Issue - meetings

That the Forward Work Programme be amended to include the Audit of Financial Statements as a separate item for the September 2013 meeting.

The Internal Audit Manager presented a report to consider the Committee’s Forward Work Programme for the coming year and asked Members to put forward any suggested changes.

Mr. P. Williams asked if the next scheduled meeting could include an update on progress with the appraisal system and Single Status.

Councillor R.B. Jones raised concerns on duplication of work, pointing out that the actual reporting of these issues was under the remit of the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee and that involvement by the Audit Committee applied to areas where there may be a perceived risk.

The Democracy & Governance Manager advised on the setting up of a briefing session between the Audit Committee and Overview & Scrutiny Chairs to clarify both roles following the implementation of the Local Government Measure and wider terms of reference for the Audit Committee.  He went on to speak of the Chair’s wish to hold regular meetings with Overview & Scrutiny Chairs to follow on from the briefing and suggested that the Committee may wish to wait until after the briefing session to consider the items suggested.  Mr. Williams was in agreement with this suggestion.

The Chair suggested that the use of consultants could also be scheduled to monitor the level of spend.  Councillor Jones reiterated his comments that financial control of consultants was an item for Overview & Scrutiny.  Ms. A. Hughes said that the focus for Audit Committee should be to ensure that controls were in place so that contracts with consultants were established with deliverables and were effectively monitored.

The Head of Legal & Democratic Services stated that the key issue for Audit Committee was to ensure that controls were in place in the use of consultants and suggested that this could involve requesting six-monthly or annual reports to assess how controls were working.

The Internal Audit Manager commented on the new process for the appointment of consultants which would be reviewed by Internal Audit and that there would be a short review on the appointment of consultants this year followed by a wider review of the overall use of consultants as part of next year’s Audit Plan.

The Committee agreed that the three items raised could be re-considered once the overlap of roles had been addressed at the briefing session with Overview & Scrutiny.

Although linked to the Statement of Accounts, Ms. Hughes requested that a separate item be scheduled for the Audit of Financial Statements in September 2013, as this was a specific issue.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme be amended to include the Audit of Financial Statements as a separate item for the September 2013 meeting.