Agenda and minutes
Venue: Virtual Meeting - Zoom. View directions
Contact: Democratic Services
Media
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Minutes from the previous meeting PDF 218 KB The Committee is asked to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 22nd September 2020.
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Disclosures of pecuniary and personal interests Minutes: No disclosures were made. |
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Questions under other committee procedures 12.8 No questions were submitted. Minutes: No questions had been submitted.
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External Audit - 2019/20 Annual Governance Report PDF 1 MB A report of the External Auditors.
Report to follow. Minutes: A report of the External Auditors was submitted summarising the key issues identified during the External Auditor’s audit of the Council’s financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2020 (item 5 on the agenda filed with these minutes).
Mark Surridge and Victoria Gittings, representing the External Auditors, attended the meeting to assist with the consideration of the item.
The committee was advised in the External Auditors presentation and in response to questions that:
It was agreed that as the External Auditors’ report had been made available to Members at short notice, that officers were to collate any further questions from Members arising from consideration of the report, to then be responded to outside of the meeting.
RESOLVED that the report be noted
Reason
To acknowledge the Committee’s consideration of this item.
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Annual Statement of Accounts 2019-20 PDF 2 MB A report of the Head of Financial Services.
Report to follow. Additional documents: Minutes: A report of the Head of Financial Services was submitted setting out the Council’s Statement of Accounts 2019/20 (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).
It was noted that there was an error on page 24 of the Statement under ‘Note 6 – Expenditure and Income Analysed by Nature - Support services 2019/20’ and that it be amended from £17,751 to £17,953 before the Statement was published.
The Strategic Director, Environmental and Corporate Services, the Head of Strategic Support and the Head of Financial Services attended the meeting to assist with the consideration of this item.
Queries were raised by Councillor Parsons in relation to the following areas;
RESOLVED
1. That authority to agree the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020, be delegated to the Strategic Director, Environmental and Corporate Services in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair, for the accounts to then be signed by the Chair on behalf of the Audit Committee, and;
2. This be subject to the queries raised by Councillor Parsons being addressed to his satisfaction outside of the meeting, and for any adjustments being made to the Statement following the correction in Note 6 and the final audit of the pension fund being completed.
3. That the letter of Representation, as per Appendix B, be approved for signature by the Chief Financial Officer.
Reasons
1,2&3 To comply with the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015.
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Annual Governance Statement 2019/20 and Review of the Code of Corporate Governance PDF 301 KB A report of the Head of Strategic Support. Minutes: Having re-established a stable internet connection, Mr Angell resumed the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.
A report of the Head of Strategic Support was submitted setting out the Annual Governance Statement 2019/20 and the results of the annual review of the Council’s Code of Corporate Governance (item 7 on the agenda filed with these minutes).
The Head of Strategic Support attended the meeting to assist with the consideration of this item.
The Committee agreed that at point 13 of the Annual Governance Statement, the following sentence be amended to read
“continued issues with staff turnover and recruitment delays persisted well into the 2019 / 20 financial year, and, which combined with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak at the year end resulted in the internal audit programme not being completed by the year end”.
RESOLVED
1. that the Annual Governance Statement, as included in the Statement of Accounts be approved, subject to the agreed amendment at point 13.
2. that the Code of Corporate Governance, as attached as an appendix to the report be approved.
Reasons
1. So that the Annual Governance Statement can be finalised and signed by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive in accordance with the required timescales.
2. To ensure that the Code of Corporate Governance is kept up to date and complies with best practice.
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Report of the Head of Strategic Support. Minutes: A report of the Head of Strategic Support was submitted to enable the Committee to consider its work programme (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes).
The Committee’s attention was drawn to the new layout of the work programme, which listed all items by order of the date on they would be considered, in order to clearly present which items would be considered at subsequent meetings.
RESOLVED that the Committee proceeds on the basis of the current work programme as submitted during this meeting, which incorporates all decisions made at this meeting.
Reason
To enable the Committee to identify future items of business and enable planning for future meetings to be undertaken, for example preparing reports and arranging for the attendance of officers and/or others at meetings.
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