Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

The following declaration of interest was made in accordance with the Code of Conduct -

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 11 December, 2009, and 5 February, 2010.

Resolved that the minutes of the meetings held on 11 December, 2009, and 5 February, 2010, be confirmed as correct records.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent business.

The Committee will receive a presentation on Project Management Arrangements.

The Head of Capital and Assets was in attendance to present details of the arrangements which had been put in place to –

·        improve the control of projects

·        control the steps a project must follow

·        deliver successful outcomes

·        review projects post-delivery

The Committee was advised that –

In response to questions raised, Members were advised that –

The Committee welcomed the presentation and thanked the Head of Capital and Assets for his attendance.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership will submit the Internal Audit Plan for 2010/11.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership submitted the Internal Audit Plan for 2010/11.  The report –

·        detailed information on the legislative requirements for local authorities to provide an Internal Audit service in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2006;

·        commented on delivery of the Council’s Internal Audit provision by Devon Audit Partnership;

·        contained details of the specific audit reviews to be undertaken, identified the number of days required for this work to be carried out and highlighted the resources available to do it

The External Auditor commented that, whilst the plan was good in respect of providing a detailed programme of work, in order to help monitor its delivery he suggested that the report should also include information such as –

·        risk rating

·        last review undertaken

·        anticipated start dates

·        planned completion dates

In response to questions raised, Members were advised that –

Resolved that the Internal Audit Plan for 2010/11, as set out in Appendices 1 and 2 of the report, be approved, subject to the detail of the report being amended to reflect –

·        risk rating

·        last review undertaken

·        anticipated start dates (e.g. first quarter, second quarter)

·        planned completion dates

(Councillor Thompson declared a personal interest in respect of the above item).

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit the Annual Audit Fee for 2010/11.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted the Annual Audit Fee for 2010/11.  The Committee was advised that –

In response to a questions raised around value for money, Members were advised that the Audit Commission had reviewed Grant Thornton under its quality regime and assessed them as having ‘one of the best files it had seen’.

Resolved that the Annual Audit Fee for 2010/11 of £335,978 be approved.

The Committee will receive the Audit Commission’s Annual Inspection Fee for 2010/11.

The Committee considered the Audit Commission’s Annual Inspection Fee for 2010/11.

Resolved that the Annual Inspection fee for 2010/11 of £16,630 be approved.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit the Grants Report for 2008/09.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted the Grants Report for 2008/09.  The Committee was advised that –

In response to questions raised, Members were advised that –

Resolved that the Revenues and Benefits Service Manager be invited to attend a future meeting of the Committee to –

·        report on the improvements put in place to address previous problems with processing Housing Benefit claims

·        provide an overview of where Revenues and Benefits was going

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit the Financial Statements Plan for year ending 31 March, 2010.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted the Financial Statements Plan for 2009/10.  Areas of the report highlighted to the Committee included –

·        changes required to PFI accounting as a result of the 2009 SORP

·        treasury management and the Icelandic banking crisis

·        in respect of renumeration disclosures, that staff earning more than £100,000  had to be named and the job titles of those earning more than £50,000 had to be identified

The Committee noted the report with thanks.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit a progress report.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted its Progress Report against projects undertaken in 2009/10.  The Committee was advised that a draft report reviewing the sale of Plymouth Citybus had been submitted to the Director for Corporate Support for comment and a full and final report should be ready to come to the next meeting in June.

The Committee noted the report with thanks.

The Director for Corporate Support will submit the Annual Review of Financial Regulations.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted the Annual Review of Financial Regulations for 2009/10.  Members expressed concern at the late submission of this substantial report and, in view of its significance, requested that they be given more time to consider it.

Resolved that –

The Director for Corporate Support will submit a progress report in respect of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Transition Project.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted a progress report in respect of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Transition Project.

The following comments were made –

The Committee noted progress of the IFRS Transition Project as at March, 2010.

The Chair will submit her Audit Committee Annual Report for 2009/10.

The Chair presented a draft copy of the 2009/10 Annual Report and, in seeking the Committee’s views on its format and content, was advised that –

Resolved that –

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership will submit a draft self-assessment of the Committee’s performance against the checklist recommended in CIPFA’s “Toolkit for Local Authority Audit Committees”.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership submitted an initial draft assessment in order to facilitate discussion amongst Committee Members around the checklist recommended in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) toolkit.  A number of comments were made as follows –

·        that better use of the comments column could be made to reflect how frequently something was reviewed and/or updated

·        the Supporting Members Group was responsible for ensuring personal development plans were in place for each Councillor to build up appropriate skill sets and identify any gaps

·        training for Audit Committee Members should be ongoing

·        private meetings between Members of the Audit Committee and the Auditors (Internal and External) without the presence of council officers would enable a more frank and open dialogue

Resolved that –

The Director for Corporate Support will submit the Strategic Risk Register Monitoring Report.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted the Strategic Risk Register Monitoring Report.  The report –

The Chair commented that a few of the risks centred around waste and landfill issues and suggested that it would be useful if the responsible department’s Risk Champion could attend a future meeting to explain what measures were being put in place to mitigate this risk.

Resolved that –

The Director for Corporate Support will submit the Revised Risk Management Strategy.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted a Review of the Risk Management Strategy.  A copy of the Strategy document ‘hot off the press’ in its new format was tabled for Members’ information.  The Committee was advised that –

A number of comments were made in respect of –

·        identification of a grammatical error on page 150 under the heading ‘Partnerships’ where the word ‘formerly’ was used instead of ‘formally’

·        where overall responsibility for approval of the Risk Management Strategy lay

·        adding a further bullet point to the Audit Committee’s role and responsibilities on page 155 along the lines of ‘checking robustness’

Resolved that the revised Risk Management Strategy be endorsed and recommended to Cabinet for approval.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership will submit the Audit Committee’s Work Programme for 2010/11.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership submitted the Audit Committee’s Work Programme for April 2010 to March 2011.  The Chair commented that she personally welcomed the training events which had recently taken place and would like to continue the momentum established.  With this in mind, she proposed that provisional dates be scheduled for either January or February and that one of the areas to be covered should be risk management.

Resolved that the revisions to the Work Programme as outlined above be agreed.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.