Meeting documents

SSDC Audit Committee
Thursday, 22nd March, 2018 10.00 am

Venue: Main Committee Room, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil. View directions

Contact: Kelly Wheeler, Case Services Officer (Support Services) - 01935 462038  Email: kelly.wheeler@southsomerset.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

76.

Minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 February 2018.

Minutes:

In the absence of the Chairman, nominations for a Member to act as Chairman for the duration of the meeting were received.

 

Members proposed that Councillor Mike Best act as Chairman.

 

It was unanimously agreed that Councillor Mike Best would act as Chairman.

 

The minutes of the previous meeting, held on Thursday 22nd February, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

 

 

 

77.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies of absence were received from Councillors Jason Baker, Val Keitch, Tony Lock and Carol Goodall.

78.

Declarations of Interest

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. 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest; however Councillor Anna Groskop and Councillor Mike Best advised that they were also Somerset County Council councillors.

79.

Public question time

Minutes:

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

80.

Date of next meeting

Councillors are requested to note that the next Audit Committee meeting is scheduled to be held at 10.00am on 26 April 2018 in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way, Yeovil.

Minutes:

Members noted that the date of the next meeting was scheduled for 10am on Thursday 26th April in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way, Yeovil.

81.

2018/19 SWAP Internal Audit Plan pdf icon PDF 169 KB

Minutes:

Laura Wicks, Senior Auditor SWAP, presented her report to members. She also introduced Alastair Woodland, the new SWAP Assistant Director.

 

She referred to the Quarter 3 Internal Audit Plan 2017/18 Progress Report which was included in last month’s agenda. She explained that the Cyber Security audit report which was highlighted in the Significant Findings had now been re-written to provide greater clarification, following comments from Members. She explained that the recommendation by the IT auditor was that following a system issue, a root cause analysis should be carried out to rule out any cyber-attack and subsequent further risk to data, before bringing the systems back on line.

 

The Case Services Officer – Support Services, agreed to circulate this amendment to Members.

 

She referred members to the covering report on page 5 of the agenda report which summarised the plan. She explained that this had been developed with the help of the section 151 Officer, the Finance Specialist and the Chief Executive Officer.

 

She clarified that income generation was included within the plan under the Commercial Strategy audit.

 

She responded to questions from Members.

 

In response to a question about the Transformation Project and the associated risks, the Strategy and Commissioning Director advised that the Transformation Lead maintains a register of risks identified. She also advised that it was not all staff going through phase 2 and 3 of the Transformation Project as some staff are out of scope and others had already been through the selection in phase 1 (in 2017). She agreed to provide Members with details of the numbers of agency staff which were currently being employed by SSDC, to include the areas where they are working.

 

Following the discussion, members agreed to approve the SWAP internal audit plan. On being put to the vote, this was carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED:  that members agreed to approve the SWAP internal audit plan.

 

(Voting: unanimous)

82.

Internal Audit Charter 2018-19 pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Senior Auditor, SWAP, presented her report to members. She advised that the report was in a similar format to the report presented last year and that any changes had been clearly highlighted within the report.

 

Following the short discussion, members agreed to note the report. On being put to the vote, this was carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED:  that members agreed to note the Internal Audit Charter 2018-19.

 

(Voting: unanimous)

83.

Accounting Policies for 2017/18 Statement of Accounts pdf icon PDF 25 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Finance Specialist presented her report to members. She explained that the report was presented to the Audit Committee annually. She also advised that there would be some financial statement training for Members following the June Audit Committee meeting.

 

She responded to questions from members.

 

One member advised that they would like to see a copy of the HR Redundancy Policy. The Case Officer – Support Services agreed to circulate a copy of this policy with the minutes.

 

RESOLVED:  that members noted the report.

84.

Audit Committee Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 21 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that members noted the Audit Committee Forward Plan.