs and pressures social care departments face were also considered.

The report set out the key findings of the review which included:-

- Re-visiting the original savings target, in light of the financial performance during the year.
- Establishing a panel process to review cases involving senior officers.
- Ensuring a process is in place to use up to date information in forecasting the projected year end position

It was reported that KPMG had discussed the findings of the review with officers and an Action Plan had been agreed to address the key issues going forward. KPMG would also continue to work with officers to constructively challenge the delivery of the Action Plan.
AU.507Heather Garrett, representing KPMG, presented a report setting out the findings of a review of the Internal Audit section at Bury MBC.

The review had covered eleven areas and assessed whether Internal Audit had met the standards in CIPFA’s Code of Practice on Internal Audit in Local Government in the United Kingdom. It was reported that Internal Audit had achieved the standard in each of the eleven areas. However, there were five areas where further developments would enhance current compliance with the standards.

Appended to the report was a Management Action Plan which contained six recommendations from External Audit which would strengthen the procedures already in place.

AU.508Rashpal Khangura, representing KPMG presented the Committee with the Progress Statement for the External Audit Programme 2009/2010.

Details of the ongoing work and when that work would be completed and reported to the Committee were included in the report with comments on progress.