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 members’ code of conduct –

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 review the appointment of the existing independent members for the municipal year 2010/11.

Agreed to confirm Mr. Clarke, Ms. Myles and Mr. Stewart as Independent Members of the Audit Committee for the municipal year 2010/2011.

The Director for Corporate Support will submit a Service Delivery Review report in respect of Plymouth’s Registration Service.

The Assistant Director for Governance and Democracy, the City’s Superintendent Registrar and a representative from the General Register Office were in attendance to present the results of the service delivery review undertaken in February 2010.  In summary, the report -

In response to questions raised, the Committee was advised that –

The Committee welcomed the report and asked that its congratulations and thanks be passed back to the Register Officer staff at achieving a ‘good’ inspection result.

Agreed that a copy of the draft action plan be circulated to Committee members for their information.

The Director for Corporate Support will submit the Risk Management Annual Report.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted the Risk Management Annual Report.  In attendance was the Head of Corporate Risk and Insurance who advised that the report –

In response to questions raised, the Committee was advised that –

The Committee noted the report with thanks.

Agreed that –

The Director for Corporate Support will submit an update report in respect of Operational Risk Management.

The Director for Corporate Support submitted an update in respect of Operational Risk Management.  In attendance was the Head of Corporate Risk and Insurance who advised that the report –

In response to questions raised, the Committee was advised that –

Agreed that –

Recommended that –

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

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit a report on Performance Management Arrangements.

The Council’s external auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted a report commenting on Plymouth City Council’s performance management and reporting arrangements.  A number of areas for improvement had been identified and an action plan created to monitor progress against each of the report’s recommendations. 

Members expressed a number of concerns relating to this report, namely –

·        that the action plan failed to identify the responsible officer against all but two of the recommendations and failed to identify any of the proposed implementation dates

·        that Grant Thornton had not readily been able to find 2009/10 bi-monthly performance reports

·        the change in frequency of the joint finance and performance monitoring reports from bi-monthly to quarterly

·        effectiveness of e-perform

Members were advised that formal reporting of the joint finance and performance monitoring report would now take place on a quarterly basis in order to release resources.  Detailed scorecards would, however, be submitted to Corporate Management Team on a monthly basis and the next comprehensive joint report would be submitted to Cabinet in August.

Agreed that consideration of the report be deferred to the next meeting when the action plan would be more fully completed to include details of responsible officers, details of progress made and implementation dates.

The City Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, will submit a Review of Arrangements for Complying with Age Related Equalities Legislation.

The Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton, submitted the results of a review which had been undertaken to establish –

• what local arrangements had been put in place to conform to the Age Related Equalities Legislation
• how the City Council had sought to minimise any associated risk
• that appropriate internal control arrangements were in place

Concern was expressed at whether the policy was being applied consistently across the authority.

Agreed that, in the absence of an appropriate representative being in attendance from HR, consideration of the report be deferred to the next meeting.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership will submit a Review of the Whistleblowing Policy.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership submitted the Updated Whistleblowing Policy, advising that the document had undergone a slight refresh only and had not incurred any major or significant changes.

In response to questions raised, the Committee heard that –

A number of questions were raised in regard to –

• how aware staff were of the whistleblowing policy
• whether staff felt confident to use the whistleblowing policy
• how satisfied staff were with the result having used the whistleblowing policy

In order to try and address those questions, the Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership reported that she would give consideration to how this information could be obtained and bring a proposal back to a future meeting of the Committee.

Agreed the revised Whistleblowing Policy.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership will submit Plymouth’s Internal Audit Strategy and Charter.

The Assistant Head of Devon Audit Partnership submitted Plymouth’s Internal Audit Strategy and Charter.  Members were advised that the revised strategy and charter had recently been adopted by Devon and Torbay.

Agreed the revised Internal Audit Strategy and Internal Audit Charter.

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    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.