Issue - meetings
Certification of Grant Claims and Returns 2010/11
Meeting: 25/06/2012 - Audit Committee (Item 6)
6 Certification of Grant Claims and Returns 2010/11 
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Additional documents:
Decision:
(a) That the content of the Grant Claim Certification for 2010/11 be noted; and
(b) That an update report be brought to the first Audit Committee meeting following the September claim returns.
Minutes:
The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report on the grant claim certification for the year ended 31 March 2011. The Wales Audit Office (WAO) report on this had been attached as an appendix to the report.
Ms. A. Hughes of WAO advised that the Council had submitted a total of 29 claims for 2010/11, including eight which had been qualified, which equated to the 2009/10 Welsh average for one in four claims being qualified. On the timely receipt of claims, it was recognised that some legislative delays had been caused by the Welsh Government (WG) which had been outside the control of Authorities.
There were ongoing concerns that many claims had not been supported by grant completion checklists, despite a recommendation made in the 2009/10 report, and that the consequent work affected the WAO fee. The Corporate Finance Manager said that attempts to address this had resulted in the introduction of more stringent procedures to ensure that grant claims could not be signed off without an accompanying checklist.
Councillor R.B. Jones suggested that this could be incorporated in personal development plans and Mr. Williams asked if Internal Audit could review. The Chief Executive agreed on involvement by Internal Audit and indicated that he and the Head of Finance had receive personal reports on how the new procedures were working and suggested that the Committee be updated at an appropriate date to allow the procedures to be embedded. The Corporate Finance Manager suggested that the update could be brought in late September 2012 following the claim returns.
In response to queries by Councillor A. Woolley, Ms. Hughes said that the claim period was for the 2010/11 financial year and noted the slight discrepancy in figures quoted in the report as a result of the net adjustment on the eight qualified certificates.
RESOLVED:
(a) That the content of the Grant Claim Certification for 2010/11 be noted; and
(b) That an update report be brought to the first Audit Committee meeting following the September claim returns.