Meeting documents

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25^th May 2017.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 25^th May 2017 were approved as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

Apologies of absence were received from Councillors Anna Groskop, Tony Lock, Jason Baker, Carol Goodall and David Norris.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the agenda for this meeting. 

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of the public present during the meeting.

Councillors are requested to note that the next Audit Committee meeting is scheduled to be held at 10.00am on 27 July 2017 in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way, Yeovil.

Members noted that the date of the next meeting of the Audit Committee was scheduled for 10am on Thursday 27^th July in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way, Yeovil.

The Assistant Director of SWAP introduced Laura Wickes, a Senior Auditor at SWAP. She explained that Laura had been involved with overseeing delivery of the Audit Plan for SSDC.

The Assistant Director explained that this was an annual opinion report to provide an update on the position of the Internal Audit Plan for the year ending 2016/17.

She advised members that she was able to offer reasonable assurance to the Annual Governance Statement, as detailed on page 10 of the agenda. She advised that due to the snap election which had recently taken place, Elections and the Scheme of Delegation were areas of audit which had been removed from the plan. However, she would be working alongside the S151 Officer to ensure that these items are included in the future.

She further advised that she would be meeting with the Senior Leadership Team to discuss the Risk Management audit.

She clarified that there had been 1 partial assurance audit, which was for Data Protection as detailed on page 13 of the agenda.

She advised that summary of priority recommendations had reduced as detailed on page 14 of the agenda.

She informed members that the figures stated on page 17 had increased slightly since the report had been written and that the audit plan was now closer to completion.

RESOLVED:  that members noted the report.

The Assistant Director, SWAP, presented her report to members. She advised that a summary of the internal audit programme could be found on page 29 of the agenda. She explained that the audit which was detailed within the report to be in progress, was the Data Protection Audit, had now been completed.

She further advised that work had commenced on the following audits;

·         Yeovil Cemetery and Crematorium Accounts

·         Cyber Security

·         Records Management

·         Organised Crime Checklist.

She explained that there were some changes to the Audit Plan which were detailed on page 33 of the agenda. These included the removal of Elections and the Scheme of Delegation from the plan. She advised that the Risk Management Follow Up had been referred; however she would be discussing this with the Senior Leadership Team as a priority.

She advised members that the Partial Opinion list, which included Data Protection, would be looked at in quarter 3 of the plan with the involvement of the Procurement and Risk Manager and the Fraud and Data Manager.

In response to a member’s question, the Assistant Director SWAP confirmed that the Cyber Security Audit was ongoing.  

RESOLVED:  that members noted the report.

The Assistant Director SWAP, presented her report to members. She advised that this report had previously been reviewed at the Audit Committee meeting which had been held in March. She advised that the only updates to the Internal Audit Charter were to reflect the recent staffing change to the S151 Officer.

On being put to the vote, it was unanimously agreed that the Internal Audit Charter should be approved.

RESOLVED:  that the 2017/18 Internal Audit Charter be approved as detailed in the agenda.

The Arts and Entertainment Manager presented the report to members. He explained that the project was near to completion and advised that a further update report would be presented to the next District Executive meeting.

In response to a question from a member, the Arts and Entertainment Manager advised that a fire officer had visited the complex to agree the fire safety of the building. He agreed that he would seek confirmation that the other buildings such as the cricket pavilion had also been agreed with the fire officer.

RESOLVED:  members noted the report.

The Principal Accountant summarised her report for members. She pointed out that the report detailed how investments had been preforming.

Following the short discussion, members agreed to note the contents of the report.

RESOLVED:  that members noted the report.

The S151 Officer presented his report to members. He explained that this was an annual report, the contents of which were an important part of the control framework.

He suggested that there had been good structure in the approach to the Annual Government Statement and had been collated from a variety of sources. He advised members that the review had not identified anything major.

Following the short discussion, it was proposed and seconded that the Annual Governance Statement be approved.

On being put to the vote, this was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED:  that the 2016/17 Annual Governance Statement be approved as per the agenda report.

(Voting: Unanimous)

The S151 Officer presented his report to members. He highlighted the criteria set out on page 82 of the agenda. He advised members that overall performance was good and that there had been notable improvements.

He summarised the Service Standards which were detailed on page 83 of the agenda. He pointed out that training had been provided earlier in the year.

He advised members that items listed in the Action Plan were in progress.

The S151 Officer thanked the SWAP Assistant for the teams’ hard work.

RESOLVED:  that members noted the report.

The Assistant Director, SWAP, suggested that the Internal Audit – First Quarter Monitoring report was to be moved to the September meeting. This would allow the report to include Quarter 2 Monitoring within the report.

It was further suggested by the S151 Officer that the Debt Write Off Report and the Treasury Management report be included on the agenda for the September meeting and he requested that the External Audit – VFM report be removed from the Forward Plan.

It was agreed that the August Audit Committee meeting would be cancelled.

RESOLVED:  that the Forward Plan be approved, subject to the amendments agreed and that the August meeting of the Audit Committee be cancelled.