Agenda and minutes

Apologies were submitted on behalf of Councillor Mayne with the substitution of Councillor Nichols authorised in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.3.

To receive verbally from members any disclosures which they are required to make in accordance with the Council’s code of conduct or in pursuance of Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.  This is in addition to the need for such disclosure to be also given when the relevant matter is reached on the Agenda.

No interests were declared at this stage.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Finance Audit & Performance Committee held on 10 December 2012 attached.     

On the motion of Councillor Camamile, seconded by Councillor Moore, it was

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

M Watkins from PWC presented the Grant Certification Report which considered the potential loss of subsidy to the Authority. As a result of the review it was estimated that there would be a loss of £6351 representing 0.03% of the total subsidy value. This would not be confirmed until the DWP had completed its work.

It was noted that this was Mark’s last meeting, he was thanked for his input to HBBC.

Alison Breadon, the new Engagement Leader from PWC, presented the External Audit plan for 2012/13. The key activities of the council were reflected within the plan and information regarding feed and communication was confirmed.

In response to a member’s question regarding capital expenditure, Alison Breadon confirmed it would be considered as a major part of the financial management of the Authority. She confirmed that decisions on expenditure were not challenged unless there was a reason to indicate that they should be due to impropriety or financial mismanagement.

The report was noted.

Tim Ridout from CW Audit introduced the internal audit block report for the 3^rd quarter. It was noted that two scheduled Audits would be carried over to 2013/14.

The following assurances were given:

• Benefit Fraud Investigations – significant Assurance
• Fuel Controls – Significant Assurance. Following a question regarding CCTV it was agreed that the Committee would be advised regarding CCTV arrangements at the Jubilee Building
• Anti Fraud – this was a benchmarking report offering advice on best practice.
• Housing repairs – This was covered later on the agenda

The tracking report was noted.

T Ridout presented the report and explained that the plan layout was slightly different to previous years due to changes in Internal Audit Standards. The plan explained the purpose of internal audit, how the plan was formulated and the reporting lines including relationships with external audit and officers. The Plan showed the days proposed to be spent on specific audits in the financial years 13/14 and 14/15. There were some slight amendments due to movements of audits from 12/13 and an additional Housing Repairs audit.

The Plan was agreed.

Report of the Chief Officer for Corporate & Customer Resources, Scrutiny & Ethical Standards attached.

The Chief Officer (Corporate & Customer Resources, Scrutiny & Ethical Standards) presented the 3^rd quarter report showing performance as at 20.2.13. Questions were asked regarding performance indicators, service improvement plans and Corporate Risks:

• Housing re-let times: a request was made for an action plan
• Web satisfaction: members felt whilst our site was good, the planning portal was difficult to navigate
• Uniform upgrade: was it now complete?
• What was the impact on our CO2 targets with Jubilee building not being Excellent rated?
• A report was requested as early as possible regarding the bus station, in connection with Corporate Risk S.06.

The report was noted.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Direction) attached.

Kat Bennett presented the Revenue and Capital Outturn, the revenue account was indicating a £800,000 underspend from service budgets due to savings and increased income. The capital budget demonstrated a number of slippages indicating that £3million had been spent against a programme of £4.2 million. With regard to the HRA, an overspend of £136,194 was indicated though it was noted that this was due to the Council’s position under self financing. In actual terms it was clarified that a smaller surplus was anticipated than what was originally budgeted.

Following a question regarding NNDR, officers explained that this was because HBBC had to pay 75% of the NNDR for the Stoke Road site as there was a delay in the sale. SK confirmed in response to a further question the depot relocation costs and the Hub developer incentive.

Work Programme for 2013/14 for agreement attached.

The following were added to the work programme:

15 July – add training

3 June – Missing block for quarter two report.

Report to follow.

J Kenny presented a report regarding the Housing Repairs In House service.  Origninally an underspend had been noted, but on closer inspection it appeared that this was due to a backlog in processing. A full review had been undertaken and an action plan had been developed to ensure that the service performs and has strong financial control. A number of questions were raised by members regarding staffing and assurances regarding processes and it was agreed that there would be a full update report at the end of April 2013 regarding the outturn position and the Action Plan.