Agenda, decisions and minutes

None. 

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 31 March 2010 and 27 May 2010 as correct records.

The minutes of the meetings held on 31 March and 27 May 2010 were agreed as correct records.

The Chief Executive reported that the Annual Governance Statement 2009/10 had been signed off.

Chris Harris from RSM Tenon presented this report which summarised the outcome of work completed against the internal audit plan for 2009/10.

Officers were congratulated on the fact that out of the 24 areas audited no fundamental recommendations had been made. It was hoped that the internal auditors would be able to reduce their fee as a result.

ICT review

It was noted that the ICT review was the only audited area that received a limited assurance. The Executive Director reported that all actions had been agreed and were on target to be achieved.

The Corporate Governance Committee NOTED the report.

The Committee

APPROVED            The Internal Audit Annual Report for 2009/10. 

Chris Harris of RSM Tenon introduced the Internal Audit Annual Report by reminding the Committee that it had already seen the report and the only differences were minor amendments to paragraph 2.3 and the inclusion of appendix A, which detailed the internal audit’s opinions and recommendations 2009/10.

The Committee

APPROVED            The Internal Audit Annual Report for 2009/10. 

Chris Harris introduced this report on the internal audit plan for 2010/11. He explained that an important change from previous years was altering the levels of assurance to the following four categories: red, red/amber, green/amber and green.

It was noted that a red assurance had been given for Health and Safety – Tenant Electrical Safety Programme due to concerns over record keeping.

The Committee endorsed the report.

Debbie Hanson, District Auditor from the Audit Commission, introduced this report which summarised the progress up to 15 June 2010 against the audit plan for 2009/10.

Comprehensive Area Assessment

It was noted that work had already been carried out on the Comprehensive Area Assessment, before the Government’s recent decision to abolish it. Debbie Hanson agreed to provide the Council with this work, although it was understood that it would not be possible to provide a score.

The Committee NOTED the report.

Debbie Hanson introduced this Plan which set out the audit work that the External Auditors proposed to undertake for the audit of the financial statements 2009/10.

Savings

It was noted that following the external auditors’ work on the grant and return certificate the annual housing subsidy amount payable to the Government had been reduced by £323,000.

It was then clarified that the saving was due to provisional data being included by officers on the initial certificate in order to meet the deadline and more accurate data on the housing stock being included by officers on the final certificate.

The Committee NOTED the Plan.

Debbie Hanson introduced this item on the proposed annual audit and inspection fee for 2010/11.

It was noted that the fee for 2009/10 was £10,000 more than anticipated due to extra risks identified from the audit of the Council’s statement of accounts in 2008/09. Debbie Hanson explained that the additional significant risks associated with the plan was the reduction of £2.1 million in the Council’s budget which meant an increase in the audit fee for 2010/11.

It was noted that no significant risks had been identified in relation to the value for money conclusion for 2010/11, but any impact on audit fees would be reported in December 2010.

It was recognised that the Council had no control over the fees charged by the External Auditor. Debbie Hanson agreed to report back to the Committee on the Council’s use of resources for 2009/10, which was being paid out of the 2010/11 fees.

The Committee NOTED the report.

The Committee

APPROVED            the draft Statement of Accounts for 2009/10. 

The Head of Accountancy introduced this item, which invited the Committee to approve the Statement of Accounts by explaining that the Council’s General Fund, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Capital balances for 2009/10 were all within 3% of the estimates as set out in the Weekly Bulletin of 23 June 2010. The Bulletin emphasised that audited accounts set out the balances which were available to spend in the future and that financial stewardship was in place during the year.

The Head of Accountancy further explained that accounting deficits listed in the Statement of Accounts were not actual deficits to the Council, as these accounts included items which were then reversed out in order to meet statutory technical accounting requirements and that a simplified summary of accounts would be published in due course.

Amendments

The Head of Accountancy mentioned some amendments to the notes to the accounts which, together with minor narrative corrections and roundings, were included on a list circulated at the end of this item on the agenda. It was noted that there were no changes to the figures in the primary financial statements. In addition to these, the Committee agreed the following two amendments:

• On page 51 the words “are valued” were added to paragraph a) after the figure 2010.
• On page 51 the second “and” in paragraph c) was amended to “are”.

Underspends

The Head of Accountancy agreed to ascertain why there was a £133,000 underspend in the Capital grants credited to services.It was noted that underspends could only be rolled-over to the following year for each budget with the permission of the relevant portfolio holder.

Sheltered Housing

It was noted that there had been an underspend in the Sheltered Housing budgets due to posts being held vacant due to an expected restructure.

Pensions

The Executive Director explained that the Council had capped its contribution rate in the Medium Term Financial Strategy at 25%, whilst it had been an estimated that a contribution rate of 33% might be required to maintain the Scheme at its current levels with no other changes. It was noted that public sector pension schemes were being reviewed nationally and it had been included in the Council’s Risk Register.

It was noted that the Actuary had calculated that the life expectancy for both current and future pensioners had increased and that the discount rate had decreased, both of which contributed to the substantial increase in the actuarial pensions deficit.

Council Tax collection

The Head of Accountancy explained that whilst collecting other authorities’ Council Tax in the future, this Council would in accounting terms be considered to be acting as an agent and so the funds collected would not go through the authority’s accounts. It was noted that the Council would still receive interest on the tax collected.

Economic development

The Head of Accountancy agreed to find out the provider and the cost of the logo used for the recent Step Up competitions for local businesses.

It was noted that quarterly reports on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee NOTED the report without discussion. 

 The Committee NOTED the report without discussion.

The Committee NOTED the report without discussion. 

None reported. 

30 September 2010

The Chairman requested that the next meeting of the Committee be held on the 24 September 2010. It was hoped that Nick Dawe, Corporate Director: Finance, Property & Performance from Cambridgeshire County Council, would be able to attend this meeting and address the Committee on the Local Government Pension Scheme.