Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Harper and Councillor Lamb.

There were no declarations of interest or whipping declarations. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2011 were approved as an accurate and true record.

To receive the annual report to management from External Audit.

         The Executive Director of Strategic Resources presented a report to the Committee on the interim audit for the accounts which had been conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for financial year 2010/11. 

         Members were advised that of the four new control issues highlighted within the report, three had been set at low priority and one at medium priority.  Members were advised that there had been issues highlighted within the External Audit Report regarding three information communication technologies controls:

         Members were informed that the use of generic privileged user intrusion detection (user ID) had been completed and that the remaining two issues were being dealt and would be completed shortly. 

         Members were invited to comment on the Report to Management on the Interim Audit for the 2010/11 Statement of Accounts and the following comments and observations were highlighted:

To receive the final statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011 following their scrutiny by External Audit

The Executive Director of Strategic Resources presented a report to the Committee on the recent external audit of Peterborough City Council’s Statement of Accounts, by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

         Members of the Audit Committee received a further update from PricewaterhouseCoopers on the action for items that had been outstanding within the External Audit Report and the Statement of Accounts.  Members were advised that there was nothing that PricewaterhouseCoopers wished to bring to the Committees attention.  The items outstanding, which were highlighted within appendix one of the external audit report, were as follows:

·         Value for Money Opinion; and

·         Confirmation of any outstanding legal matters from the Monitoring Officer

         Members were invited to comment on the Report to those charged with Governance and the Statement of Accounts.  The following comments and observations were raised:

·         Members sought clarification over what action had been taken over the controls used to administer housing and council tax benefit to claimants that had not been entitled to receive them and whether any recovery action was outstanding?  PricewaterhouseCoopers advised Members that there was a system of testing what recipients should be receiving.  The Executive Director of Strategic Resources advised that the Head of Shared Transactional Services would be approached to request that contact was made with Councillor Nash to discuss any matters regarding the controls used in administering housing and council tax benefits.

·         Members sought clarification over what would happen with pension entitlements for teaching staff when their employment had transferred to the academies?  The Executive Director of Strategic Resources advised Members that teaching staff would transfer under the transfer of undertakings protection of employment (TUPE) arrangements, and that their pension rights would remain the same.

·         Members sought clarification over the overspend figure detailed under ‘Corporate Items, Revenue Expenditure’ within the Statement of Accounts and commented that the Council seemed to be overspent by £2.4m?  The Head of Corporate Services advised Members that the figure was due to a reduction from Local Government Grants and that following the emergency budget, the grants received, which were split between area grants and additional grants, meant that the funding had been reduced by £2.4m for the financial year 2010/11.

·         Members sought clarification over the current liability and current assets figures within the external report at appendix one within the Statement of Accounts and whether there was any significant impact for the Council as there was a difference of £8m?   The Head of Corporate Services advised that the figures had no significant impact for the Council, although cash balances and debts outstanding were closely monitored.

·         Members sought clarification over the Council’s cost incurred of £3.4m which had resulted from the termination of contracts of employment following the voluntary redundancy programme and what the liability costs were?  The Head of Corporate Services advised Members that as the figures were unavailable for a response, that there would be a response sent directly to Members following the meeting.

·         Members sought clarification over the schools balance figure and whether the representation was just a snap shot?  The Executive Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive an annual report on the use of RIPA for 2010/2011 together with an update on the use of RIPA during the 3 months to 30 June 2011

      The Compliance Manager presented a report to the Committee which provided          an overview of the Council's use of RIPA powers over the year 2010-2011 and             the first quarter to June 2011. Members were advised that RIPA authorisations        were a statutory measure to report on authorised covert surveillance in       preventing and detecting crime and also disorder. 

      Members were informed that the Council had used the powers eleven times    within the year 2010-11.  The key points highlighted to Committee included:

·         Nine covert operations on test purchasing for the sale of fireworks, tobacco and alcohol to minors;

·         One covert operation on a trading standards operation;

·         One covert operation on fly tipping; and

·         There were no authorised covert surveillance operations in the first quarter of 2011-12.

      Members were invited to comment on the annual and quarterly report.  The      following issues and observations were highlighted:

·         Members raised a question on what level of authorisation would a request for investigations be conducted and whether Members were involved in the authorisations? The Compliance Manger advised Members that the level of authorisation would be the responsibility of Senior Officers.

·         Members raised a question about how many successful investigations had been conducted?  The Compliance Manger advised Members that the relevant departments would be approached to provide further information on the success of investigations and a report would be provided at the next meeting of Audit Committee.

·         Members requested an update regarding the fly tipping prosecutions and what action the Council was taking to improve enforcement.  The Compliance Manger advised Members that the purpose of the RIPA report was to provide an overview of Council surveillance powers and the covert operations that had taken place.  The Compliance Manager also advised Members that the Neighbourhood Enforcement Team would be contacted to provide an update on enforcement and respond to Members directly.

         ACTION AGREED:

         The Committee endorsed the report on the use of RIPA for the annual review of       2010 to 2011 and for the first quarter of 2011 – April to June 2011.

To review the Work Programme for 2011 / 2012.

         The Chief Internal Auditor submitted the latest version of the Work Programme for the municipal year 2011 / 2012 for consideration and approval.

         Members were advised that the following items would appear on the scheduled Audit Committee meeting on 7 November:

·         Risk Management;

·         Risk Management: Strategic Risks;

·         Treasury Management: Update;

·          Internal Audit: Mid Year Progress against Audit Plan; and

·          Second quarter of the investigatory powers act.

         Members were advised by the Chief Internal Auditor that there would be a training session on the Risk Management and Strategic Risk agenda items before the start of the next meeting.

         ACTION AGREED:

         The Committee noted and approved the 2011 / 2012 Work Programme.