Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:            (on a motion by Councillor Stratford, seconded by Councillor Tilley and carried nem. con.) that Councillor David Wilmshurst be elected to chair the Committee for the current Council Year.

RESOLVED:            (on a motion by Councillor Wilmshurst, seconded by Councillor Stratford and carried nem. con.) that Councillor Jelf be elected as deputy Chairman for the current Council year.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2010 (AU5) and to receive for information any matters arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3 March 2010 (AU5)  were approved and signed.

11:10

Report by Assistant Head of Finance (Audit) (AU7).

The report summarises the matters arising from the most recent meeting of the Audit Working Group (AWG).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

The Committee considered a report (AU7) on the following specific matters which had been considered by the Audit Working Group (AWG):

Deferred item:           half year Internal Control Checklist (ICC) process – Children, Young People & Families Directorate

AWG4            Business Continuity and Major Incident Reporting

AWG5            Early Issues for the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) and Action Plan

The Committee asked the AWG to investigate the ICT budget overspend in 2009/10 with a view to seeking an assurance that processes to control the budget were in place for 2010/11 and to report to the Committee in June 2010.

AWG6                        Review of the Effectiveness of Internal Audit

AWG7                        Review of Safeguarding Children risk register

                        The Committee suggested that Meera Spillett, Director for Children, Young People & Families be invited to make an informal presentation to members.

AWG8                        Risk Management Progress Report

AWG9                        Internal Audit Quarter 4 Progress Report

AWG10          Counter-Fraud Action Plan Progress Report

AWG11          Whistleblowing Annual Report

AWG12          Work Plan

The Committee noted that the AWG meeting scheduled for 3 June 2010 had been moved to 9 June 2010.

RESOLVED: to note the report.

11:30

Mary Fetigan, Audit Manager, Audit Commission will present the audit work that the Commission proposes to undertake for the 2009/10 financial year at Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire Pension Fund and annual audit fees (AU8).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider and note the proposals.  

Mary Fetigan, Audit Manager, Audit Commission introduced and presented the audit work that the Commission proposed to undertake for the 2009/10 financial year at Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire Pension Fund and annual audit fees (AU8).  She then responded to questions and comments including developing the relationship with the Council, the annual audit fee 2009/10 and the planned work on risk. 

Mr. Gerrish, Head of Finance & Procurement circulated a note ‘Annual Audit Fee Summary’ (a copy of which is attached to the signed Minutes).

The Committee commented to the Audit Manager that it would be helpful if the Audit Commission could publish a combined scale fee for county councils with fire services. 

RESOLVED:            to note the Audit Commission’s proposals.

11:50

Report by the Monitoring Officer (AU9).

A commentary on the performance of the Internal Audit system throughout 2009/10.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to approve the Monitoring Officer’s assessment of the effectiveness of the system of Internal Audit 2009/10.

The Committee considered the Monitoring Officer’s commentary on the performance of the Internal Audit system throughout 2009/10 (AU9). Mr Clark introduced the paper and drew members’ attention in particular to the methodology, findings and conclusion that the evidence justified an overall assessment of acceptable effectiveness with no significant weaknesses. 

In response to a member’s question, Mr. Dyson confirmed that a protocol was being developed between the Council and the Audit Commission. 

The Committee noted that:

- 2 senior managers had not responded to the questionnaire. The Monitoring Officer undertook to convey to the 2 officers concerned the Committee’s disappointment that the response was not complete;

- the Audit Commission confirmed that they had reviewed the Council’s Internal Audit arrangements against the required standards and raised only a few minor issues, one of which had already been actioned. The Commission would be reviewing work later in the year to establish the extent to which they could rely on the specific testing.  

RESOLVED:            to approve the Monitoring Officer’s assessment of the effectiveness of the system of Internal Audit 2009/10.

12:10

Mary Fetigan, Audit Manager, Audit Commission will present the audit work and the assessment & inspection work that the Commission proposes to undertake for the 2010/11 financial year at Oxfordshire County Council and annual audit fees (AU10).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider and note the proposals.

Mary Fetigan, Audit Manager, Audit Commission presented the audit work and the assessment & inspection work that the Commission proposed to undertake for the 2010/11 financial year at Oxfordshire County Council and annual audit fees (AU10). In response to a member’s question she confirmed that the ‘separate letter’ mentioned on page 2 under the heading ‘Total audit fee’ referred to the letter at agenda item 8 above.

RESOLVED:            to note the Audit Commission’s proposals.

12:30

Report by Chief Finance Officer (AU11).

The report summarises the progress made so far with the Financial Action Management Plan for review by the Committee and updates the position reported as at 23 September 2009.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the progress to date, give any feedback on the monitoring report to the Chief Finance Officer and consider whether they would like to see further updates.

The Committee considered a report (AU11) which summarised for review by the Committee the progress made so far with the Financial Action Management Plan (FMAP) and updated the position reported as at 23 September 2009.

Mr. Gerrish and Ms Wilcox introduced the paper, highlighted key issues and sought the Committee’s views about future reporting.  They confirmed the key role of training and support for budget holders.  Members noted that some work had been carried out to improve reporting and that many managers were now using SAP for budget monitoring, but expressed concern at comments in the report about the user friendliness of the budget management tool on SAP. 

RESOLVED:            to

(a)               note the progress to date; and

(b)               request officers to report to the September 2010 meeting on the use of SAP for budget monitoring, reporting and forecasting, following which the Committee would consider the future of FMAP reporting to Committee. 

12:50

Report by Assistant Head of Legal & Democratic Services (AU12).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to review / update its Work Programme 2010/11.

The Committee updated and reviewed its Work Programme (AU12).

Under ‘Other Matters’ - Links with Scrutiny – the Chairman undertook to discuss with officers appropriate target Committee dates for this topic to be included in the Committee’s Work Programme.  

RESOLVED:            to adopt the Work Programme subject to:

June 2010:

deletion of ‘Interim Opinion Report’;

addition of ‘Letter to those Charged with Governance (request for assurances regarding Fraud & Regulation) (Audit Commission);

September 2010:

addition of: Response to the Letter shown at June 2010 above;

addition of:

Financial Management Action Plan – report on the use of SAP for budget monitoring,/reporting and forecasting (Audit Committee 21 April 2010) (Sue Scane / Jo Stone);

future reporting.