Name

Minute No. and Subject

Reason

Interest

Councillor Martin Leaves

Minute 16 Statement of Accounts 2008-09

Relative employed by Plymouth City Bus Ltd

Personal

Councillor Sam Leaves

Minute 16 Statement of Accounts 2008-09

Relative employed by Plymouth City Bus Ltd

Personal

Councillor Vincent

Minute 16 Statement of Accounts 2008-09

Relative employed by Plymouth City Bus Ltd

Personal

(i)

the audit was substantially completed although procedures were being finalised in the following areas –

(a)

audit of the Group accounts, to include reviewing the responses from the external auditors of group organisations, which have been requested to be received before 18 September 2009; 

(b)

 receipt and review of the letter of representations;

(c)

 review of the final version of the statement of accounts;

(d)

updating the post balance sheet events review to the date of signing the accounts;

(ii)

with regard to (i) a. above, the Group accounts included organisations that the Council had significant interest in which included the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferries, the Theatre Royal and Plymouth City Bus Ltd; the Group accounts were unable to be signed off until confirmation had been received that their accounts were fair and accurate;

(iii)

the external auditor for Plymouth City Bus Ltd, PricewaterhouseCooopers, had a number of concerns that had currently not been addressed and until such time as these were, Grant Thornton would be unable to provide an opinion on the Group accounts; this may result in the statutory deadline of 30 September 2009 for signing off the accounts being missed (the Audit Commission had been made aware of this position);

(iv)

officers had only been made aware of this position at a very late stage; in order to prevent this situation from arising in future years, work would be undertaken with the subsidiary organisations to ensure any delays were notified in a timely manner.

(a)

a risk review of senior officers’ expenses had been undertaken;

(b)

credit ratings of those companies the Council had investments in were monitored on a daily basis; the Treasury Management Board met on a weekly basis, in order to respond to changes more promptly; information on the credit ratings could be made available to Committee Members;

(c)

it was possible that the Council’s late submission of its accounts, due to the information awaited from Plymouth City Bus Ltd, may have an impact on its assessment scores;

(d)

there were no concerns relating to the accounts of Plymouth City Bus Ltd but the information awaited would demonstrate whether the organisation was a going concern;

(e)

although in previous years there had been problems with the provision of information from Plymouth City Bus Ltd, a meeting had been held in January 2009, where clear expectations had been set out;

(f)

although usage records of vans were kept, the Council was currently investigating the purchase of a tracker system;

(g)

an action plan on the Use of Resources would be submitted to a future Committee meeting.

?

Debtors/Creditors

?

Government Grants Deferred Account

?

Icelandic Bank Investments

?

Pension Liability

?

Post Balance Sheet Event

(1)

subject to Grant Thornton receiving confirmation from Plymouth City Bus Ltd’s external auditors that they were able to provide an unqualified opinion on Plymouth City Bus Ltd’s financial statement, the Audit Committee delegate authority to the Director for Corporate Support in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair to approve Plymouth City Council’s Statement of Accounts 2008-09;

(2)

if Grant Thornton received a qualified opinion on Plymouth City Bus Ltd’s financial statement, the Audit Committee would re-convene prior to the authorizations of Plymouth City Council’s Statement of Accounts 2008-09.

(i)

the minutes of the Operational Risk Management Group were submitted to the senior and council management teams;

(ii)

by inviting Directors to attend future Committee meetings, this would provide a perspective of what was happening at ground level and also demonstrate that the Committee took this matter seriously.

(1)

the progress made with the development of the new approach to operational risk management is noted;

(2)

copies of the Operational Risk Management Group’s minutes are circulated to Committee Members;

(3)

Directors are requested to attend future meetings of the Audit Committee to provide feedback on the operational risk management within their departments.

(i)

summarised the work carried out during 2008/09 to develop the Council’s approach to risk management and covered -

?

Corporate and Operational Risk Management Groups

?

Risk Registers

?

Performance Management and Business Planning

?

Code of Corporate Governance

?

Statement on Internal Control/Annual Governance Statement

?

CPA Use of Resources Assessment

?

Comprehensive Area Assessment

(ii)

provided information on the focus of proposed risk management activity over the next twelve months following the transition from Comprehensive Performance Assessment of local government to Comprehensive Area Assessment in April 2009. 

(1)

the report is noted;

(2)

a member of the Policy and Performance unit is invited to attend a future Committee meeting to demonstrate the ‘ePerform’ system.

(1)

for December 2009 to September 2010 is noted;

(2)

includes the following items for the January 2010 meeting –

(a)

how the Audit Committee links to the decision-making process of the Council;

(b)

the provision of training.