Agenda and minutes

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Joint Audit and Governance Committee minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2019. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the committee meeting held on 29 July 2019 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such.

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

None.

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman. 

None.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

None.

To consider the draft statements of accounts 2018/19 (attached).

The committee considered the latest versions of the Statement of Accounts for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse for the year 2018/19. Attached as an appendix to the accounts was a schedule of changes to the accounts that had been identified by the external auditors during the course of their audit work to date.

As the external audit process was not yet complete, the committee was asked to agree a process by which, if, following the meeting, minor or significant changes to the accounts were identified.

RESOLVED: to

(a)  approve the statement of accounts for South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council for 2018/19, as amended.

(b)  agree that the statement of accounts for South Oxfordshire District Council be signed by the chairman of this meeting of the committee and by the co-chairman from South Oxfordshire District Council

(c)  agree that the statement of accounts for Vale of White Horse District Council be signed by the chairman of this meeting

(d)  authorise the Head of Finance to agree minor changes identified by the external auditor to the statements of accounts following this meeting, and to ask the chairman and co-chairman of this meeting to sign an amended version of the accounts if required that reflects those changes.

(e)  agree, in the event of significant changes being identified by the external auditor following this meeting, that the statements of accounts be brought to a further meeting of this committee.

RECOMMENDED: To approve South Oxfordshire District Council’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 (attached) to form part of the statement of accounts

The committee considered South Oxfordshire’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19.  The committee approved the statement, noting that it formed part of the council’s Statement of Accounts. 

RESOLVED: to approve South Oxfordshire’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 to form part of the Statement of Accounts. 

RECOMMENDED: To approve Vale of White Horse District Council’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 (attached) to form part of the statement of accounts.

The committee considered Vale of White Horse’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19.  The committee approved the statement, noting that it formed part of the council’s Statement of Accounts. 

RESOLVED: to approve Vale of White Horse’s Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 to form part of the Statement of Accounts.

RECOMMENDED: to agree that the co-chairman from South Oxfordshire District Council signs the letter of representation to the external auditor (to follow).

Tabled at the meeting was a draft letter of representation from the co-chairman to the external auditor, EY, as part of the process in completing the Statement of Accounts. 

RESOLVED: to agree that the co-chairman from South Oxfordshire District Council signs the letter of representation to the external auditor. 

RECOMMENDED: to agree that the co-chairman from Vale of White Horse District Council signs the letter of representation to the external auditor (to follow).

Tabled at the meeting was a draft letter of representation from the co-chairman to the external auditor, EY, as part of the process in completing the Statement of Accounts. 

RESOLVED: to agree that the co-chairman from Vale of White Horse District Council signs the letter of representation to the external auditor. 

To consider the report of the head of finance/financial accountant (Capita) (attached).

The committee considered the head of finance’s report on the treasury outturn for both South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse in 2018/19. 

RECOMMENDED to Cabinet to

(a)     note the treasury management outturn report 2018/19; and

(b)     that the committee is satisfied that the treasury activities have been carried out in accordance with the treasury management strategy and policy. 

To consider the report of the internal audit manager (attached).

The committee considered the internal audit manager’s report on internal audit activity during the second quarter of 2019/20. This summarised the outcomes of recent audit activity.

5 audits and 2 follow up reviews had been completed during the quarter, of which one audit had received limited assurance.

Property Management 2018/2019

The committee considered the main findings and recommendations of the internal audit report.  Property management was last subject to an internal audit review in October 2017 and all five recommendations raised in that review had not been implemented and had been restated as part of this review. In April 2018 the outsourced service had been brought back in-house.

The committee was advised that, since the service had been brought back in-house, the issues identified in the audit review were being addressed and the resources were in place to meet the review recommendations implementation dates.

RESOLVED: to note the internal audit activity report for the second quarter of 2019/20.

To consider the report of the internal audit manager (attached).

The committee considered the internal audit manager’s management report on internal audit for the second quarter of 2019/20.

The committee was advised that it was anticipated that one of the two auditor vacancies would be filled by 21 October with recruitment for the remaining vacancy continuing into quarter three. Two agency auditors had been engaged during quarter two to assist the audit team in the completion of the 2019/20 key financial audits.

RESOLVED: to note the internal audit management report for the second quarter of 2019/20.

To consider the work programme (attached).

The committee noted its work programme.

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

(i)        it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1-7 Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

(ii)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

RESOLVED: to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following items of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

i.     it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 6 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

ii.    the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider the report of the internal audit manager (attached).

The committee considered a summary of findings from the corporate fraud and cyber risk review, commissioned by the strategic management team.

RESOLVED: to note the report.