Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2013 (AG3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2013 were approved and signed.

2.10pm

Report by Lorna Baxter, Chief Finance Officer (AG5).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the report, and to RECOMMEND Cabinet to note the Council’s Mid-Term Treasury Management Review 2013/14.

The Committee had before them the report of the Chief Finance Officer report for the period 1 April-30 September 2013 (AG5).  Gregory Ley, Financial Manager Treasury Management, in introducing the report indicated that a 0.87% return had been achieved, equating to interest of £1.610m.  This was mainly due to grants being front-loaded to the start of the year and liquidity being prioritised.  A total debt of £412m existed, with borrowing of £406m by the end of September 2013.  There had been no profit or loss in gross performance, although there had been the cost of employing Investec Asset Management Ltd as fund managers on the Council’s behalf.

Investec have provided a return of 0.0%, which was an underperformance influenced by market conditions in the US.  The Committee were reminded that Investec was a 3-year investment strategy, over which the return had been 0.88%.

During discussion members queried if there were any constraints on changing the Council’s fund managers.  It was noted that Investec’s performance had been queried for several years, and that they had failed their own benchmark.  Lorna Baxter, Chief Finance Officer, confirmed that the Investec benchmark was based on a 3-year position, similar to the periods for Pension Fund investments.  Ideally the investment should be left to the end of the 3 year period to determine whether it had achieved its mandate, but that the matter was being reviewed by the Treasury Management Team.  She further reported that the remit of Investec was not about great returns, but rather about spreading investments and lowering risks on the Council’s behalf.

In response to questions from members, Ian Dyson confirmed that Investec’s performance was not a matter for the Audit & Governance Committee, but one for the Management Strategy Team to deal with as it related more to managing performance, than being a control issue.

Councillor Mathew felt that any new contract should basically be awarded on a flat-fee basis, as well as being dependant on the performance of the fund management company.  This was an achievable aim he felt, and the correct the basis on which the Council should negotiate the terms of a new contract in this area.

Questions were asked as to the sums on deposit over the past 6 months and the interest received.  It was confirmed that £350m was on deposit, which was more than in the past due to the grants being paid to the Council at the start of the financial year.  The Committee also heard that Investec had previously provided a better return in that it had been more than 0%.  Councillor Mathew asked for a written answer as to what the £6m long-term liabilities were with Investec and what the contingent liabilities were.

The Committee discussed the situation surrounding investing in Councils in Scotland generally, the impact should Scotland vote for independence and the position of Fife Council, in relation to their pension plan.  Lorna Baxter commented that short term, there were no concerns with this, but a decision would have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49/13

2.30pm

Report by the Chief Internal Auditor (AG6).

The report summarises the matters arising at the meetings of the 10October and 7 November 2013.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to

a)                 note the attached reports;

b)                 the timetable of future meetings;

c)                 Nominate one or two members to attend tender presentations for the new social care management information system;

d)                 Suggest the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care attends the presentations from potential suppliers for the new social care management information system.

The Minutes of two Audit Working Group meetings which took place on the 10 October 2013 and 7 November 2013, were before Committee (AG6).  The main issues arising at the 10^th October 2013 meeting were;

• Highways Contract;
• Risk Management Update;
• CEF Risk Management.

and from the 7 November 2013 were;

·        Procurement Improvement Project;

·        Client Charging update;

·        Internal Audit Report;

·        Work Programme.

The Minutes of these meetings were noted and agreed by Committee.

It was noted that the meetings of the Group would now take place in the afternoons only and that the meeting due to take place on the 24 April 2014, fell on the day after the Audit & Governance meeting.  It was suggested that the meeting be moved back so that it would take place in May 2014.

During discussion, the Committee also requested that officers provide all members of the Committee with all dates of the Appeals & Tribunals sub-Committee’s meetings, Home to School Transport Appeals, and Pension Benefits sub-Committee at which issues of dismissal and redundancy were decided, together with a log of the recommendations resulting from those appeals.

Recommendations were sought from members to attend tender presentations for the new social care management information system and it was:-

RESOLVED:

(a)       to note the reports;

(b)               to nominate Councillor Roz Smith and Councillor Charles Mathew attend the presentations and

(c)               To ask officers to report back to the Committee with any issues arising from appeals and tribunals.

2.50pm

Report by Maria Grindley, Audit Director, and Alan Witty, Audit Manager, Ernst & Young (AG7).

The Committee is asked to note the report.

3.20pm

Report by Peter Clark, County Solicitor & Monitoring Officer (AG8).

The report is to inform Committee of the timetable of the Monitoring Officer’s review of the governance arrangements and formation of an informal sounding board (comprising of 3 members of the Committee) to assist the Monitoring Officer.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)               Note the Monitoring Officer’s proposed review of governance arrangements and the Committee’s role in receiving interim and final reports;

(b)       Nominate three councillors from the Committee to act as an informal sounding board for the Monitoring Officer during the conduct of the review.

The Committee had before them a report (AG8) which Peter Clark, County Solicitor and Monitoring Officer, confirmed set out his intention to form a group to act as a sounding board, to be made up of members, ideally one from each group, with whom he could discuss matters in relation to the new governance arrangements and decision making.

In the past, members had not felt engaged and scrutiny processes were not felt to have been as effective as they could have been.  The Governance arrangements had been approved as recommended and moves were now being made to achieve them, ensuring that the new arrangements were as effective as possible.

It was confirmed that the group would be in place until July 2014, and the timeline was set out at paragraph 9 of the report.  Councillors Lovatt, Pressel Mathew and Roz Smith all offered to take part.

Peter Clark confirmed that the reports back to Committee would be his reports for the Committee to agree or disagree with, and not those of the new group.  Although the meetings of the group would be as open as possible, he also reserved the right to hold any meetings privately and confidentially.  He also reserved the right to make his own decisions following meetings with the group.

RESOLVED:

(a)       to note the report and

(b)       to nominate Councillors Lovatt, Pressel, Mathew and R. Smith to act as an informal sounding board for the Monitoring Officer.

3.50pm

Report by the Chief Fire Officer and Head of Community Safety (AG9).

The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (the Framework) sets out a new requirement for fire and rescue authorities to provide an annual statement of assurance on financial, governance and operational matters and to show how they have due regard to the requirements of the Framework and the expectations set out in authorities’ own integrated risk management plans.  To demonstrate this, the Framework requires that each authority must publish an annual statement of assurance.

The Statement of Assurance 2012/13 document is intended to meet the obligation to produce this statement through reference to public webpages, existing reports and documents.  The report was prepared following the Department for Communities and Local Government guidance on statements of assurance for fire and rescue authorities in England.  The structure of the report was based on guidance contained in Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Circular 2013-10 appendix - draft table of contents statement of assurance.  The statement of assurance is intended to be published on the public website only, it is not intended to produce hard copy versions.

The OCC Annual Governance Statement 2012/13 makes reference to the statement of assurance and provides a link to the web address.  The statement of assurance should be signed on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council by Councillor Louise Chapman, Cabinet Member with responsibility for the fire and rescue service.

RECOMMENDATION

The Audit and Governance Committee is asked to approve the publication of this Statement of Assurance 2012/13.

3.50pm

RESOLVED:

the Committee noted the Committee’s work programme for 2013/14.