Agenda and minutes

Any Member who is substituting for another Member should so indicate, together with the name of the relevant absent Member.

There were no substitutes declared.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carol Bull. 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 28 January 2016 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 January 2016, were unanimously accepted by the Committee as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

Members of the public who live or work in the Borough are invited to put one question/statement of not more than 3 minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 of the agenda only.  If a question is asked and answered within 3 minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a supplementary question that arises from the reply.

A person who wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.  There is an overall limited of 15 minutes for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chairman’s discretion.

Public participation had been included within the previous informal discussions and there had been no questions/statements from members of the public.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/006

(For reference purposes, Forest Heath District Council’s Report Number is PAS/FH/16/008)

Further to the joint informal discussions held prior to the meeting with Forest Heath District Council’s Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, the Committee formally considered Report No: PAS/SE/16/006.

Members had scrutinised the report in detail and had asked questions to which responses were duly provided.

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED: That:

(1)        The Internal Audit Plan for 2016-2017, attached as Appendix C to Report No: PAS/SE/16/006, be approved.

(2)        The conclusion drawn in respect of the annual review of the effectiveness of internal audit, be endorsed.

(3)        The contents of the Annual Internal Audit Report 2015-2016 and the Managing the Risk of Fraud, Theft and Corruption Report, as set out in Appendices A and D to Report No: PAS/SE/16/006, be noted.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/007

(For reference purposes, Forest Heath District Council’s Report Number is PAS/FH/16/009)

Further to the joint informal discussions held prior to the meeting with Forest Heath District Council’s Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, the Committee formally considered Report No: PAS/SE/16/007.

Members had scrutinised the report and there being no decision required, the Committee noted the Council’s performance using the Balanced Scorecards for Quarter 4, 2015-2016.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/008

(For reference purposes, Forest Heath District Council’s Report Number is PAS/FH/16/010)

Further to the joint informal discussions held prior to the meeting with Forest Heath District Council’s Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, the Committee formally considered Report No: PAS/SE/16/008.

Members had scrutinised the report and there being no decision required, the Committee noted the contents of the Quarter 4 West Suffolk Strategic Risk Register monitoring report.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/009

(For reference purposes, Forest Heath District Council’s Report Number is PAS/FH/16/011)

Further to the joint informal discussions held prior to the meeting with Forest Heath District Council’s Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee, the Committee formally considered Report No: PAS/SE/16/009.

There being no decision required, the Committee noted the contents of the work programme for 2016-2017.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/010

The Committee received Report No: PAS/SE/16/010, which updated Members on the 2015-2016 outturn revenue and capital position.  Attached at Appendix A was the revenue outturn position as at 31 March 2016, which currently showed an overall underspend of £36,000.  An analysis of revenue variances for 2015-2016 was attached as Appendix B.

Attached as Appendix C was the Council’s capital outturn position. The Council had spent £3,696,812 of its capital budget of £6,006,790 as at 31 March 2016, which showed a net underspend of £2,309,978. 

Append D to the report set out a summary of the earmarked reserves for the year 2015-2016. 

The Committee scrutinised the report and asked questions to which officers duly responded.  In particular members discussed the off-street parking income and questioned now the Committee had the outturn position, could officers confirm how the car parking compared to that included in the February 2016 budget report for 2016/17, to which officers agreed to provide a written response.

There being no decision required the Committee noted the 2015-2016 outturn revenue and capital outturn positions as set out in Appendices A and C to Report No: PAS/SE/16/010.

Report No: PAS/FH/16/011

The Committee received Report No: PAS/SE/16/011, which updated members on the outcome of the annual audit of grant claims by Ernst and Young (EY) as detailed in their Certification of Claims and Returns Annual Report 2014-2015, attached as Appendix A.

Mark Hodgson, Executive Director from EY presented this report, which summarised the results of the certification work that had been undertaken by EY by staff as part of the annual audit of grant claims to government departments.  The report included key messages arising from the assessment of the arrangements for preparing claims and returns and information on claims that were qualified.  Mark Hodgson drew relevant details from the report to Members’ attention, and explained the one claim relating to the Housing Benefits Subsidy Claim.

Members scrutinised the report and there being no decision required the Committee noted the contents of the report.

Report No: PAS/SE/16/012

The Committee received Report No: PAS/SE/16/012, which set out how EY intended to carry out their responsibilities as the Council’s external auditors (Appendix A).  The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with a basis to review EY’s proposed approach and scope for the 2015-2016 audit along with the planned fees to complete the work.  The report also provided the Committee with a basis to review the 2016-2017 indicative fees (Appendix B).

Mark Hodgson (Executive Director from EY presented this report, which summarised EY’s assessment of the key risks which drive the development of an effective audit of the Council, and outlined their planned audit strategy in response to those risks.  Officers would be working with EY over the coming months to ensure that these risks were managed and where possible, come to an agreement over the treatment prior to the issuing of the Annual Governance Report and Audit Opinion, due to be issued by EY by September 2016.  Mark drew member’s attention  to the financial statement risks; the value for money conclusion; EY’s audit process and strategy; and the indicative audit fee for 2016-2017 and how the scale fee was based.

Members scrutinised the report and there being no decision required the Committee noted the contents of the report.