Agenda and minutes

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 receive a verbal update from the external auditor.

The external auditor reported that EY had given unqualified opinions on both councils’ Statement of Accounts audits and value for money audits in 2017/18 and that these had been published before the end of September. A finalised audit report would be circulated to members and the annual audit letter would be submitted to the committee in January.

The housing benefit audit had been completed and was awaiting sign off.  The external auditor’s report on the certification of claims and returns would also be submitted to the committee in January.

The external auditor would be working with Capita to ensure that the problems that had arisen with the statements of accounts were not repeated.

RESOLVED: to

(a)      Note the external auditor’s verbal update; and

(b)      Thank EY for publishing the statements of accounts before 30 September.

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 2018/19. This summarised the outcomes of recent audit activity.

Two audits had been completed during the quarter, one of which had received limited assurance.

Travel and Subsistence 2018/2019

The committee considered the main findings and recommendations of the internal audit report. Officers attended to provide further updates and answer members’ questions, however, members expressed concern that there was no Capita representative present to answer questions.

With regard to travel and subsistence records, the committee noted with concern that, once expenses claims had been authorised, receipts were no longer available on HR systems and requested a written response from Capita, as a matter of urgency, setting out progress in resolving this matter. 

With regard to mileage underpayments, the committee requested a written response from Capita, setting out progress in rectifying the issues to avoid further under and/or overpayments.

Overdue recommendations

The committee noted the current timetable for relaunching the recommendations database.

RESOLVED: to

(a)      Note the internal audit activity report for the second quarter 2018/19; and

(b)      Request officers to seek written responses from Capita to the issues detailed above.

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 2018/19.

The committee noted that the internal audit team was now fully staffed, having carried a vacancy for five and a half months.

RESOLVED: to note the internal audit management report for the second quarter of 2018/19.

To consider the report of the head of corporate services (attached).

The committee considered a half yearly progress report on the councils’ corporate risk registers.

Three new risks had been added to both registers regarding customer engagement and managing perception, the Government deal for housing growth, and new channels of revenue growth.

In response to members’ questions about the risks relating to IT cybersecurity, officers advised that this would almost certainly continue to be a major risk as the threats were constantly changing. The councils had launched a cybersecurity awareness campaign for staff and officers agreed to update members on the campaign.  

RESOLVED: to note the report.

To consider the work programme (attached).

The committee considered the work programme and agreed that, in view of the number of items scheduled for it January meeting, to defer consideration of the following reports until March 2019:

·         Comments and complaints 2017/18

·         Code of conduct annual report 2017/18

·         Internal audit charter