Venue: Committee Room 6, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Democratic Services
No. | Item |
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Apologies for Absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were
received from Councillor L James and Patrick Arran, Head of Legal and
Democratic Services. |
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Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests. PDF 30 KB Minutes: In accordance with the code
of conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interests
were declared: - Councillor C Anderson –
Minute No.39 – Annual Report of School Audits 2014/15 – I am an LEA Governor –
personal. Councillor T M White - Minute
No.39 – Annual Report of School Audits 2014/15 – I am an LEA Governor –
personal. |
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To approve the Minutes of the
meeting of the Audit Committee held on 18 August 2015 and Special
Audit Committee held on 21 September 2015. Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED that
the Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 18 August and Special
Audit Committee held on 21 September 2015 be approved as a correct records,
subject to the following amendment: - Amend references to
Councillor C A Anderson with C Anderson. |
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Chair of Scrutiny Programme Committee. Minutes: In the absence of the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, the
Chair stated that it was important that both Committee’s
worked closely together in order to avoid duplication and have a co-ordinated
approach towards their work plans. RESOLVED
that the Chair of Scrutiny Committee be invited to the Audit Committee meeting
scheduled for 15 December 2015. |
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Corporate Governance Review - Update. Minutes: The Chief Auditor stated that the Head of Legal and
Democratic Services had sent his apologies due him being required at a
Standards and Ethics conference and would attend the Audit Committee scheduled
for 15 December 2015. He added that Rod Alcott of the WLGA had been appointed by
the Council to undertake a review of the Council’s Corporate Governance
arrangements and had forwarded a draft report to the Head of Legal and
Democratic Services for consideration, prior to it being discussed by Executive
Board and Corporate Briefing. The report
would be reported to the Audit Committee scheduled for 15 December 2015. The Committee queried the proposed reporting passage
outlined and highlighted that as the Audit Committee were responsible for
reviewing and scrutinising the corporate governance arrangements of the Authority, the report should be
discussed by the Committee first. It was
added that the report should be included within the agenda papers and not
circulated at the meeting in order for Members to consider the information
provided. The Chair proposed that Rod Alcott be invited to the Special
Audit Committee on 17 November 2015 in order to present the draft report. NOTED Members’
comments in relation to verbal items listed on the agenda. RESOLVED that: - 1)
The contents of the update be noted; 2)
Rod Alcott be invited
to attend the Special Audit Committee meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday,
17 November 2015 in order to present the draft report. |
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Annual Report of School Audits 2014/15. PDF 132 KB Minutes: The Group Auditor presented the Annual Report of School
Audits 2014/15. The report provided a
summary of the school audits undertaken by the Internal Audit Section during
2014/15 and identified some common issues found during the audits. It was outlined that an audit of each primary, secondary and special
school in Swansea was undertaken every 3 years.
A standard audit programme exists for each school sector. It was added that for a number of years, a
report summarising the school audits undertaken each year had been prepared for
the Chief Education Officer. The report also identified the common themes which
had been found during the audits. The
School Audits Annual Report 2014/15 was provided at Appendix 1. The report identified that all schools audited during 2014/15 had
received a positive level of assurance and that there was a good working
relationship between schools and Internal Audit with Head teachers generally
responding positively to audit recommendations. The Committee asked a number of questions of the Officer who responded
accordingly. Discussions centred around
the following: - ·
Tendering procedures for schools, obtaining best value
and Service Level Agreements; ·
The need for schools and the Authority to work in
partnership; ·
Schools not following Contract Procedure Rules / setting
up their own tenders and contracts; ·
Concerns previously outlined by the Committee in
relation to schools not following Contract Procedure Rules; ·
The dedicated Procurement Officer fully funded by
Schools being given additional corporate work that which led to considerable
change in the Schools Procurement Service Level Agreement (SLA). Most schools
now opt for the basic SLA which no longer funds a dedicated Procurement
Officer. It was noted that 9 primary
schools had dropped out of the agreement and the committee asked who gave the
authority to change matters; ·
Views of schools regarding the level of service provided
by the Authority; ·
Loss of trust by schools in the Authority as a result of
the change; ·
Role of school governors in school financial matters,
procedures to make governors aware of financial issues within their schools and
training for governors; ·
Identifying bad performing schools, identifying repeat
bad performing schools and outcomes resulting from investigations; ·
Providing reports regarding schools to City and County
of Swansea governors; ·
Future school audit programmes. RESOLVED that: - 1) The contents of the
report be noted; 2) The Chief Auditor
further investigates why the procurement officer was given corporate work in
addition to school based work in order for the Chair to write to the
appropriate officer; 3) A review be undertaken
to ensure that school audit reports are placed upon school governor meeting
agenda’s. |
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Audit Committee Annual Report 2014/15 - Follow Up. Minutes: The Chair provided the Committee with an update regarding
the Audit Committee Annual Report 2014/15 that he presented to Council. The Chief Auditor stated that he would circulate a Knowledge
and Skills Framework for Audit Committee Members questionnaire for Members to
complete in line with CIPFA best practice. The results of the questionnaire
will act as a guide to future training needs. RESOLVED that: - 1)
The contents of the update be noted; 2)
The Chief Auditor circulates the questionnaire
to the Committee as outlined above. |
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Scrutiny Annual Report 2014/15. (For Information) PDF 30 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Scrutiny Annual Report 2014/15 was provided for information. |
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Scrutiny Work Programme 2015/16. (For Information) PDF 44 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Scrutiny Work Programme 2015/16 was provided for information. |
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Audit Committee Work Plan. (For Information) PDF 22 KB Minutes: The Audit Committee Work Plan
was provided for information. |