Meeting documents

Councillors are required to comply with requirements of the council’s Code of Conduct 2012 regarding disclosable pecuniary interests and non pecuniary interests which means you should:

Check if there is an item of business on this agenda in which you have a disclosable pecuniary interest or non pecuniary disclosable interest.

Check that your interest has been entered, where appropriate, onto your register of interests held by the Monitoring Officer.

If the interest is not entered in the council’s register of interests disclose, where appropriate, the interest at the meeting.  If pecuniary and in the absence of a dispensation to speak and/or vote, you must leave the meeting whilst the item is debated and resolved.  You must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

If the interest is non pecuniary you can stay in the room, take part and vote.

For further advice please contact Stuart Caudle, Monitoring Officer, in advance of the meeting.

The Strategic Director and Head of Financial Services both declared an interest as Directors of SWAP until 31 March 2019.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting, previously circulated.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 3 December 2018 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

The report summarises the work of Internal Audit for the 2018/19 Audit Plan and provides a schedule summarising the audits completed since the last update to Audit Committee.

Members received and considered a report which summarised the work of Internal Audit for the 2018/19 Audit Plan and provided a schedule summarising the audits completed since the last update to the committee.

Members considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, the following points were raised:

·                In response to a question raised it was noted that there was not currently any specific internal audit work related to the construction industry scheme within the plan for the new Dorset Council but that this could be considered

·                With regard to people engaged by limited liability companies, the SWAP representative confirmed that within the internal audit plan for Dorset Council, a review of compliance with IR35 was included which would hopefully satisfy this point

·                In response to a point raised with regard to issues with IT associated with the land charges service, the Strategic Director noted that the situation with the land charges service had been more than just an IT issue.  It had been more closely related to how the service had previously been organised, the level of manual tasks within the service and how land charges accessed information from the planning service.  Transforming land charges into a digital service had provided benefits to the existing councils and also to Dorset Council moving forward.  Lessons had been learnt for planning services for the future.  It was recognised that the land charges service had been turned around

·                The Chair referred to some pages of the agenda where the information had not been published clearly.  Updated pages were made available to members at the meeting.  The SWAP representative confirmed that the information affected was related to reviews of council tax and NNDR, where there was a high (substantial) level of assurance

·                In response to a question on the issue of empty homes, the Assistant Director of SWAP confirmed that this was not specifically covered in this report, but it was noted that there were no concerns from SWAP in this area, from an internal audit perspective.

The Chairman thanked SWAP for their work with the committee.

To present the External Audit Plan 2018/19 from Deloittes, the external auditor for all three councils within the Dorset Councils Partnership.

The committee received and considered a report from Deloittes, the external auditor for all three councils within the Dorset Councils Partnership, to present the External Audit Plan 2018/19.

Members considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                In response to a question, the representative of Deloittes confirmed that they undertook existence testing and would visit properties to confirm that they were in good use

·                The Chair noted that the previous external auditor had produced a regular report with regard to signing off journals.  In response, the representative of Deloittes suggested that this be implemented and it was noted that there were other controls that could be put in place to override the need for dual signatories

·                A point was raised with regard to a specific piece of work undertaken by the previous external auditor following a request by a Weymouth and Portland elector.  The Strategic Director noted that this was being followed up with the previous external auditor and a response would be provided to the elector

·                In response to a question, the representative of Deloittes noted that they undertook analytical testing of journals and looked at materiality.

To consider any items of business which the Chair has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.  The reason for the urgency shall be specified in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph   X  of schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended)

There are no exempt items

There was no exempt business.

The Chairman thanked all members for their work on the committee.  She also wished to recognise the efforts of the officers for their work in this area, their support to the committee and the delivery of savings and value for money for council tax payers.  This view was echoed by other members.

The Strategic Director thanked the committee for the work they had done.