Agenda and minutes

Venue: G10, Ground Floor, Hinckley Hub. View directions

Contact: Tan Ashraf, Democratic Services Officer on 01455 255834 or email  tan.ashraf@hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

441.

Apologies and substitutions

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Cope, MacDonald, Roberts and Williams.

442.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 64 KB

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Hodgkins and

 

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 10 January be confirmed and signed by the chairman.

443.

Declarations of interest

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.

Minutes:

No interests were declared at this stage.

444.

2018-19 External Audit Plan pdf icon PDF 5 MB

Report of the external auditor.

Minutes:

The external auditor presented the 2018/19 audit planning report. It was noted that there were only two risks highlighted – these were the same as the previous year and were common amongst local authorities. The auditor had recommended no change to the materiality limits and it was moved by Councillor Camamile, seconded by Councillor Lynch and

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)            The materiality limits be set at:

 

a.    Planning materiality: £1,047k

b.    Performance materiality: £785k

c.    Audit differences: £52k

 

(ii)           The report be approved.

445.

Housing Rent Debt Recovery Internal Audit Report pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Internal audit report.

Minutes:

The internal auditor presented the housing rent debt recovery internal audit report, highlighting that significant assurance had been given with one medium and one low risk recommendation. It was noted that sundry debt in relation to housing rents had been increasing and when benchmarked against other authorities was quite high. Whilst this was a national trend, the auditor had recommended reviewing the performance targets and frequency of reporting. Officers reported that monitoring reports would go to SLT and Finance & Performance Scrutiny on a quarterly basis.

 

Whilst it was noted that the rental debt had increased since the introduction of universal credit, it was moved by Councillor Camamile and seconded by Councillor Lynch that consideration be given to increasing member participation in reducing rental debt and improving reporting.

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)            the report be noted;

 

(ii)           consideration be given to increasing member participation in reducing rental debt.

446.

Housing Repairs Internal Audit pdf icon PDF 601 KB

Internal audit report for housing repairs.

 

Minutes:

Members received the housing repairs internal audit report. Significant assurance was provided, with three low recommendations detailed. There was satisfaction that testing met industry standards and checks were often more frequent than required by the standards. It was, however, recommended that an overarching policy in relation to testing be adopted. Whilst there were central records that showed all tests had been carried out, there was inconsistency across sites in terms of application of stickers when checked and the process of doing this and of updating centre managers should be formalised.

 

RESOLVED – the report be noted.

447.

Leics R&B Partnership IA Report pdf icon PDF 701 KB

Leicestershire Revenues & Benefits Partnership internal audit report.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the revenues & benefits partnership internal audit report. It was noted that the partnership board had already considered the report and were comfortable with the five low risk recommendations and three improvement points that had been included.

 

RESOLVED – the report be noted.

448.

Internal Audit Progress Report pdf icon PDF 378 KB

Internal audit progress plan report.

Minutes:

In presenting the internal audit progress report the progress of recommendation tracking was noted and it was highlighted that a lot of follow up would be required during the following quarter due to the number of recommendations that were due for implementation by 31 March 2019. In terms of the audit plan, this was on track for completion as originally agreed.

 

RESOLVED – the report be noted.

449.

Non-PO Expenditure Update April 19 pdf icon PDF 200 KB

To provide feedback to Members on issues raised by our previous Internal Auditors PWC.

Minutes:

Following the request at a previous meeting, a report was presented which showed the breakdown of payments where no purchase order had been raised. It was noted that the majority were payments where it would not be practical or possible to raise a purchase order, for example treasury management activity, payment of precepts, business rates, salaries and benefits. There were a small number of ‘other’ payments such as HMRC, housing repairs and S106 monies which were being looked at to see whether it would be necessary or possible to raise purchase orders. It was, however, noted that each of these payments went through the finance team so there was a control mechanism and that the auditors would pick up discrepancies during the audit process.

 

It was moved by Councillor Camamile, seconded by Councillor Lynch and

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)            the report be noted;

 

(ii)           a six monthly report be brought to the Audit Committee.

450.

Thanks from the chairman

Minutes:

Councillor Camamile, in the chair for this meeting, thanked members of the committee for their input and officers and auditors for their attendance and support since the committee had been set up.