Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2017 be approved as a correct record.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Kathy Levine. Councillor Anne Hutton was substituting.

Councillor Arjun Mittra declared a pecuniary interest in Item 7, Internal Audit Exception Recommendations Report and Q1 Progress Report 1st April to 30th June 2017 Nursery Places – Free Early Education Funding, as his mother is nursey owner and as such her business is in receipt of funding for the free minutes. Councillor Mittra left the room during the discussion of this item.

Councillor Arjun Mittra declared a non - pecuniary interest in Item 7, Internal Audit Exception Recommendations Report and Q1 Progress Report 1st April to 30th June 2017 - Appendix B: Summary of The Barnet Group Internal Audit Annual Report 2016/17 – as he is a Barnet Home tenant.

Councillor Arjun Mittra declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 9, Draft Governance Annual Statement - Electoral Services – Electoral Registration and Elections Continuous Improvement as he an employee of Andrew Dismore AM.

Councillor Peter Zinkin declared a non - pecuniary interest in Item 7, Internal Audit Exception Recommendations Report and Q1 Progress Report 1st April to 30th June 2017 as he is involved with the Charity about to start nursery.

Councillor Anne Hutton declared a non - pecuniary interest in Item 7, Internal Audit Exception Recommendations Report and Q1 Progress Report 1st April to 30th June 2017 as she a member of the Barnfield Children’s Centre Advisory Board.

None.

The Committee noted the details of the received public questions from Mr Dix in relation to item 11 and the public answers which were published ahead of the meeting. Responses to the supplementary public questions were provided verbally by the Chairman and Officers at the meeting. 

None.

By way of introduction Mr Lloyd-Thomas from BDO, external auditor apologised to the Committee for the lateness of the interim report which resulted in Members being left with insufficient time to consider the interim report. He explained to the Committee that they’d been unable to close down the issues that had arisen in the time available and as consequence unable to present a final position report to the Committee.

Mr Lloyd-Thomas clarified that they had only recently become aware of the OFSTED report (which was not part of the original risk assessment) and as such the focus had been more on the accounts audit rather than the Use of Resources. He further clarified for the Committee that this would have been picked up before the final report was issued as part of the process involves looking at recent reports published by the relevant regulatory bodies including OFSTED inspections. 

Mr Lloyd-Thomas and Mr Jody Etherington proceeded to present the interim report which detailed the key findings arising from the audit. The Committee were provided with updates that had been received since the publication of the report on key issues identified.  

With regards to the audit finding referencing ‘…..high level of manual intervention…’ on page 23 of the supplementary pack, Changes in presentation of  the financial statement, the Assistant Director of Finance, CSG confirmed that reducing the level of manual intervention required would be picked up  as part of the improvement plan [ACTION]

With regards to the audit finding referencing ‘…..declarations have not been received from 7 current Members of the Council’ on page 26 of the supplementary pack, Consideration of party related functions, Mr Etheringiton updated the Committee that there were now only 5 members with outstanding declarations.

With regards to the OFSTED inspection, Mr Lloyd-Thomas clarified for the Committee that this would be reported as a ‘qualified use in resource opinion’ rather than a ‘clean opinion’. He referred to guidance that sets out where OFSTED finds a service as failing service that has to be reported as a failure within the governance of the Council.

With regards to the Pension Fund Committee meeting taking place in September the Director of Resources confirmed that the Committee would receive the revised Pension Fund Accounts and the auditor’s report on the Pension Fund. [ACTION]

The Committee requested that the issues around the errors in the accounts and a review as to whether the key performance indicators are adequate are brought to the attention of the Performance and Contract Management Committee [ACTION]

The Committee further requested that the Chairman write the Chief Executive of the Council expressing their concern at (i) the failure of the external Auditors to deliver the accounts audit within the agreed time table and (ii) that the process followed by the external auditors in terms of servicing the Committee which would should allow the Committee function effectively, did not work [ACTION]

As the statutory deadline for signing off the accounts is 30th September the Chairman,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Assurance Director presented the report in conjunction auditor Mr Matthew Cavanagh, auditor PwC. She drew the Committee’s attention to the new report format and welcomed any comments/feedback/comment from Committee on the format.

Some minor corrections were made to the following sections on page 16;

1.3.2   A total of  1415 actions have been followed up this quarter. 7 8 actions have been implemented (50%) (53%) and 7 have been partially implemented (50%). Progress is summarised in Section 4.

