Issue - meetings
Review of the Terms of Reference of the Audit Committee
Meeting: 01/04/2021 - Flintshire County Council (Item 78)
78 Review of the Terms of Reference of the Audit Committee 
PDF 87 KB
Additional documents:
- Enc. 1 - Revised Terms of Reference, item 78
PDF 203 KB
- Webcast for Review of the Terms of Reference of the Audit Committee
Decision:
That the amended name of the Council’s Audit Committee be acknowledged and the new functions set out in the Act be included within the current Terms of Reference of the renamed Committee.
Minutes:
The Chief Officer (Governance) presented a report to note the statutory changes to the Audit Committee to be implemented from April 2021. The name would be changed to the Governance & Audit Committee, with additional functions to be included in the Terms of Reference. Further changes to the composition of the renamed Committee would be introduced from May 2022.
The Audit Committee and Constitution & Democratic Services Committee had been consulted on the report. The Chairs of those Committees, Councillors Chris Dolphin and Neville Phillips moved and seconded the recommendation.
In response to a question from Councillor Richard Jones, the Chief Executive and Chief Officer confirmed that there would be no overlap of work arising from the new duties with the existing role of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees. Whilst the role of the Governance & Audit Committee was to assess the effectiveness of systems, the Overview & Scrutiny Committees would continue to explore areas in more depth and monitor performance. Issues of concern raised by the Audit Committee would be referred to the relevant Overview & Scrutiny Committee; a practice reinforced through a co-ordinating group comprising representatives of those Committees.
In response to a query from Councillor Mike Peers on the requirement for a lay member to be appointed as Chair of the renamed Committee, the Chief Officer confirmed that contact details of all co-opted members were available internally. He clarified that the legislation allowed for an elected Member to be appointed as the Vice-Chair of the renamed Committee.
Having been moved and seconded, the recommendation was put to the vote and carried.
RESOLVED:
That the amended name of the Council’s Audit Committee be acknowledged and the new functions set out in the Act be included within the current Terms of Reference of the renamed Committee.