Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2014 (copy enclosed).

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26 March 2014 were submitted.

Matters Arising

Minute number 80: Wales Audit Office Annual Financial Audit Outline 2013/14 - Ms Amanda Hughes of Wales Audit Office (WAO) advised that the total audit fee for 2013/14 had been reduced by 5.4% and that this included audit work for the Council, Clwyd Pension Fund and joint committees for which Flintshire was the lead.  A change to the fee charging mechanism meant that reserves were no longer permitted to be held by WAO, resulting in a one-off re-distribution of 15% of previous audit fees to be paid back to the Council.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(a)       That the Internal Audit Manager increase the profile of value for money elements of specific work;

(b)       That further work be completed on developing a more consistent approach to ensuring value for money on financial pressures and non-audited work in the Council; and

(c)        That the work of Internal Audit and the Policy, Performance & Partnerships team on external partnership governance and performance be shared with the Committee.

The Internal Audit Manager introduced the results from the Committee’s self assessment to feed into preparation for the Annual Governance Statement 2013/14 and to help inform any future training requirements.  The assessment was based on new guidance from CIPFA on which the Committee had received training earlier in the year.

Appended to the report were comments submitted, together with the range of scores for each area and average scores: overall these were positive, indicating that the Committee generally operated effectively.  The Internal Audit Manager provided clarification on the two lowest scoring areas on the Council’s approach to value for money and public reporting.  He gave examples of two final reports recently received by the Committee which incorporated value for money elements in the recommendations as part of the regular Internal Audit Progress Report item and acknowledged that these could be better highlighted in future.  Although public reporting was not a core function of the Committee, this could be looked at for the future.

In agreement with these remarks, Ms. Amanda Hughes of the Wales Audit Office (WAO) explained the requirement for external auditors to give an opinion on the effectiveness of the Council’s value for money arrangements as part of the Annual Audit Letter last received by the Committee in December 2013.  She said that although there were no concerns, it may be reasonable for the Committee to consider receiving more specific work on value for money in future if this was felt to be of benefit to the Council.

The Chief Executive agreed with the recognition that more could be done to highlight value for money in reports to the Committee and suggested that further work could also be completed on developing a consistent approach to ensuring value for money across all functional areas including non-audited work in the Council where Audit had not the opportunity to give an independent opinion.  In response to other low scores from the self assessment, he pointed out that public reporting and partnership working were not amongst the core activities of the Committee but suggested sharing the work of Internal Audit and the Policy, Performance and Partnerships Team on external partnership governance and performance, noting  that there was already a protocol in place for reporting on the business cases for new recommended collaborations.

Councillor Arnold Woolley reiterated his concerns on differences on auditing practice of Town/Community Councils and County Councils which had been raised at the previous Audit Committee meeting, and questioned how the Committee was able to guarantee value for money when the audit did not provide absolute assurance over accuracy.  Ms. Hughes explained that the audit of the financial statements provided an opinion on whether the accounts gave a true and fair view of the Council’s financial position and outturn.  Whether they had achieved value for money was a separate matter which needed to assess the level and quality of service, the cost and whether it had achieved the Council’s objectives and had the right impact.

In response to further comments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

That the report be noted.

The Internal Audit Manager introduced the report of results of a first internal assessment of conformance with the new Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS).  Although the Standards had been introduced on 1 April 2013, guidance on how to apply them was published only shortly after, leaving no time to prepare.  The summary attached to the report indicated that nine out of the eleven Attribute and Performance Standards showed ‘general conformance’.  Those showing partial or non conformance were not significant and would be addressed by an action plan as part of the usual processes for developing improvements.

Due to the level of conformance, Mr. Paul Williams asked whether the external assessment of the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) should take place later than year 2.  The Internal Audit Manager agreed that the assessment in year 3 would allow time for the QAIP to develop.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

That the report be approved.

The Internal Audit Manager introduced the report on the outcome of all audit work carried out during 2013/14 and gave the annual Internal Audit opinion that the Council had adequate and effective arrangements in place for internal control, risk management and governance.  The report included a summary of all audit work undertaken in 2013/14 and performance indicators for the department.  It confirmed that the department showed general conformance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.  The report would contribute to the Annual Governance Statement.

The Chair thanked the Internal Audit Manager and his team for the detailed actions within the report.

In response to a query from Councillor Haydn Bateman, information was given by the Democracy and Governance Manager on the Corporate Governance Working Group, chaired by himself, which met regularly to update the Code of Corporate Governance and prepare the draft Annual Governance Statement.

Following a comment on the reporting of strategic and operational risks, the Internal Audit Manager said that this would be under the new structure.  The Head of Legal & Democratic Services advised of an Internal Audit study on risk management which would shortly be made available.

RESOLVED:

That the report be approved.

That the updated policy be approved with the agreed amendments.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the updated Whistleblowing Policy reflecting changes suggested at the previous meeting of the Committee and checking against the National Audit Office checklist.  In providing clarification on the amendments to the policy, he advised that the approved version would be submitted to the Constitution Committee for endorsement prior to re-publishing on the Council’s Infonet site.

The Head of Legal & Democratic Services explained that the prominence given to the paragraph on the Council’s commitment to the policy reaffirmed the ethos to support and address any concerns raised.  He responded to a query from Mr. Paul Williams on the need for disclosures to be made in the public interest due to new legislation.

Mr. Williams felt that reference to the internal and external procedures should be shown earlier in the policy to clarify to the reader the options available.  The Head of Legal & Democratic Services agreed that this could be signposted in the document.  The Chief Executive emphasised the section in the policy which encouraged concerns to be raised, even if these were anonymous, and said that signposting should detail the internal procedure in the first instance, whilst also indicating the external procedure.

Councillor Glyn Banks felt that the internal procedure should be made more prominent than the external procedure to clarify the preferred route for consideration of these options.

The Head of Legal & Democratic Services said that the points raised would be taken on board and hoped that employees would be encouraged to raise concerns with their line manager rather than using the external route.

The Internal Audit Manager pointed out that the officer posts listed under the internal procedure section of the Policy would need to be updated to reflect the new structure.  It was also pointed out that names of Members of Parliament should be included in the list of relevant organisations recorded at the back of the policy.

RESOLVED:

That the updated policy be approved with the agreed amendments.

That the report be accepted.

The Internal Audit Manager presented an update report on actions carried out to date from points raised at previous Audit Committee meetings.  It was noted that all actions which were due for completion had been finalised.

RESOLVED:

That the report be accepted.

That the Forward Work Programme be approved with the agreed amendment.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the report to consider the Forward Work Programme for the next year.

The Democracy & Governance Manager had written to the Committee to advise that the next meeting in June would commence at 10.30am to allow for a half-hour informal discussion on the draft Annual Governance Statement prior to its formal submission to the Committee in July.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Annual Improvement Report would be submitted to both Cabinet and the Audit Committee in June.

Ms. Amanda Hughes requested that the Certification of Grants and Returns Report be removed from the June meeting as this was due in July, and this was agreed.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme be approved with the agreed amendment.

Following a proposal from the Chair, it was agreed that the informal annual meeting with internal and external auditors, which was due to be held at the close of the meeting, would instead be held immediately following the next meeting on 25 June 2014.

In closing the meeting, the Chair referred to the discussion on the Audit Committee Self-Assessment item and hoped that Members appreciated her intention had been to identify any concerns so that they could be addressed.

There were no members of the press or public in attendance.