Venue: Committee Room A/B, South Walks House, South Walks Road, Dorchester, DT1 1EE
Contact: Lindsey Watson 01305 252209 - Email: lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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To confirm the minutes of the
meeting held on 28 June 2019. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting
held on 28 June 2019 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct
record. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations
of interest. Minutes: There were no declarations of
interest. |
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Public Participation To receive questions or
statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and
members of the public. Minutes: There were no representations
from town and parish councils or members of the public. |
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Urgent items To consider any items of
business which the Chairman 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 recorded in the minutes. Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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Outturn Report 2018/19 PDF 372 KB To consider the Outturn
Report for 2018/19. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
committee received a report which contained financial performance and position
information for Dorset Council’s six predecessor authorities for the year ended
31 March 2019. The report summarised the
performance against budget and the impact this had had on each council’s
closing position. It also set out the
impact of the outturn and other relevant events on general balances, other
reserves and the financial position transferring to Dorset Council on 1 April
2019. In
addition, the report described work in progress to transition the six sovereign
councils’ financial positions into a single system and a target date for
achieving this. A
presentation was provided at the meeting which outlined the key aspects of the
approval process. Councillors
considered the issues arising from the report and presentation and during
discussion the following points were raised: ·
The Executive Director of Corporate Development provided an update on
staffing relevant to the Finance area and paid tribute to officers for the work
they had done in preparing the accounts for the former Councils ·
Councillor Peter Wharf attended the committee in the absence of the
Finance, Commercial and Assets Portfolio Holder ·
The role of the Audit and Governance Committee was to seek assurance
that the organisation had a proportionate and appropriate level of governance
in place for the preparation of the accounts, which included an internal and
external audit process. At the meeting,
councillors had the opportunity to ask questions of the auditor before a
decision was taken to sign off the accounts ·
There were a number of qualifications from the External Auditor in some
of the accounts and the committee had to make a judgement as to how the
recommendations would be taken forward.
It was noted that not all accounts could be signed off at this meeting
as there were elements of audit work to be completed ·
Feedback was also sought from the committee with regard to the process
generally and the information required by councillors, which would feed into
next year’s process ·
A question was asked with regard to the transfer of reserves from the
former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to Weymouth Town Council. In response it was confirmed that a number of
reserves had been shared with the town council and that the Shadow Executive
Committee had agreed to transfer £0.5m to the town council. Some general funding had been set aside for
the setting up of the town council with some additional funding earmarked for
specific items ·
A similar point was raised with regard to Portland Town Council and this
would be picked up following the meeting ·
In respect of the External Audit report for Dorset County Council, the
External Auditor had concluded that expenditure had not been materially
mis-stated ·
A discussion was held with regard to the figures given in the External
Audit report for academies and it was confirmed that the reports contained a
best estimate for deficits associated with academies. Evidence would need to be given to Cabinet in
respect of this · Reference was made to ... view the full minutes text for item 10. |
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To receive the Internal Audit
Annual Opinion Reports 2018/19 for Dorset County Council, Dorset Councils
Partnership, Purbeck District Council and East Dorset District Council. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
committee was presented with the Internal Audit Annual Opinion Reports for
2018/19 for the predecessor councils comprising Dorset County Council (DCC),
Dorset Councils Partnership (DCP), Purbeck District Council (PDC) and East
Dorset District Council (EDDC). It was
noted that South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) had delivered the Internal Audit
services for both DCC and DCP and as such had provided the annual audit
opinions contained within the reports for these predecessor councils. The audit opinions for PDC and EDDC had been
provided by legacy staff working for those Councils and had been included for
reference and completeness purposes. They did not form part of SWAP’s internal
audit annual opinion. The
overall internal audit assurance opinion for the year, for both the former
Dorset County Council (DCC) and Dorset Councils Partnership (DCP) was
‘Reasonable’, in line with previous years. A caveat was provided to this, in that
there were a number of key areas of Children’s Services that over the course of
the year internal audit were unable to complete audit work, and therefore could
only provide limited assurance over this area The
Assistant Director highlighted some key areas from the DCC annual opinion
report, including details of two significant risks highlighted by internal
audit within the 2018/19 year, as well as four recommendations that had been
‘risk accepted’ by management. Members
considered the issues arising from the report and a point was raised with
regard to instances where there was a differing view between Internal Audit
(SWAP) and External Audit (Deloitte) in
relation to financial reviews at the former DCP . In response it was noted that Internal Audit
and External Audit would approach work with a different scope and that there
were some issues that External Audit would cover and there would not be an
expectation that these areas would be covered by Internal Audit. In response to a question, it
was noted that there may be a need for a future internal audit review of high cost placements. |
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Dorset Council - Report of Internal Audit Activity - Plan Progress 2019/20 - July 2019 PDF 1 MB To receive a report of the
South West Audit Partnership. Minutes: The committee received the
South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) Report of Internal Audit Activity – Plan
Progress report for 2019/20. Members noted a number of outstanding
recommendations in respect of IT data
handling and it was noted that this reinforced how much work was required in
the area of IT. In response to a question regarding the amount of
audit (both internal and external audit) savings achieved through the creation
of Dorset Council, it was noted that the new Authority would see annual savings
of £183,000 in respect of audit work. |
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Draft Audit and Governance Committee Work Programme PDF 268 KB To consider the draft Audit
and Governance Committee Work Programme for 2019/20. To note the following
additional reserve dates for the Audit and Governance Committee for 2019/20: 14 October 2019 7 November 2019 16 January 2020 11 February 2020 23 April 2020 Minutes: Members noted the draft work
programme for the Audit and Governance Committee for 2019/20, which set out the
items to be considered at each meeting. Members noted that the following
additional reserve dates for the committee had been put in place for 2019/20: 14 October 2019 7 November 2019 16 January 2020 11 February 2020 23 April 2020 |
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Exempt Business 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
12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will
be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered. There is no exempt
business. Minutes: There was no exempt
business. |