Agenda and minutes

          The Minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2024 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          The Board considered a report of the Corporate Director – Chief Executive’s Delivery Unit, which provided an update on the governance arrangements for the Council’s Transformation Programme. The Council’s Transformation Programme had started to operate on 1 April 2023, since then it had grown in both scope and complexity. The programme is in place until 31 March 2026 and the governance primarily sat with Executive Board, who acted as the Programme Board.

          In August 2024 a Transformation Programme Board was established. This was a working party consisting of ten Executive Board members.

          In addition to the Board, a level of scrutiny operated across the projects through Topic Groups led by the Chairs of the relevant Policy and Performance Boards. Any recommendations emerging from this scrutiny are referred to the Transformation Programme Board via the Lead Member for the respective project. The Terms of Reference for the Transformation Programme Board were appended to the report.

          The Board discussed the governance arrangements for the Transformation Programme Board and agreed that for the purposes of transparency, the Executive Board be recommended to consider that members of the Audit and Governance Board should be included as part of the Board membership.

          RESOLVED: That

1)    the report be noted; and

2)    Executive Board be recommended to consider that members of the Audit and Governance Board be included as part of the Transformation Programme Board membership.

          The Board considered a report of the Director of Finance, which sought approval of the final 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement (AGS).

          The 2023/24 AGS was originally presented to the Board in June 2024. The areas identified for development in the action plan remained unchanged from the version previously approved by the Board.

          Once approved the AGS would be signed by the Council Leader and Chief Executive and published on the Council’s website.

          RESOLVED: That the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24 be approved.

          The Board considered a report of the Director of Finance, which sought approval for the Council’s 2023/24 Statement of Accounts (Appendix 3), and the report of the Audit Findings of the External Auditor (Grant Thornton) on the 2023/24 financial statements.  The report also sought approval of the Council’s Letter of Representation.

          It was reported that the Statement of Accounts set out the Council’s financial performance for the year in terms of revenue and capital spending and also presented the year end financial position as reflected in the balance sheet. The key elements were detailed in the report.

          The External Auditor presented the Audit Findings report which summarised the findings from 2023/24 external audit.  Section 2 of the Audit Findings report presented the finding of the External Auditor in respect of matters and risks identified at the planning stage of the audit and additional and significant matters that arose during the course of their work.  Appendix B of the Audit Findings Report presented an action plan of recommendations for future improvement to the Statement of Accounts.  These would be reviewed by management for appropriate action.

          In addition, the Council was required to provide the External Auditor with a Letter of Representation relating the financial statements, as shown in Appendix 1.  The letter was required to be signed by the Chair of the Board on behalf of the Council.

RESOLVED: That

1)    the draft Letter of Representation in Appendix 1 be approved and any subsequent additions or amendments be approved by the Director - Finance, in liaison with the Chair of the Board;

2)    the External Auditor’s draft 2023/24 Audit Findings Report in Appendix 2 be received and any subsequent additions or amendments be approved by Director - Finance, in liaison with the Chair of the Board; and

3)    the Council’s draft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts in Appendix 3 be approved and any subsequent additions or amendments be approved by the Director - Finance, in liaison with the Chair of the Board.

          The Board considered a report of the Director of Finance which presented the 2023/24 External Audit Annual Report.

          On behalf of the Council’s External Auditor, Grant Thornton UK LLP, L. Luddington and M. Green, presented the Annual Report, which detailed the Council’s overall arrangements, as well as providing key recommendations regarding any significant weaknesses identified during the review. It was noted that the report identified a number of significant weaknesses, and the external auditors had made key recommendations where the Council should take action to improve together with management’s responses. In addition, a number of improvement recommendations were identified within the report, along with management's responses.

          RESOLVED: That

1)    the contents of the 2023/24 External Audit Annual Report shown in the appendix be noted, including the recommendations contained within the Report;

2)    Council be asked to consider the two statutory recommendations contained within the report, at its meeting on 4 December 2024; and

3)    Executive Board be requested to ask each Executive/Corporate Director to identify what items of non-staff related expenditure are defined as essential to the delivery of services within their Directorate, and to provide written justification for the essential spend designation, outside of which no other spending will be permitted.

          The Board considered a report of the Director of Finance which advised on a review of the terms of reference (TOR) for the Audit and Governance Board. The review had been prompted by the recent external assessment of the Council’s internal audit arrangements, which included a recommendation that the Board’s TOR should be aligned with that suggested by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

          A proposed terms of reference for the Board had therefore been developed in accordance with the model TOR recommended by CIPFA in its publication ‘Audit Committees Practical Guidance for Local Authorities and Police (2022 edition). The revised TOR were attached to the report as Appendix A.

          RESOLVED: That the Board

1)    considers the revised terms of reference for the Board, which align with CIPFA recommended practice; and

2)    delegates authority to the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Chair of the Board to finalise any proposed amendments prior to submission to Full Council for approval.

PART II

In this case the Board has a discretion to exclude the press and public and, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, it is RECOMMENDED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, having been satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Board considered:

1)    whether members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

2)    whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:  That, as in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business, in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board received a report from the Head of Audit, Procurement and Operational Finance, updating Members on the internal audit activity since the last progress report to the Board on 25 September 2024.  It also highlighted any matters that were relevant to the Board’s responsibilities as the Council’s Audit Committee.

Members were referred to appendix one, which listed all the planned work for the year and its current status.  The schedule of audits had been updated to reflect the progress made in completing audits since the last update to the Board.  By the end of October 2024, 732 days of audit work had been completed, which represented 63.1% of the total planned days for the year. 

Appended to the report were the executive summaries of the reports issued numbering 2 to 15, as listed in the report. 

RESOLVED:  That the Internal Audit Progress Report and comments made be noted.