Venue: Forli Room - Town Hall
Contact: Karen S Dunleavy; Governance Officer
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Apologies Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lane and Knowles.
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Declarations of Interest and Whipping Declarations At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.
Minutes: There were no declarations of interest or whipping declarations.
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Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 September 2012 PDF 91 KB To approve the Minutes of the Meeting Held on 24 September 2012 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2012, were approved as an accurate and true record subject to the following amendments:
· Item 4: to state that Members were also advised of the role of external audit and their involvement in identifying significant risks, rather than executive risks;
· Item 4: to state that the Audit Commission would not continue to conduct audits after 2011/12.
· Item 4: RECOMMENDATION to state: As part of PwC’s external audit plan for 2012/2013, PwC would discuss with officers and the Audit Committee an appropriate scope of work to review the governance arrangements with respect to elements of the allocation of expenditure within the Councils budget policy framework, particularly in relation to the Invest to Save Scheme.
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Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received presentation from the Group Manger, Construction, Compliance & Resilience on the progress of the Risk Management, Business Continuity and Risk Register. It was important to note that the Risk Register was currently being updated in conjunction with Corporate Management Team (CMT) and the Strategic Improvement Team and that a report on the current risks was anticipated to be available in December 2012 and to Audit Committee in February 2013.
The key points within the report included:
· Processes, induction briefings and business plans.
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
· The Group Manager Construction, Compliance and Resilience advised Members that the lead Member for Risk Management was Councillor Seaton; · The Group Manager Construction, Compliance and Resilience advised Members that BC owners were the risk champions; · Members commented that it was good to see the introduction of training for risk management for Councillors and that consideration should be given to include a section within reports on how the RM policy had been applied. · The Group Manager Construction, Compliance and Resilience advised Members that quarterly RM reports on high level projects was supplied to CMT on a regular basis; and · Following clarification sought by Members over the reference of the Cabinet Member recommendation within the covering report, it was advised that the information was provided in error and that it should state that the recommendation was for the Audit Committee to consider.
ACTION AGREED:
The Committee:
The Committee Further Agreed:
· That the Group Manager Construction, Compliance and Resilience, would include Members of the Audit Committee in the distribution of the quarterly Risk Management reports following agreement with CMT; · A further update would be provided at the February 2013 meeting on the Strategic Risk Register; and · That CMT was to confirm to Audit Committee, which Executive Director had been delegated the appropriate ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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RIPA: Progress Report to 30 September 2012 and an update on RIPA policy changes PDF 75 KB Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Head of Governance on the use of RIPA powers for the three month period from 1 July 2012 to 30 September 2012.
The following key points within the report included:
· That there were no requests for authorisations either for surveillance or access to communications data during July to September 2012; and · An update on the provisions under RIPA for Local Authorities to obtain approval from a Justice of the Peace before utilising RIPA.
The Head of Governance advised the Committee that there were plans underway to roll out training to all PCC Officers on the new RIPA approval process, which was scheduled for 12 December 2012.
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
· Following a question raised over the application to the Magistrates’ Court for the Council to use RIPA, Members were advised by the Head of Governance that PCC were seeking clarification on the process; · Members commented that consideration should be given to referring RIPA applications to various Magistrates rather than to the same one for every application; · In response to a question raised regarding the regularity of the use of RIPA, the Head of Governance confirmed that RIPA would only be used as an investigation tool as a last resort and that other less intrusive methods were applied where possible; and · Following comments from Members on the use of RIPA, the Head of Governance advised that PCC was recently commended by the Office of Surveillance Commissioner for its correct use of RIPA.
ACTION AGREED:
The Committee:
The Committee Further Agreed:
That the Head of Governance would organise a report to be provided to Members, which would detail information regarding the number of investigations that were carried out following referrals from the public, internal departments and regulatory checks.
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Member Code of Conduct PDF 77 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Solicitor to the Council on the newly adopted Member Code of Conduct. This formed part of the Committee’s statutory duties, in order to adhere to regulations introduced by the Localism Act 2011.
The following key points within the report included:
The Audit Committee was requested to consider individual Member dispensations. The applications submitted to Audit Committee for Members individual dispensations to speak and vote (however, the dispensation would not apply in any circumstances in which the common law rules of bias or where predetermination may apply) included:
Members also received an update from the Solicitor to the Council regarding the recruitment process for the Sub-Committee to the Audit Committee Independent Members. The Solicitor to the Council advised Members that three candidates from the Cambridgeshire area had been identified. Members were further advised that one candidate had held no previous involvement in the old standards regime, whereas the remaining two had held previous appointments to a Standards Committee.
The Solicitor to the Council proposed to Audit Committee that they consider recommending to Council the:
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
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Treasury Management: Update PDF 70 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Head of Corporate Services regarding the Treasury Management Strategy Prudential Indicators for 2012/13. The report was presented as part of the Public Services, Code of Practice, which was intended to provide a mid-year performance review to the Committee.
Members of the Audit Committee were also advised by the Head of Corporate Services that the Council did not borrow money to finance day to day activities, such as the payment of salaries or to run Committees. Members were informed that those costs were balanced by the income that the Council received.
The following key points within the report included:
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
AGREED ACTION:
The Committee:
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Internal Audit: Mid Year Progress Report PDF 87 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Chief Internal Auditor on the Mid Year Progress Report. The report was submitted to Audit Committee as a routine planned report within the work programme of the Committee. In addition, the report had set out Internal Audit performance and progress with regards to the 2012 / 2013 Audit Plan.
The purpose of the report was to inform Members of the Audit Committee on Internal Audit activities and performance progress against the Annual Audit 2012 / 2013 as at 30 September 2012.
The following key points within the report included:
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
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Minutes: The Committee received a report on the use of Consultants from the Head of Corporate Services. The report was submitted to Audit Committee following the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee review into Peterborough City Council’s use of consultants, the subsequent endorsement of their recommendations by Cabinet, and the agreement of Audit Committee to undertake an on-going monitoring role.
The following key points within the reports included:
Comments and responses to questions were as follows:
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Minutes: The Committee received an update report fromthe Chief Internal Auditor regarding items considered or questions asked at previous meetings of the Committee. It also provides an update on any specific matters which were of interest to the Committee or where Committee have asked to be kept informed of progress.
Key item within the report were as follows:
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Work Programme 2012 / 2013 PDF 66 KB Minutes: The Chief Internal Auditor submitted the latest version of the Work Programme for the municipal year 2012/2013 for consideration and approval. The standard report provided details of the proposed Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2012/2013 together with any training needs identified.
The following items were to be included on the Work Programme:
· The effectiveness of Audit Committee was to move from Feb 2013 to March 2013; and · Consultant report be presented in February 2013, including the further information requested by Audit Committee at its meeting of 5 November 2012.
AGREED ACTION:
The Committee noted and approved the 2012/2013 Work Programme.
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