Agenda and minutes

To receive Apologies for Absence from Committee members. 

Apologies for Absence were received from Councillor Helene Leeming, who attended the meeting online.

Councillor Heather Williams declared an Other Registerable Interest as a member of the Greater Cambridge Partnership Joint Assembly.

Councillor Peter Sandford declared an Other Registerable Interest as a non-remunerated director of South Cambs Ltd trading as Ermine Street Housing.

Councillor Richard Stobart declared an Other Registerable Interest as a director of both South Cambs Investments Partnership and South Cambs Projects.

Councillor Mark Howell declared an interest as a County Councillor.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2023 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

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and contact Democratic Services by no later than 11.59pm three clear working days before the meeting.

None.

The Head of Internal Audit presented this report on the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2021/22. It was noted that this needed to be agreed before the Statement of Accounts.

It was understood that the External Auditors still needed to review the Annual Governance Statement.

Members of the Committee made the following points:

·         Including track changes in the Local Code of Corporate Governance document was welcomed, as it highlighted the amendments.

·         Paragraph 23 should be amended to include a definition of the words “code” and “coding”.

·         There were additional ways of engagement not listed under point 6 of the Local Code of Corporate Governance.

·         The significance of the Medium Term Financial Strategy should be made more explicit.

The Head of Internal Audit assured the Committee that the Council’s internal auditors would continue to evaluate the authority’s services with regards to value for money and would keep the Committee fully appraised and updated on its work.

The Committee agreed to approve the Annual Statement of Accounts 2021/22.

The Head of Finance introduced this report, which presented the draft accounts for 2021/22 for approval. It was noted that it was unclear if the 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts would be subject to a full audit. More guidance from the Government on this matter was required.

Minor amendments

The number of years mentioned in paragraph 5 of the report was amended to 4 years. It was noted that the last sentence of the paragraph under the heading “Summary of Financial Performance” on page 48 should read “… Statement of Accounts.” On page 142 an apostrophe needed to be added to the word “Councils” in the row in the table for the Civic Affairs Committee.

Councillor Heather Williams made the following points:

·         The Greater Cambridge Shared Planning variance of £1,417,000 required an explanation.

·         The notes to the Statement of Accounts should not use abbreviations.

·         The difference between councillors’ mileage claims in 2021 and 2022 should be explained.

·         The gap between £89,999 and £105,000 in the remuneration bands on page 103 needed to be explained.

Work of external auditors

The Head of Finance explained that no external audit work from EY was currently scheduled, as they were waiting for guidance from the Government on how the 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts should be audited. The Council was meeting with representatives from EY on 30 January to discuss this matter further. It was understood that EY wanted to complete the audit of the 2021/22 accounts but were unlikely to open a new audit whilst Government guidance was expected.

Andrew Cardoza of KPMG reported that his team had issued questions to officers regarding the 2023/24 accounts and were hoping to start work in March but opening balances were required from the 2022/23 accounts.

Councillor Heather Williams suggested that EY were contractually obliged to audit the Council’s accounts.

Councillor Helene Leeming expressed concern that the 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts were not being audited and she asked how the figures for the Council’s assets and liabilities were being verified. The Head of Finance explained that these figures were being checked in the normal way and would be subject to some form of external audit. He informed the Committee that KPMG had assured the Council that they will do a full audit on the 2023/24 accounts.

Timeline

The Head of Finance agreed to produce a timeline for the auditing of the 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 accounts. He explained that additional resources would be required for officers to support a full audit of the 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts by September.

General Fund

The Head of Finance explained that any increase in the value of assets would only affect the General Fund when the assets were sold. It was noted that page 49 of the agenda provided a narrative statement on the General Fund.

Covid-19 pandemic

The Head of Finance reported that page 51 of the agenda had three paragraphs on the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

Exit package cost

It was noted that the table  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

It was noted that there would be a report on the Council’s use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) at the next meeting on 19 March at 10 am. It was understood that the Council had not yet made use of the Act this municipal year.