Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Ward be elected Chairman of Committee.

RESOLVED that Councillor Wade be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

Members are required to declare any personal or prejudicial interests and the nature of that interest, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest

There were no urgent items of business.

The purpose of this report is to present the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter (AAIL) which has been received from the Audit Commission.  The External Auditor will attend the meeting to present the Letter and answer any questions.

The Committee considered a report on the Audit Commission’s Annual Audit & Inspection Letter.  Elizabeth Hale, Comprehensive Area Assessment Lead, and Phil Sharman, District Auditor, along with their colleague David Bryant attended the meeting to present the Letter and answer questions regarding the findings.

The Committee was reminded that the Council was now a three star council, and had achieved a direction of travel judgement of 'improving well' with services continuing to be good with 42 per cent ranking among the best 25 per cent nationally.  The Committee was advised that the strong rate of improvement demonstrated the previous year had slowed slightly but this reflected the fact that it was difficult for the Council to improve on its existing high levels of performance.  The overall star rating had changed from a four star rating to three stars due to four performance indicators in the culture block which kept the overall culture score at 2 and a reduction of the Corporate Assessment score from 4 (performing strongly) to 3 (performing well) under the 'Harder Test' in February 2008.

The main points drawn out in the key messages in the Letter were that:

·                     Services for children and young people were performing well and consistently above minimum requirements.

·                     Adult Social Care services were performing well and were judged by the Commission for Social Care Inspection as 'good' at delivering outcomes with an 'excellent' capacity to improve.

·                     Environmental services were good and continuing to improve with many areas previously identified for improvement having been addressed, including the approach to tackling climate change, maintaining high levels of recycling and implementing initiatives to further reduce land-fill.

·                     The only service block score which had declined was benefits falling from the highest performing 'strongly' rating to performing 'well' (level 3 out of 4) largely due to qualification of some of the benefits data although it was acknowledged that plans were in place to address this.

·                     The Council and its partners were taking effective action to reduce crime - an area identified the previous year as in need of improvement.

·                     Fear of crime had also reduced significantly with an independent review reporting a 13.5 per cent increase in people having ‘very little or no worries’ about crime.

·                     The use of resources judgement scored the Council at level 3 (out of a possible 4), which meant it was performing well, although, the auditor had qualified the value for money conclusion due to identified weaknesses in the Council's procurement arrangements in response to which a programme of action had been agreed to improve procurement policy and practice.

·                     Overall value for money was good.

·                     Service performance was good and costs were low allowing for external factors.

·                     The Council had a clear focus on performance management.

·                     Good progress had been made on the areas needing improvement identified by the Corporate Assessment published in February 2008; in particular, workforce planning had been strengthened; good progress was being made to further strengthen the Council's approach to equality and diversity; and it was improving its work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The purpose of this report is to set out details of the annual external audit fee and annual inspection fee for 2009-10 for the Governance and Audit Committee to note. The External Auditor will attend the meeting to answer any questions.

The Committee considered a report setting out details of the annual external audit fee and annual inspection fee for 2009-10.  The District Auditor briefed the Committee on the background to the report and fees.

The indicative external audit fee of £285,100 for 2009/10 was based on the risk-based approach to audit planning set out in the Code of Audit and work mandated by the Audit Commission for 2009/10.  As the audit for 2008/09 was not completed, the planning process for 2009/10, including risk assessment would continue as the year progressed and fees would be reviewed and updated as necessary.

The District Auditor drew the Committee’s attention to initial planning which had identified a number of potentially significant risks which may require a specific audit response in addition to his planned work on Use of Resources. These were:

·                     Closing the budget gap through the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

·                     Progress on improving procurement arrangements.

·                     Progress in improving data quality arrangements.

·                     Transfer of Learning Disability Services from the Berkshire East PCT

·                     Town Centre Redevelopment and Civic Hub.

·                     Expanding capital programme including building schools for the future.

The Committee was also informed that the Audit Commission had advised that the indicative fee for the annual assessment and inspection would be £18,293. This was based on the risk-based approach to inspection planning as set out in the Comprehensive Area Assessment framework and associated guidance and specifically related to the Audit Commission’s inspection work.  The inspection plan was to be reviewed and updated as necessary and any significant amendments to the plan and fee during the year would be discussed and agreed with the Council.

RESOLVED that:

1          The indicative annual external audit fee of £285,100 be noted; and,

2          That indicative annual inspection fee of £18,293 be noted.

The purpose of this report is to set out the underlying principles applied in the Internal Audit planning process, present the draft Internal Audit Plan for 2009/10 and seek the Governance and Audit Committee’s feedback on and agreement to the draft Plan attached at Appendix 1.

The Committee considered a report setting out the underlying principles applied in the Internal Audit planning process, presenting the draft Internal Audit Plan for 2009/10 and seeking the Committee’s feedback on and agreement to the draft Plan.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to the fact that since the last Annual Internal Audit Plan had been approved, there had been some important changes which influenced the internal planning process. In particular:

·                     Local authorities were now required to produce an Annual Governance Statement, replacing the Statement on Internal Control, which had to focus on the overall governance environment.  To reflect this broader focus, local authorities were now additionally looking for assurance on their governance arrangements from reviews carried out under their internal audit plans to further support their Annual Governance Statement..

·                     The Comprehensive Performance Assessment had been replaced by the Comprehensive Area Assessment. The new assessment moved away from the organizational based approach to focus on the outcomes targeted within Local Area Agreements and Sustainable Community Strategies agreed with partners. The ‘Use of Resources’ elements had also been updated with a reduced focus on financial management and reporting and greater emphasis on governance and management of resources.

·                     The contract with the provider of the Council’s internal audit services, Deloitte and Touche Public Sector Internal Audit Limited expired on 31 March 2009 and following a tendering process a new contract had been awarded to HW Controls and Assurance.

The Committee was advised that the Internal Audit Plan had been developed to focus on those areas of the Council’s business that had the greatest influence on the achievement of it objectives.

The officers answered a number of questions arising from the report and draft plan.  Amongst the main points made were that:

·                     The number of days had reduced from 757 to 720.

·                     257 days were in relation to Corporate Services as this included the key financial systems and 40 days unallocated contingency.

·                     A total of 25 days would be allocated to payroll as a 10 day review of staff benefits had been earmarked for this year.

·                     Schools were not charged for inspections.

With regard to the latter point, the Committee expressed some concern about the failure to charge schools for the service.  The Borough Treasurer advised the Committee that he believed this approach was appropriate as the audit inspections contributed to his duty as section 151 officer to satisfy himself that appropriate measures for financial management were in place.  It was, however, agreed that this should be considered further and that the Borough Treasurer would report back to the next meeting on the issues involved.

RESOLVED that

1          The Internal Audit Plan for 2009/10 be approved; and,

2          The Borough Treasurer be asked to review the practice of not charging schools for audits.

To note the future meeting dates:

• 30 June 2009 at 7.30pm
• 22 September 2009 at 7.30pm

The Committee noted that further meetings were scheduled for 30 June and 22 September 2009.