Issue - meetings

(a)       The Committee approve the changes agreed by the Audit Committee for    the Audit Committee’s Terms of Reference; and

(b)       The Committee approve the changes agreed by the Audit Committee for    the Audit Committee’s Charter.

                        The Internal Audit Manager presented the Terms of Reference and Charter for the Audit Committee. These had been updated following a workshop for Audit Committee members and to bring them in line with CIPFA guidance.  She referred members to the two copies of the Terms of Reference attached one with the tracked changes and outlined the changes to the document and the only additional responsibility was to produce an Annual Report to Full Council.

                        When referring to the Charter she confirmed this was new for the Authority and included more detail on the terms of reference, the roles and responsibilities of Audit and Scrutiny committees and the links with the Chairs and Vice Chairs liaison group.  These were presented for the committee’s consideration and afterwards it would then go to Full Council for approval.

            Councillor Patrick Heesom referred to the Measure and the membership of the Audit Committee.  He commented on the extensive workload of the Committee and suggested it be increased in line with the other Committees.  In response the Chief Officer (Governance) confirmed that any changes to the size of Committees could be considered at the Annual Meeting where this would be discussed.  With regard to the 2011 Measure the proposals within the report were in line with the requirements and guidance from CIPFA. Councillor Heesom suggested that the Audit Committee be asked if they were satisfied with the composition of the committee. 

            Councillor Mike Peers referred the section 8 (financial affairs) and asked if Members should be considering the year-end viability of the council. He added Budget meetings were held but it was up to members to review and comment on the information provided to them.  He felt it would be useful if the Audit committee could produce a report from the information they received.   He also referred to Appendix A on page 55 the arrow from the Audit committee to Annual Governance Statement and Statement of Accounts and asked if it should be a two way arrow. 

            In response the Chief Officer (Governance) outlined the areas covered by treasury management and their responsibilities with regard to prudential borrowing.  The financial health of the council was provided in the budget monitoring reports, and at Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee and at Council when setting the budget.  The Section 151 Officer provided advice to members when setting the budget.   With regard to the diagram in Appendix A the Chief Officer felt that the Audit Committee would not refer the Statement of Accounts back to Council but recommend its approval to Council

Councillor Peers understood how the process worked but felt the Audit Committee could do a second check and provide assurance.  He added in the diagram it looked as though the Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement were not passed to the Audit Committee and yet they were asked to comment.  The Chief Officer explained that both these documents originated from the Audit Committee and that this year Members of Audit had more involvement in the preparation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17