Meeting documents

Audit Committee
Tuesday, 2nd December, 2003 7.00 pm

Date:
Tuesday, 23rd September, 2003
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
The Town Hall, Knowsley Street, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor F Chaudhry (in the Chair);
Councillors J P Costello, C Fitzgerald, G Sharkey, J Smith, B Vincent and J Walton

Co-opted:
There were no members of the public present at the meeting
Apologies for absence:
Councillors T Pickstone, B Theckston and Mr J Lodge
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
SP.519 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Preamble for item SP.519
 
SP.520 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble for item SP.520
 
SP.521 Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday, 31st July, 2003 7.00pm
  • Minutes
Delegated decision:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2003, be approved as a correct record.
SP.522 DISTRICT AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT 2002/03
Preamble for item SP.522
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
SP.523 AUDIT REPORT - RACE RELATIONS ACT
Preamble for item SP.523
Delegated decisions:-

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the District Auditor produce an Action Plan which will set out recommendations and progress made.
SP.524 AUDIT REPORT - EMERGENCY PLANNING
Preamble for item SP.524
Delegated decision:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the District Auditor produce an Action Plan which will set out recommendations and progress made.
SP.525 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
 Delegated decision:

That in accordance with Section 100(A) 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 in respect of action taken in connection with the prevention and investigation or prosecution of a crime.
Exempt
SP.526 FOLLOW UP REVIEW OF HOME CARE ACTION PLAN
  • (Attachment: 6)A report from District Audit
  
SP.527 INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT
  • (Attachment: 7)A report by the Chief Internal Auditor
  • |
    (Attachment: 8)Appendix A
  • |
    (Attachment: 9)Appendix B
  • |
    (Attachment: 10)Appendix C
  
SP.528 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT - MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
  • (Attachment: 11)A report from the Chief Internal Auditor
  
The meeting started at 7:00pm and finished at 8.20pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
SP.519No members of the public were present to ask questions under this item.
SP.520There were no declarations of interest recorded with regard to any of the items on the agenda.
SP.522Tim Bridle, Principal Auditor, presented a progress report submitted by the District Auditor on the District Audit Plan for 2002/2003 and the Co-ordinated and Proportionate Audit and Inspection Programme 2003/04.

Members of the Sub-Committee raised questions on the reports and responses were given on the matters raised.
SP.523A report was submitted on the progress made by the Council in meeting the statutory duty to make the promotion of racial equality and diversity central to all its work.

The reports conclusions were as follows:-

- The Council had expressed a clear commitment to the promotion of race equality but had not as yet allocated resources to ensure delivery and implementation of that commitment and progress had been limited.

- The Council had acknowledged that there was a significant information gap which meant that it was unable to establish baseline information about service users’ take-up and satisfaction levels. Plans under the Race Equality Scheme (RES) were in place to set up measuring and monitoring processes and develop consultation arrangements.

- The Race Relations Amendment Act (RRAA) sets out specific as well as general requirements of an RES. Some of the specific requirements related to employment and human resource issues. The Council’s employment action plan did not comply with the specific requirements of the RRAA.

The report also highlighted a number of key issues for the Council to consider further. The report had been presented to the Management Board and issues raised were being addressed as part of the Authority’s service planning framework.
SP.524Tim Bridle, Principal Auditor, presented a report of the Audit Commission on the Emergency Planning Division of Bury MBC.

The report concluded that the profile of emergency planning was not high within Bury MBC. There was clear support from senior officers in the event of major incidents but the service was not perceived as being corporately owned and there was limited commitment from members and officers in the development of robust response arrangements. The report also concluded that the Council had an innovative team structure that released additional resources in the event of an emergency but called for further review of the existing call-out arrangements.