Agenda and minutes

To receive Apologies for Absence from Committee members. 

There were no Apologies for Absence.

Councillor Peter Sandford declared a registerable interest as a non-executive director of Ermine Street Housing.

Councillor Richard Stobart declared two registerable interests as a director of South Cambs Investments Partnership and South Cambs Projects.

Councillor Mark Howell declared a registerable interest as a County Councillor, due to the fact the Committee briefly discussed the pension scheme, which the County Council administered.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2023 as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 March 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

Mark Russell presented the 2020/21 External Audit Plan. It was noted that an additional column showing the 2018/19 fees had been included in a supplementary version of the Audit Plan.

Audit fees

Councillor Heather Williams asked why the proposed audit fees for 2020/21 were usually at the top end of the scale. Mark Russell explained that the estimates had been based on costs incurred for the 2019/20 audit. The actual cost would be lower that the estimates if the audit went to plan, but costs increased if queries were found.

Valuation of investment properties

Councillor Heather Williams asked whether the amount spent on audit fees on investment properties was taken into consideration when assessing their profitability. The Head of Finance explained that usually the audit costs were charged centrally and not to specific budgets, but these costs could be considered when evaluating profitability in the future. However, he added that the audit fees would be higher in the year the property was purchased than in subsequent years.

Mark Russell explained that the investment properties were valued according to accounting standards, which took into account the possible future income of the asset and this could be different from the market value. The Head of Finance explained that the assets were valued every year and the Council’s investment properties had increased in value. It was noted that the recent sale of a property provided evidence for the valuation of the properties that the Council still owned.

Covid-19 grants

In response to questioning from Councillor Helene Leeming, the Head of Finance explained that the Covid-19 grants, which were funded by the Government, were worth tens of millions of pounds. Mark Russell explained that these grants were either classified as principal, meaning that the Council decided who to award them to, or agency, meaning that the Council merely paid out the grants on instruction from the Government. The external auditor already had experience of this issue from auditing other local authorities and this council had provided evidence relating to the grants’ classification. He expected the audit of this matter to go smoothly and no additional audit fee had been allocated. In response to questioning from Councillor Richard Stobart, the Head of Finance agreed to consider what lessons could be learned from the ways in which these grants had been awarded.

Audit timetable

Mark Russell confirmed that the 2020/21 audit was due to start in a week’s time and the working papers had been provided to allow this to happen in accordance with the schedule.

Value for money

Mark Russell explained that for the Council to achieve an unqualified audit opinion on value for money the authority will need to provide accurate financial statements and prompt officer support with any resulting queries. It was noted that the auditors would be using a different set of criteria from previous years.

Assessing materiality

Mark Russell explained that planning materiality was the figure used by the auditors to determine which errors needed to be included in the final  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Head of Shared Internal Audit presented this report, which summarised the work of the Committee during the year of 2022/23.

Councillor Heather Williams questioned if the whistleblowing policy was being properly communicated. She suggested that the Whistleblowing and Anti-Bullying Task and Finish Group be re-established to look at the policy and how it was being implemented. The Chair agreed that July’s Committee meeting should discuss this matter more fully. The Head of Finance agreed to liaise with Democratic Services regarding the possibility of arranging anti-fraud training for councillors.

Councillor Richard Stobart hoped that future training courses would be provided for members of the Committee, following the recommendations that came out of the recent Audit Committee Workshop. The Head of Finance assured Councillor Stobart that training on the Housing Revenue Account would be provided, probably after the anti-fraud training. A follow up to last year’s treasury management training would also be arranged.

The Chair agreed that in future the annual report should be considered at the Council’s Annual General Meeting.

It was noted that the Chair had some minor grammatical corrections to the Report, which he would share with officers.

The Chair proposed and Vice Chair seconded the recommendation in the report. A vote was taken and the Committee unanimously Recommended the Annual Report to Council.

The Chair welcomed John Murphy, the Council’s new Monitoring Officer, to his first meeting of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee.

Wednesday 26 July at 10 am. 

It was noted that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 26 July at 10 am.