Venue: Committee Room 1 - Civic Centre, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Democratic Services - 636016
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Election of Chair for the 2014-2015 Municipal Year. Minutes: RESOLVED that Mr A M Thomas be elected Chair for the 2014/15
Municipal Year. (Mr A M Thomas presided) |
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Election of Vice-Chair for the 2014-2015 Municipal Year. Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor J W Jones be elected Vice-Chair for
the 2014/15 Municipal Year. |
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Apologies for Absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P
R Hood-Williams, J A Raynor and L V Walton. |
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Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests from Members. PDF 31 KB Minutes: In accordance with the Code of Conduct
adopted by the City and County of Swansea, no interests were declared. |
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To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 24 April 2014. Minutes: RESOLVED
that the Minutes of the meeting of
the Audit Committee held on 24 April 2014 be agreed as a correct
record subject to the following amendments. Minute No. 85 - Replace “od” with “of”
in the second paragraph. Minute No. 86 - Amend in paragraph 2,
line 8 the word “audit” to “audits”. |
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Internal Audit Charter. PDF 60 KB Minutes: The Chief Auditor provided a report
which outlined the background to the Public Sector Internal Auditing
Standards (PSIAS) which were introduced with effect from 1 April 2013 and provided the Internal Audit
Charter for approval. The Internal Audit Charter was
provided at Appendix 1. Details provided within the Charter included the definition, role and
function, scope, independence, consultancy role, fraud, bribery and corruption,
role within internal audit, the internal audit resources and the Quality
Assurance and Improvement Programme. Members asked a number of questions of
the Officer who responded accordingly. RESOLVED
that the Internal Audit Charter be approved. |
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Fundamental Audits 2012/13 - Recommendations Tracker Update. PDF 32 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chief Auditor presented a report
which provided an update on the recommendations made following the Fundamental Audits 2012/13 which
had not been fully implemented when the Recommendations
Tracker Report was presented to the Audit Committee on 9 January 2014. It was outlined that the January 2014
report identified the recommendations which had not been fully implemented as either partly
implemented, not implemented or not yet due.
Appendix 1 showed, for each Fundamental Audit, the number of recommendations
made following the 2012/13 Audit and whether they had been implemented, partly implemented or not
implemented as at 31 March 2014.
The position on 31 March 2014 on the 89 agreed recommendations compared to those at 30 November 2013 were summarised as follows:
Overall, the implementation rate was
now 89% with the only areas where recommendations were outstanding being payroll and accounts
receivable. An analysis of the recommendations,
which had been partly or not implemented over the classification of audit recommendations used
by the Internal Audit Section was provided at
Appendix 2. Appendix 3 provided the management explanation for the ten recommendations which were
not fully implemented by 31 March 2014.
This showed that there were some recommendations when an implementation date early in 2014/15 was indicated and also instances where progress had been delayed
due to other priorities, mainly due to issues linked to the need to address
the Council’s significant budget deficit in future years. It was concluded that whilst it was
disappointing that some recommendations arising from the 2012/13 Fundamental Audits remained
outstanding, it was also necessary to recognise the staff responsible for
implementing the recommendations were also heavily involved in a number of projects
linked to the Sustainable Swansea - Fit For The Future Programme
which is aimed at addressing the significant budget deficit faced by the
Council. Any outstanding recommendations will have been picked up during the
2013/14 Fundamental Audits and monitoring of
their implementation will form part of the Recommendations Tracker exercise in the current year. Key issues arising from discussions
included: ·
Setting
a time limit for the recommendations to be implemented. ·
Listing
of authorised signatories. ·
Recoverability
of lifeline debts. ·
Overdue
school debts not being paid. RESOLVED
that the progress in implementing the
recommendations be noted. |
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Draft Audit Committee Annual Report 2013/14. PDF 41 KB Minutes: The Chair presented a report which
provided the Draft Audit Committee Annual Report 2013/14. It was outlined that the purpose of the
report was to allow the Audit Committee to discuss,
review and contribute to the Draft Audit Committee Annual Report 2013/14 prior
to the report being presented to Council. RESOLVED that: (1) the
contents of the report be noted; (2) the
Annual Report 2013/14 be forwarded to Council. |
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Wales Audit Office - 2014/15 Performance Audit Work and Fees. PDF 198 KB Minutes: S Barry, Wales Audit Office presented
a letter that had been forwarded to the Chief Executive of the Council
outlining the 2014-15 performance audit work and fees. It was
explained that this work was delivered under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009, the
Local Government Act 1999 and the Public Audit (Wales)
Act 2013. It was explained that the Wales Audit
Office will be carrying out a Corporate Assessment as part of a four year
rolling programme of assessments at all Welsh councils. The Corporate
Assessment will provide a position statement of the Council’s capacity and capability to deliver
continuous improvement. It will, by its nature, examine track records of performance
and outcomes, as well as examining the key arrangements that are necessary
to underpin improvements in services and functions. The Wales Audit Office will publish a Corporate Assessment Report that
states whether the Auditor General believes that the Council is likely to comply with the requirements
of the Measure. Carrying out
the Corporate Assessment will not require any additional fee from the Council as it will be funded by Welsh
Government Grant to the Wales Audit Office. It was added that in addition to the
Auditor General’s audit and assessment work under the Measure, the Wales Audit Office will
undertake a programme of local government studies as set out in the Auditor
General’s letter of 28 April 2014. These and the specific elements of the audit
and assessment work were provided.
It was explained that the performance audit fee from April 2014 to March 2015 was
£107,555. However, if any additional
work is identified as being necessary, additional fees may be incurred. The Wales Audit Office will publish a
Corporate Assessment Report incorporating the Annual Improvement Report for the Council,
summarising the work and that of relevant regulators and will issue a
reports setting out the findings of the audit and assessment work. The Committee asked questions of the
Wales Audit Office representative, who responded accordingly. RESOLVED
that the contents of the report be noted. |
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Coastal Project. Minutes: Further to Minute No. 88 of the Audit
Committee held on 24 April 2014, the Head of Finance and Delivery updated
the Committee on progress made with regards to the management of all
regional projects. He added that in
future all grant applications will be dealt with
by an External Funding Panel. The Committee raised a number of
questions in relation to the Coastal Project and the governance of the External
Funding Panel, which were responded to accordingly. RESOLVED that: (1) the
content of the update be noted; (2) the
appropriate Director/Head of Service provide a briefing report to the next
scheduled meeting; (3) the
terms of reference of the External Funding Panel be provided to the next
scheduled meeting. |
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Audit Committee Work Plan. PDF 24 KB Minutes: The Audit Committee Work Plan was
provided for information. RESOLVED
that the contents of the report be noted. |
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Date of Next Meeting - 4 p.m. on Thursday, 10 July 2014. Minutes: NOTED that the next meeting be scheduled for 4.00 p.m. on
Thursday 10 July 2014. |