1.4.1   As part of our regular reporting to you, we plan to keep you up to date with the emerging information relevant to local government risk, governance and control. We have included a summary of publications which may be of interest at Appendix A Appendix B

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 (S106) – Phase I, Income – Limited Assurance

The Assurance Director confirmed that in relation to the high priority findings evidence had been received that the actions have now been completed and implemented.

With regards CIL charge identification (finding 4, medium) clarification was sought on (i) whether the council may have forgone some income on those schemes that had not been ‘…marked eligible applications as ‘CIL liable’ in the Uniform system and therefore a CIL charge was not created.’ (ii)  if so how much? and (iii) could the income still be recovered?[ACTION]

In addition to the above the Assurance Director agreed to follow up on the medium priority findings and report them back to the next ordinary meeting of the Committee in November. [ACTION]

Nursery Places – Free Early Education Funding – Limited Assurance

The Operational Director (Early Help, CIN, & Protection) confirmed for the Committee that there is an action plan in place which is now in the process of being implemented.

She explained to the Committee the process of how those children who are eligible for free early education are identified to the local authority, how the places are offered and the funding process.

With regards to ‘Headcount’ she clarified that a list is provided by the provider on how many children are attending on that particular day and as such the information is only reflective of a particular moment in time and would not capture how many children have attended over the course of the week.

With regards to training providers she clarified that local authorities are not permitted to impose standards, provide training development or any improvement work around standards – that should be provided internally. There is statutory guidance produced by the Department of Education to which nursery providers can be directed to.

The Assurance Director made the following minor correction with regards to page 20 Section 3.0 Progress against plan, Nursery places – Free Early Education Funding; of the 7 completed finding the rating were;

1 High

34  Medium

21  Low

1 advisory

With regards to the N/A report classification on page 21 of the committee papers the Committee requested if an alternative classification could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Head of Counter Fraud operations introduced the report which provides the Committee with an update of work undertaken by the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team (CAFT) during the quarter.

Tenancy Fraud

The Committee were informed that as of April 2017 CAFT were now checking all ‘right to buy’ cases that Barnet Homes receive. This involves carrying out a verification process to ensure there is no money laundering involved or influence from organised activity.

He clarified for the Committee that a key fob exercise is an exercise carried out with Barnet Homes housing officers who are able to gain access to a block of flats via a key fob. This gives CAFT access they previously did not have and forms part of the clarification process.

He further clarified that with regards to planning fraud it is very much dependent on the circumstances of the case. For example if someone submits information misrepresenting themselves or another party and by that material representation made a gain that would be looked as a fraud.

RESOLVED - That the Committee note the CAFT Progress Report covering the period 1st April – 30 June 2017.

The Assurance Director introduced the report which is a statutory report andsummarises the key processes thecouncil uses to deliver systems of control, governance and assurance across its functions.

She clarified for the Committee that this Annual Governance Statement is aligned to the 2012 – 2016 CIPFA Code of Delivering Good Governance and that the current Code of Corporate Governance is included within the Constitution and is in the process of being reviewed and updated in accordance with new CIPFA/SOLACE revised guidance and principles issued at the end of 2016 for adoption and implementation with the Council during 2017/18.

Electoral Services – Electoral Registration and Elections Continuous Improvement

Councillor Cooke proposed duly seconded by Councillor Mittra the following amendment to the opening paragraph at the top of page 61of the committee papers

While recognising that the resources deployed are set by the Council’s budget.

The revised paragraph to read;

It is a statutory requirement that the process of administering and running elections is held entirely separately from politicians, while recognising that the resources deployed are set by the Council’s budget.

The Assurance Director clarified that depending on the election there was a grant given by the Cabinet Office to fund elections and that costs can be recovered in most elections (European, GLA, Parliamentary) with the exception of local elections which are funded by the council through a dedicated local election reserve.

The Chairman put Councillor Cooke’s amendment to the vote which was as follows;

For 3

Against 4

The amendment was lost.

The Assurance Director clarified that the ‘We’ referred to in the 5^th paragraph, page 61 of the committee report , refers to management and undertook to amended the wording so that it is explicitly set out as such [ACTION]

Final paragraph on page 61 of the committee report the Committee requested if the wording could be amended to reflect that the Returning officer referred is the ‘current’ returning officer [ACTION]

Subject to the above the Committee; 

RESOLVED - That the Committee comment on and approve the Annual Governance Statement for inclusion within the Statement of Accounts for 2016/17

The Chairman provided a brief introduction.

resolved - That the Committee recommend Full Council to note and approve the Annual Report of the Audit Committee for 2016-17 as an accurate record of the outcomes and work programme for the year.

The Committee noted the work programme for 2017-18.