Agenda and minutes
Venue: Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Nishaat Ismail, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 0842, E-mail: nishaat.ismail@towerhamlets.gov.uk
No. | Item |
---|---|
DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTEREST PDF 64 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.
Minutes: None declared. |
|
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING(S) PDF 128 KB To confirm the minutes of the Audit Committee held on 04/02/2015. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting held on 4th February 2015 were presented for approval.
The Chair moved and it was:
RESOLVED
That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 4th February, be agreed as a correct record of the proceedings, and the Chair be authorised to sign them accordingly.
|
|
TOWER HAMLETS ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION |
|
Quarterly Assurance Report PDF 201 KB To 1. note the contents of the quarterly assurance report and 2. take account of the assurance opinion assigned to the systems reviewed during the period.
Minutes: The Head of Risk Management and Audit presented the Quarterly Assurance Report, which summarized the work of the Internal Audit period December 2014 to February 2015.
The Committee heard that;
· 16 Audits were undertaken · 2 were assigned Full Assurance, these were the Housing Rents and Management and Control of In-house Temporary Resource Service. · 8 were assigned Substantial Assurance. · 6 were assigned Limited Assurance · 9 out of 10 recommendations had already been implemented.
Management and Control of On-Street Parking Income
The audit found that there were no contract specific procedures covering collection of cash income, monitoring and reconciliation of cash income with audit rolls.
The contract monitoring procedures and how to pay contracts needed updating.
Jamie Blake informed the Committee that during the last audit, Management and Control of On-Street Parking Income had been assigned Substantial Assurance but since there have been many staff changes.
The Committee were told that there was still a substantial amount of income still in cash and the controls in place were no longer effective.
Youth Connexions
The weaknesses identified from the audit were that DBS checks for 17 of the 224 staff within Youth Services had expired. In addition, no DBS records could be evidenced for a further 23 staff.
The Committee were informed that was a process in place already to check all departments were up to date with regards to DBS checks as well as to ensure the process was being carried out correctly.
Dinar Hossain, informed the Committee that at the time of the audit the 17 individuals with expired DBS’s had not been provided by Tower Hamlets.
Bishop Challoner was updated every 10 years as opposed to 3 years.
Some DBS forms had already been dispatched but they had not been completed and handed back to human resources and it was up to the individual employee to do this.
Dinar informed the Committee that he had written to all employees concerned, informing them of a specified time in which the DBS forms had to be completed and sent back and if employees failed to do this, they would face a potential freeze in their salaries or disciplinary action would be taken if not handed back at all.
Information Governance Training:
The Committee were told that 17 employees had completed the training with exception of 1 member of staff due to being on maternity leave.
Electronic Home care:
The Committee were told that this had been assigned Limited Assurance as the system used had not been fully utilized by all service providers and that there was a manual system in operation as well as an electronic one.
It had been difficult for management to keep a track of payment and some had been delayed.
The Council ceased using the IT system referred to in the report in September 2014 and the contract came to an end on 31st December 2014. Agilysis have procured a new solution on the Council’s behalf 9supplied by a company called Ulysses) and the Council is currently ... view the full minutes text for item 3.1 |
|
Annual Internal Audit Plan 2015-16 PDF 2 MB To: 1. endorse the Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2015/16 at Appendix 1 and the Internal Audit Charter at Appendix 3. 2. note the remainder of the report.
Minutes: This report presented by the Head of Risk Management and Audit and it presents the proposed Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2015/16. The plan was compiled using the Governance Based Audit Assessment Methodology and the Internal Audit Charter approved by the Audit Committee in June 2014.
The Committee were informed that the Internal Audit Plan should be presented in March to the Committee each year. The process used 4 assessment categories to produce a risk index for each auditable area.
The Internal Audit Plan for 2015/16 was presented in Appendix 1 of the agenda pack (page 58)
The Committee were told about the Governance based Audit Assessment Methodology (Appendix 2, page 83) The Charter provided by the Unified Institute of Auditors provided standards which everyone was expected to adhere and work to.
