Agenda and draft minutes

The Audit Findings Report and Management Representation Letter were presented by Laura Hinsley Bethany Hincks & from the External Auditors.

    The Auditors updated the committee on the following:

·       In October the Auditors became aware of a conflict of interest that has the potential to impair independence as external auditors, consulted with regulators and consensus has been reached that we need to resign as external auditors following the completion of the 23/24 audit.  The Chief Executive & S151 officer have agreed that they consider the auditors to be independent for 23/24 and Councillors also agreed in the meeting.

Members sought clarity on the following:

·       £955,000 in the financial statements which belong to parks and assets that have not been identified for many years following this audit have you asked for that to be looked at and balanced so that next time around we do know where that comes from?

·       we could provide a list of the parks and all the other plots of land, what we couldn't give is a breakdown of that £955k to individual assets. We are working to getting a breakdown that provides a split of the overall value.  Assets are confident that they can point out where all those assets are and all those plots of land are on the mapping system and making sure we've got that complete list and we can identify the individual parts of land and say exactly where that is and what the value of that is individually

·       Management was unable to provide evidence of the £242,000 pounds of a section 106 Grant now it says that the balances relate to a pre 1997 receipts and we are now including planning permission and

references to the GL account and codes and they should not happen in the future, should not or will not?

  - Because of the system used was replaced and due to the way it was coded on the ledger previously we don’t have an audit trail to actually go back to say we know this amount came from a particular development.  The code description now includes the planning permission reference so it’s easier to tie back

Resolved

that the Committee

approved the Audit Findings Report and approved the Management Representation Letter.

(Moved by Councillor C Bain and seconded by Councillor P Turner)

Resolved

that the committee:

Noted the report and provides observations on the content;

Noted that a further report providing details of progress to date and a planned completion date for each of the outstanding recommendations is brought to the next committee meeting.

(Moved by Councillor A Wells and seconded by Councillor S Doyle)

·          

An update of counter fraud work completed this financial year, including an updated fraud action and fraud risk register;

·          

A refreshed and updated Counter Fraud & Corruption Strategy;

·          

A refreshed and updated Whistleblowing Policy; and

·          

A refreshed and updated Anti Money Laundering Policy

Resolved

that the Committee

1.

Endorse this update report including the updated fraud action plan at Appendix 1 and the fraud risk register at Appendix 2

2.

Endorse the refreshed Counter Fraud & Corruption Policy Strategy at Appendix 3.

3.

Endorse the refreshed Whistleblowing Policy at Appendix 4

4.

Endorse the refreshed Anti Money Laundering Policy at Appendix 5.

(Moved by Councillor P Turner and seconded by Councillor C Bain)

Resolved

that the Committee:

 Approved the Internal Audit’s Quarterly Progress Report (Q2)

(Moved by Councillor C Bain seconded by Councillor S Doyle)

Resolved

that Committee:

1.

approved the Annual Statement of Accounts 2023/24;

2.

delegated authority to the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee in conjunction with the S151 Officer to approve any changes and re-sign the accounts, if necessary, once the audit is concluded by the external auditors.

(Moved by Councillor M Couchman and seconded by Councillor C Bain)

Resolved

that the Committee:

Endorsed the Corporate Risk Register

(Moved by Councillor S Doyle and seconded by Councillor M Couchman)

Resolved

that the Committee:

note the waivers approved to the procurement processes as set out in the Council’s Financial Guidance.

(Moved by Councillor A Wells and seconded by Councillor M Couchman)

Resolved

that the Committee:

1.

Endorsed the contents of the report

2.

Approved the activities detailed in the future developments section of this report for implementation.

(Moved by Councillor C Bain and seconded by Councillor M Couchman)