Meeting documents

SCC Audit Committee
Thursday, 28th July, 2022 10.30 am

Venue: Luttrell Room - County Hall, Taunton. View directions

Contact: Pam Pursley: Email: ppursley@somerset.gov.uk or 01823 357628  Stephanie Gold: Email: stephanie.gold@somerset.gov.uk or 01823 357628

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

?Cllr Peter Clayton?(Substituted by Cllr Steve Ashton) Cllr Jeny Snell, Cllr Habib Farbahi (substituted by Cllr Simon Coles)  

2.

Declarations of Interest

Details of all Members’ interests in District, Town and Parish Councils can be viewed on the Council Website at

County Councillors membership of Town, City, Parish or District Councils and this will be displayed in the meeting room (Where relevant).

 

The Statutory Register of Member’s Interests can be inspected via request to the Democratic Service Team.

 

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest from members. 

3.

Minutes from the last meeting pdf icon PDF 86 KB

The Committee is asked to confirm the minutes are accurate.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as a correct record. 

4.

Public Question Time

The Chairman will allow members of the public to present a petition on any matter within the Committee’s remit. Questions or statements about any matter on the agenda for this meeting will be taken at the time when each matter is considered.

Minutes:

The Chairman informed the committee that there was a member of the public who wanted to ask some questions but did not submit those in time for committee. He advised that he had sent a full written response to those questions prior to the meeting. 

(Please note the Chairman suggested and the committee agreed to take agenda item 6 before agenda item 5)

5.

Annual Audit Opinion from SWAP pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To consider this report.

Minutes:

David Hill from SWAP presented the report. He began by explaining that this report is about how well governance and risk operates within the authority. He added that it is a balanced view of how management controls have been operating in the year 21/22. He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Internal Audit Update pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To consider this report.

Minutes:

David Hill, CEO of Southwest Audit Partnershippresented the Report of Internal Audit Activity 21/22. He began by informing members that there are some similarities in Items 5 and 6 but these reports would not usually be presented in the same month. Due to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

External Audit Update pdf icon PDF 4 MB

To consider this report.

Minutes:

Barrie Morris fromGrant Thornton presented the report and highlighted the following key points. 

·                     Page 58 is an Introduction to audits and the four significant risks –  

 

1.             Revenue transactions 

2.             Management override of controls 

3.             Valuation of land and buildings 

4.         Valuation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

External Audit Plan for the Council and Pension Fund pdf icon PDF 4 MB

To consider this report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

JulieMasci, Engagement Lead from Grant Thorntonpresented the report. She advised members that the Pension fund plan follows the same structure as the main council audit.  

The following key points were highlighted to members. 

·                     Page 108 identifies  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Risk Management Update pdf icon PDF 51 KB

To consider this report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Pam Pursley introduced herself as Risk manager, a role she was returning to after a period working in democratic services. She explained that the document was essentially a risk management pathway which includes strategy, policy, and process documentation. The report outlines how S  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) pdf icon PDF 77 KB

To consider this report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Scott Wooldridge Head of Governance and Democratic Services presented the report and highlighted the following key points to the audit committee: 

·                     It is the committee’s role to review and comment on the Annual Governance Statement 

·                     The Annual Governance Statement is a statutory requirement. 

·                     Page  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Committee Future Work Programme pdf icon PDF 39 KB

To consider this report.

Minutes:

Members were asked to consider the future work programme.  

Jason Vaughan (Head of finance and S151 officer) talked though work programme and asked members for any questions or comments. 

·                     Cllr Chilcottasked if the additionalrisk papers that had been requested under agenda item 9 would be coming to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Any other urgent items of business

The Chairman may raise any items of urgent business.

Minutes:

There were no other items of business.