The Head of Risk Management and Audit informed the Committee that the Audit Plan is always under revision because of risks that arise. He also stated that a great amount of work had been done this year on systems in ESCW.
In response to Members questions; · the Acting Corporate Director said that he could provide the internal audit plan of the last 3 years. · Every school would be audited once every 3 years. · There will be coverage of governance of those key areas identified by the audit. · The paper which would be presented to the Committee in December 2015 would show changes made to the Internal Audit Plan, in order to reflect the risks identified · There is a significant cost to the Council if sickness is not managed properly, checks and balances need to be reviewed and ensured that they are properly in place. · The Head of Risk Management and Audit would be bring to the next Committee the Quarterly Plan of the Systems Audit. · The last Section 101 Audit was carried out in 2014 and the report was presented to the Committee in the September meeting and there is a scheduled Section 101 Audit this year.
RESOLVED · That the Committee endorsed the Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2015/16 and the Internal Audit Charter. · And the remainder of the report be noted.
|
|
Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy and Proactive Anti-Fraud Plan 2015-16 PDF 127 KB To 1. note the contents of the report and 2. endorse the Council’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy and the pro-active Anti-Fraud plan.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Corporate Anti-Fraud Manager presented this report providing the Committee with an updated Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy and outlines a summary of the proposed Proactive Anti-Fraud Plan for 2015-16.
The Committee heard the role of the Anti-Fraud team and about the need for effective anti-fraud work within local authorities has also been reflected by the Audit Commission.
The legislative framework states under the Local Government Act 1972 the Chief Financial Officer has a duty to ensure that there is an adequate process of Internal Audit to ensure the independent appraisal of the Council’s systems of internal control, practices and systems.
One of the main issues discussed was the system in place to track down applicants who have more than one property and come to Tower Hamlets Homes more than once.
In response to Members questions the Committee heard that; · It was difficult to compare figures of whistle-blowers to other boroughs. · There was a robust process to evaluate each referral received
RESOLVED That the contents of the report be noted.
|
|
Protecting the Public Purse 2014 To note the matters raised in the report.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Anti-Fraud Manager presented this report to the Committee, updating the Committee of the main findings of the Audit Commission’s publication “Protecting the Public Purse” 2014 and informs the Committee of the requirements of the Transparency Code 2014 in regard to Fraud investigation.
The Committee were told that the report focuses on fighting fraud against local government and has been written for councillors and senior officers responsible for governance.
The report highlighted that reported fraud had increased in value to £188 million which is the highest amount ever recorded by the Commission.
The Committee were also informed about the Local Government Transparency Code which requires Local Authorities to publish data about various areas of their activities.
The new transparency code was introduced in 2014 to meet the government’s desire to place more power into citizens’ hands enabling demonstrable democratic accountability and ease for local people to contribute and help shape public services.
RESOLVED That the contents of the report be noted.
|
|
Treasury Management Activity for Period Ending 31 January 2015 PDF 379 KB To note the contents of the treasury management activity report for period ending 31 January 2015.
Minutes: This report presented to the Committee by the Investment and Treasury Manager, advises the Committee of treasury management activity for the current financial year up to 31st January 2015 and the continued appropriateness of the Treasury Management Strategy and Treasury Prudential Indicators, which were approved by Council on 26th February 2014 as required by the Local Government Act 2003.
The Committee heard that LBTH participates in a benchmarking club to enable officers to compare the Council’s treasury management/investment returns against those of similar authorities. · Tower Hamlets lies close to the expected return given the Council’s portfolio risk profile, which is placing deposits with institutions with the sovereign rate of AAA. · Investment returns since inception of the cash management arrangement with Capita has been above the portfolio benchmark. · Interest rates set to remain low
RESOLVED
That the contents of the treasury management activity report for period ending 31st January 2015 be noted. |
|
ANY OTHER BUSINESS THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT Minutes: Nil items. |