The Audit Committee meeting commenced at 18:47 and at 21:42 the Chair MOVED and Councillor Marc Francis SECONDED a motion to extend the duration of the meeting by 10 minutes to 21:57 so to transact the remaining items of business of the Committee, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.1. The motion was approved and so it was:

RESOLVED that the duration of the meeting be extended by 10 minutes to 21:57 so to transact the remaining items of business of the Committee.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine: whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

Councillor Amin Rahman and Councillor Bodrul Choudhury declared they had received an email in relation to the restricted item but had not responded to the contents of the email.

There were no reports from the external auditors for consideration at this meeting.

Ms Julie Lorraine, Corporate Director for Resources and Section 151 Officer introduced the report. For each of the statutory recommendations, Officers outlined the Council’s response.  

Recommendation One: Closing of the Accounts

Mr Ahsan Khan, Head of Corporate Finance and Technical explained the changes that had been made to ensure the closing of the accounts were done in a timely manner. He referred to Appendix A which set out the steps to be taken. He explained additional training had been organised with EY, so staff were aware of what was expected of them and paperwork was to the quality required.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

•         Councillor Bustin commented the action plan was helpful.

•         In response to what practical steps were in place to ensure the training was on-going, Mr Abdulrazak Kassim, Director for Finance, Procurement and Audit responded saying staff who worked on the accounts had vast experience however they’d be working with EY to ensure everyone was aware of what was expected of them. He said they had standardised templates and internal peer reviews to ensure the quality of the paperwork.

•         Mr Ahsan Khan added that the training would happen every year and improvements would be made, in accordance with feedback from EY.

•         In response to if the Finance Team was sufficiently resourced and if there was proficient organisational memory, Mr Kassim said they were in a better position with a stable team. He said there was a lower risk of loss to organisational memory.

At the end of the debate, the Chair asked the Audit Committee if they agreed to the statutory recommendation and the actions set out to remedy this recommendation. 

The Audit Committee AGREED to the statutory recommendation.

Recommendation Two: Internal Control

Mr David Dobbs, Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Risk referred to appendix B and said changes had been made to the methodology of how internal audits and the recommendations are captured and mitigated against. He outlined the current position and stated that a further update would be provided to the Committee on a quarterly basis.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

•         Referring to appendix B, Councillor Bustin commented that she would expect the actions to be owned by management. She said she did not feel it was Internal Audit’s responsibility to address this. Mr Dobbs responded that ultimately it was for Corporate Directors to give assurance for the recommendations made and their implementation. He said Corporate Directors would be expected to attend the Audit Committee, to explain delays in implementing internal audit recommendation.

•         Mr Steve Reddy, Corporate Director for Children’s, and Mr Simon Baxter Corporate Director for Communities commented they had a good relationship with Internal Audit and they took the recommendations made in reports seriously. They said they’d be happy to attend future meetings of the Audit Committee to explain mitigation action taken against recommendations made by Internal Audit.

o       ACTION: Ms Julie Lorraine, Corporate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.1

In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion: “That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act,1972.”

EXEMPT SECTION (Pink Papers)

The Exempt/Confidential (pink) papers for consideration at the meeting will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties. If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Democratic Services Officer present or dispose of them in the confidential bins.

The Chair, Councillor Mufeedah Bustin MOVED the motion to exclude members of the press and public for the restricted (part 2) of the agenda. This was SECONDED by Councillor Marc Francis.

It was RESOLVED:

“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act,1972.”

The Committee had a five-minute adjournment at the end of Item 4.1 before proceeding to part 2 of the agenda.

The minute to this item is restricted.