Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document
Meeting of the Council held on 11/12/2007
Minutes of Audit Committee 27.11.07
Audit 9
27.11.07
WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE – 27TH NOVEMBER 2007
SUBMITTED TO THE COUNCIL MEETING – 11TH DECEMBER 2007
(To be read in conjunction with the Agenda for the Meeting)
*
Cllr C R Baily (Chairman)
*
Cllr S N Mulliner
*
Cllr N P Holder (Vice-Chairman)
*
Cllr K T Reed
*
Cllr S L Hill
*
Cllr Mrs N Warner-O’Neill
*
Cllr B J Morgan
* Present
19.
MINUTES
(Agenda Item 1)
The Minutes of the Meeting held on 25th September 2007 were confirmed and signed.
20.
DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS
(Agenda Item 3)
There were no interests raised under this heading.
PART I – RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL
21.
WAVERLEY CONSTITUTION - AUDIT COMMITTEE
(Agenda Item 5; Appendix A)
21.1 Following an Internal Audit Review of Decision-Making, it was identified that Article 8 of Waverley’s Constitution should include additional information relating to the composition of the Audit Committee and specify a quorum for a meeting. This information has now been added to the document,
Annexe 1
refers, and is shown in bold and italic type.
21.2 As part of the discussion on this item, the Committee identified a further training need and requested that a training session be arranged to take place in late March/early April 2008 for officers to help members understand the complexity of local authority accounting processes, in advance of the Committee’s requirement to approve the Statement of Accounts in June. Officers agreed to ensure that a date was arranged and members informed accordingly.
21.2 The Committee accordingly
RECOMMENDS that
1. Article 8 of the Waverley Constitution be amended, as set out in Annexe 1.
Background Papers
(CEx)
There are no background papers (as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to this report.
PARTS II AND III – MATTERS OF REPORT
Background Papers
The background papers relating to the following report items in Parts II and III are as specified in the agenda for the Audit Committee.
Part II – Matters Reported in Detail for the Information of the Council
There were no matters falling within this category.
Part III – Brief Summaries of Other Matters Dealt With
22.
INTERNAL AUDIT COMPLIANCE WITH THE 2006 CIPFA CODE OF PRACTICE
(Agenda Item 6; Appendix B)
22.1 The Committee gave consideration to the report on this matter and the Performance Indicator Proposals for Internal Audit as set out at Annexe 1 to the report. The Audit Manager made a minor amendment to the first proposed indicator, changing ‘Productive days’ to ‘Chargeable days’ as a matter of clarification.
22.2 The Committee sought clarification as to the difference between quantitative and qualitative and how the decision was taken as to which description should be applied to each indicator. On the whole, members agreed that the descriptions were correct, with the exception of the percentage of qualified staff which members agreed should perhaps be quantitative rather than qualitative.
22.3 The Committee agreed that two of the indicators would be more useful if sub-divided, as follows:-
a. Percentage of planned audits/projects completed or partially completed (i.e. commenced) after taking account of postponed and cancelled reviews - to be divided into
i. fully completed; and
ii. partially completed; and
b. Percentage of high priority recommendations accepted - to be sub-divided into
i. accepted and implemented (in accordance with target date); and
ii. accepted and not yet implemented (i.e. target date not yet reached).
RESOLVED that
1. the range of performance indicators be enhanced as outlined in Annexe 1 to the report, subject to the amendments set out in paragraph 22.3 above;
2. the performance management framework be endorsed; and
3. the annual review of internal audit be undertaken jointly by members of the Committee and the senior audit management.
23.
UPDATE ON AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS 2006/2007
(Agenda Item 7; Appendix C)
The Audit Manager introduced the report setting out the progress made on the implementation of Internal Audit recommendations made in 2006/2007. The Committee was informed that oral assurances had been received that recommendation 020/07 relating to buildings reception and security had now been implemented as a consequence of the new door security system currently being installed throughout the building.
With regard to the recommendations relating to housing benefits, the Director of Finance reported that the section had been through a period of change which was now settled, and therefore the actions would be taken back to the Departmental Management Group to be given urgent attention.
The Committee suggested that Annexe 1 to the report, setting out the number of essential and good practice recommendations that were completed, in progress or overdue would be better laid out to show those recommendations that were essential as distinct from those that were good practice. This would also help the Audit Committee to identify the recommendations that were most significant and needed to be addressed as a higher priority.
The Committee agreed that it was important for update reports to be presented to future meetings to inform members of progress that had been made and actions taken to address any concerns they may have had.
RESOLVED that
1. the proposed action to be taken on those recommendations in 2006/2007 where implementation has been delayed should be endorsed, and officers encouraged to take action at the earliest opportunity; and
2. a progress report on the action taken be provided at the next meeting of the Committee.
The meeting commenced at 7.00 p.m. and concluded at 7.41 p.m.
Chairman
Comms/audit/2007-08/017 minutes