Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Allen and Hollick.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

It was moved by Councillor Gibbens, seconded by Councillor Flemming and

                        RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 24 July 2024                    be confirmed as a correct record.

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.

There were no interests declared at this meeting.

Report of the internal auditor

Members received the internal audit final report on the recording of electric and gas usage for 2023/2024.

In response to questions from members around the technology used to collate this information, officers confirmed that:

-       the council currently had 85 sites  where electric meters were used, 20 where gas meters were used and there could be up to 150 units that became vacant for a period each year where the council was required to cover any costs. The main administrative buildings, which were the Hub, the Atkins building and the Jubilee building all had more robust arrangements in place and appropriate monitoring was easier to complete, but some were in buildings with very low usage, such as parks. Officers reiterated that there were a lot of staff involved in trying to pick up this information, that was a heavily manual process over a wide geographical area, which was fed back via emails, entered into a spreadsheet. Officers agreed that this process did need reviewing, and as a result of the findings a quarterly report on gas and electric usage would be provided as part of the finance outturn reports.

Members asked that given the council’s climate change commitments this matter should be considered by the scrutiny commission or the climate change working group.

It was moved by Councillor Webber-Jones, seconded by Councillor Gibbens and

                        RESOLVED – the report be noted.

Report of the internal auditor

Members received a report that provided assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the key controls in place in relation to health and safety.

In response to questions from members officers confirmed that:

-       Staff would be reminded to use the on-line portal to complete the necessary incident forms; and

-       Actions arising from the investigation of accidents, incidents and near misses would be monitored and reported within the quarterly performance dashboard presented to SLT.

It was moved by Councillor Webber-Jones, seconded by Councillor Williams and

                        RESOLVED – the report be noted.

Report of the internal auditor

Members were presented with the progress report which included the current position of the delivery of the 2023/24 internal audit plan.

In response to a question from members it was confirmed that the deferral of the leisure centre audit had been requested and agreed with the service to enable them to focus on current ongoing projects.

Members reported that they were pleased with the progress being made.

It was moved by Councillor Webber-Jones, seconded by Councillor Gibbens and

                        RESOLVED – the progress report be noted.

Information for members setting out the Government’s proposal for addressing the local government audit backlog

Members received a letter setting out the Government’s proposal for addressing the local government audit backlog that included timelines and intentions to prioritise their resources.

Members reiterated that they were concerned that this would be an ongoing problem.

In response to questions from members, officers confirmed that they would be getting an update from Azets to clarify their views on the work that still needed to be done.

It was moved by Councillor Webber-Jones, seconded by Councillor Williams and

                        RESOLVED – the update be noted.

To present progress and support for actions needed on the audit committee’s agreed action plan

Members were presented with a progress report on the audit committee action plan.

The chair confirmed that Sarah Knowles from Mazars would be delivering the training that had been identified, and this was in the process of being organised.

It was moved by Councillor Webber-Jones, seconded by Councillor Williams and

                        RESOLVED –

(i)            the report be noted,

(ii)          members considered any action needed.

Members to consider if any items are required to be referred to council

There were no specific items identified to be referred to council.

It was noted that a report on the work of this committee would be submitted to a future council meeting.