Venue: Committee Room A, Town Hall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RS
Contact: Emily Metcalf Democratic Services Officer
No. | Item |
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Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence as reported at the meeting. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Independent Member Hough and from Parish Councillor Mackenzie. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest by Members in items on the agenda.
For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Notification of Visiting Members wishing to speak (in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 18): Members should indicate which item(s) they wish to speak on and the nature of their concern/question/request for clarification. Minutes: No notifications of any visiting members wishing to speak had been received. |
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Minutes of the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee dated 22 September 2015 PDF 128 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee dated 22 September 2015 were submitted.
Independent Member Mr Quigley asked whether, concerning member complaints, a small group could be formed to examine the process and make it quicker and fairer. Mr Scarborough, Head of Legal Partnership, said that he would be happy to have an informal discussion with a small group from the Audit and Governance Committee over complaint procedures.
The Chairman, Councillor Horwood, wished to point out that the current procedures followed strict legislation, and had to be cost-effective too, which meant that more administrative input, for example, may not be the best solution. Mr Quigley argued that having an external perspective on the procedure could make it less onerous and expensive. Mr Scarborough confirmed that he would be happy to discuss the procedures.
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee dated 22 September 2015 be approved as a correct record. |
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Update on Member Complaints PDF 138 KB Minutes: Mr Scarborough, Head of Legal Partnership, presented the Update on Member Complaints report. He said that there was one outstanding complaint from the last meeting, and that no breach of conduct had been found on this occasion.
Mr Scarborough then said that since the last meeting, three new complaints had been received. He said that the first complaint would not be pursued without a response, which he had not yet received. He then said that he had carried out an assessment of the second complaint with the new Independent Person, but that no breach had been found. Regarding the third complaint, Mr Scarborough said that he wrote to the complainant and had recently received a response, which he would be assessing in detail in the week following the meeting.
RESOLVED:
That the update on complaints received under the Member’s Code of Conduct be noted. |
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Interim Internal Audit Report PDF 88 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Mr Clarke, Head of Audit Partnership, presented the Interim Internal Audit Report for 2015/16. He said that he would report to Members about how to implement new decisions in the new year, and wished to thank Members for their help.
He highlighted that two areas were assessed as weak: data protection and declarations of interests regarding officers. He said that the Council had worked with the legal services to have new procedures put in place by the new year, which would then lead to the decision of whether or not to upgrade the assurance ratings.
Independent Member Mr Quigley said that the report was reassuring, but that the absence of attempts to carry out fraud was not the same as succeeding in thwarting the attempts. Mr Clarke responded that there had been no serious successful attempts, and that attempts would not be successful at the Council unless its controls failed further down the line, such as through human error.
Independent Member Mr Hedges noted that data protection was weak, but said that actions had not been carried out to address this, and asked when this would happen. Mr Clarke replied that three out of four of the actions would be completed by 31 December 2015, and one by 30 May 2016, adding that they would revisit the assurance rating in January/February 2016 if these actions were successful.
Mr Hedges asked whether these dates were acceptable, and whether the actions were likely to be achieved by 31 December. Mr Clarke replied that he was confident these would be successful, especially as some of them had already been undertaken.
Mr Colyer said that he was now responsible for data protection, and that the report did not identify that data protection had failed, only that it needed improvement. He said that issues had already been addressed through raising awareness amongst staff of what a breach was, capturing all breaches, and ensuring that staff reported breaches to improve the process. He added that an officer from each team, with members from the legal and IT departments too, came together on a regular basis to tackle issues and strengthen protection.
Mr Hedges claimed that this was very reassuring, and asked about staff training. Mr Colyer confirmed that the Council did need to improve training, but had already been proactive in circulating breach guidance to all staff. Mr Hedges asked whether staff underwent certification, to which Mr Colyer said that they used to, but that the Council was currently working on improving awareness until a new training contract was found, as the previous one had recently expired. He said that they could learn from the partnership authorities too.
Independent Member Mr Shiels asked how much reassurance there was that other members of the partnership treated information in the same way that Tunbridge Wells did. Mr Colyer replied that a key part of the Information Governance group was the MKIP IT team, which aided that function as many attacks were IT-based, and so this helped to ensure ... view the full minutes text for item AG30/15 |
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Annual Audit Letter PDF 104 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Mr Colyer, Director of Finance and Corporate Services, presented the Annual Audit Letter for 2014/5. He commented that the findings by Grant Thornton were good, and provided a clean bill of health for the Council, demonstrating that their service was good value for money and the correct procedure was in place.
Independent Member Mr Hedges asked whether there was a fee on top of the audit fee for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for the Mid-Kent Partnership. Mr Colyer replied that the audit fee covered all work on the financial statement, so where Mid Kent Audit undertook work on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council systems, this was already accounted for.
Councillor Chapelard pointed out that a senior member of the Local Government Association had said that it was hard to prove that local authorities were offering good value for money, and asked how the Council could make sure that they were doing so. Mr Wells replied that auditors had been charged to date to focus on financial resilience, but now it was more about value for money, which encompassed using resources sustainably and working appropriately with stakeholders.
RESOLVED:
That the Annual Audit Letter be considered and approved. |
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External Audit Progress Report PDF 90 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Mr Wells presented the External Audit Progress Report to the committee, outlining an update from Grant Thornton on the progress of their work.
RESOLVED:
That the External Audit Progress Report be noted. |
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Certification of Grant Claims PDF 92 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Mr Colyer presented a report regarding the Certification of Grant Claims in 2014/15. He commented that the Council were managing errors well, as they were very minor.
The Chairman, Councillor Horwood, wished to thank the audit and benefits staff for their work in this matter.
RESOLVED:
That the certification work report be noted. |
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Appointment of Independent Member to the Constitution Review Working Party PDF 92 KB Minutes: The Chairman, Councillor Horwood, announced to the committee the requirement of an appointment of an Independent Member to the Constitution Review Working Party.
He stated that the previous Chairman, Mr Max Lewis, was confident and competent in his role, and he wished to thank him, but as his term had come to an end, a new chairman had to be appointed. Councillor Horwood added that he would ideally like someone who had been serving for a long time on the committee to volunteer for the position.
Mr Quigley volunteered, and Councillor Horwood put the appointment to the committee.
RESOLVED:
That Independent Member Mr Quigley be appointed as Chairman of the Constitution Review Working Party. |
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Future Work Programme 2015-2016 PDF 148 KB Minutes: The Committee’s work programme was presented for members’ information.
Mr Quigley said that members should have the opportunity to speak to the owners of strategic risks at meetings. Councillor Horwood and Mr Colyer confirmed that this could be arranged for future meetings.
RESOLVED:
That, with the addition of the attendance of strategic risk owners at every meeting, the work programme be noted. |