Agenda and minutes

Venue: Kingston Room - Pump Room, Bath. View directions

Contact: Sean O'Neill  01225 395090

Items
No. Item

17.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 8.

Minutes:

The Chair read out the procedure

 

[At this point, the Chair welcomed to the meeting Wayne Rickard and Chris Hackett, both of the Audit Commission]

18.

ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR

To elect a Vice-Chair (if required) for this meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion

19.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Councillor Gerry Curran.

 

Andrew Pate (Strategic Director of Resources and Support Services) had sent apologies for his absence.

 

The Chair announced that the Committee’s longstanding Democratic Services Officer, Sean O’Neill, was attending a family funeral so was unable to be at the meeting.  The Committee expressed their condolences to Sean and his family and asked for this to be recorded in the minutes.

20.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive any declarations from Members/Officers of financial or other interests in respect of matters for consideration at this meeting, together with their statements on the nature of any such interests declared.

Minutes:

There were none

21.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

The Chair will announce any items of urgent business.

Minutes:

There was none

22.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS

Minutes:

There were none

23.

ITEMS FROM COUNCILLORS AND CO-OPTED AND ADDED MEMBERS

To deal with any petitions, statements or questions from Councillors and, where appropriate, co-opted and added Members.

Minutes:

There were none

24.

MINUTES: 28 JUNE 2011 pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Minutes:

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

25.

PRESENTATION - UNDERSTANDING THE ACCOUNTS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Irene Draper (Principal Accountant) who had served the Committee for a number of years.  He announced that Irene would be leaving the Council at the end of September.  The Committee expressed its thanks to Irene and best wishes for her future.

 

Irene gave a presentation entitled “Understanding the Accounts” [a copy of which is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 1 and on the Council’s website].  She explained the new layout of the accounts, which were now required to follow the International Finance Reporting Standards. There was a brief question and answer session.  The Chair thanked Irene for her contribution.

Appx 1 Understanding The Accounts pdf icon PDF 35 KB

26.

B&NES AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2010/11 pdf icon PDF 39 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Tim Richens, Divisional Director (Finance) introduced the report and drew the Committee’s attention to the report in a number of places.  He reminded the Committee that the Budget vs. Actual figures (page 7) were the same figures which had been reported to Cabinet in July.  The report also included the Summary of Capital Expenditure, split by service department, the General Fund Balances and Reserves, and the Property Plant and Equipment (excluding commercial estate).

 

Councillor Barry Macrae congratulated officers for their very clear presentation of the complex accounts.  He expressed disappointment that there was not a single page summary, as an aid to the public.

 

Irene Draper said that as in previous years, there would soon be available a 6-sheet summary.

 

Councillor Will Sandry referred to the Cash Flow Statement (page 13) and observed that the available cash had increased by £7M in the year.  He asked if there was a reason for this, given that the Council had borrowed several million pounds.

 

The Divisional Director (Finance) explained that the available cash included borrowings held in cash equivalents, and assured the Committee that the Council always sought to minimise and delay borrowings by prudent use of available cash.

 

Councillor Andy Furse referred to the “step change” in the Children’s Services area of the Income and Expenditure Account (page 11) and asked why this had happened.

 

Irene Draper explained that this had been brought about because of a different way of recording notional depreciation of school buildings, so the two years were not directly comparable.

 

Councillor Geoff Ward asked for an explanation for the improvement in Short Term Creditors (page 12).

 

Irene Draper explained that this was mainly as a result of better debt collecting.

 

Councillor Ward was concerned that the Bank Overdraft (page 12) was reported as £14M.

 

Irene Draper assured the Committee that there was always cash to balance the overdraft, and that the overdrafts did not cost the Council any interest.

 

Councillor Ward asked about the “surplus assets” of £26M (page 12), which he felt seemed very high.

 

Irene explained that to a large extent these were assets no longer being used by services but which had not yet been sold off.

 

Councillor Andy Furse asked whether the Council should look at this with a view to selling or bringing back into use.

 

The Divisional Director (Finance) said that the situation was considered on a monthly basis by the Capital Strategy Group.  He observed that the proceeds from the sale of educational assets could only be reapplied to educational use, and there was often a delay before assets could be sold.

 

Chris Hackett (Audit Commission) observed that the disclosure of assets was a new requirement, but was successful in ensuring more openness in accounts.

 

[At this point, the Chair pointed out to the Committee that before considering the officer’s recommendations to this report, it would be necessary to consider the two Governance Reports (items 12 and 13 on the agenda), and then to return to the debate and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

27.

GOVERNANCE REPORT B&NES COUNCIL 2010/11 pdf icon PDF 43 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Wayne Rickard (Audit Commission) introduced the report.  He explained that he would be issuing an unqualified opinion on the accounts, saying that credit was due to the Council’s Finance team for their hard work in preparing the accounts.  He also referred to page 12 of his report and confirmed that he would be issuing an unqualified Value For Money opinion.

 

He referred to page 4 of the report, which asked the Committee to take note of the adjustments to the financial statements, as set out in his report, and to approve the letter of representation.

 

At pages 6-7, he referred to the key audit risks and his findings, and confirmed that in his view the accounts were materially correct and that the requirements of the new International Financial Reporting Standards had been met.

 

He talked the Committee through the rest of his report, particularly at page 9 the issues he had become aware of and his recommendations to improve the accounts.

 

Councillor Andy Furse referred to the fact that a number of schools would be transferring to Academy status, and asked whether the maintenance liability would still fall to the Council.

 

The Divisional Director (Finance) explained that the funding for maintenance came direct from government but that the relevant amount would be clawed back to cover the cost of maintenance.  This year it had been £450K and next year it would be likely to be £700K, rising to possibly £2-3M.  Some functions such as school admissions, Director of Children’s Services and other functions must be retained by local authorities.  He acknowledged that large amounts of money were involved, and it would be important to get it right.

 

On a recommendation from Councillor Geoff Ward, seconded by Councillor Brian Simmons, it was

 

RESOLVED (unanimously):

 

  1. To NOTE the adjustments to the financial statements which are set out on page 18 of appendix 2 of the report;
  2. To APPROVE the letter of representation on behalf of the Council which is set out on page 23 of appendix 4 of the report.

28.

GOVERNANCE REPORT AVON PENSION FUND 2010/11 pdf icon PDF 43 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Chris Hackett (Audit Commission) introduced the report.  He explained that he had asked for an additional note (note 22) to be added at page 84 of the accounts.

 

The Chair read out the recommendations from the report.  He asked for clarification of the understatement of debtors, reported in appendix 3 (page 19) of the Auditors’ report.

 

Chris Hackett assured the Committee that, although requiring to be reported, both the references being referred to were in fact timing issues and were not material.

 

Councillor Barry Macrae expressed his thanks to the Auditors for the excellent working relationship they had built up with the Council.  This was echoed by other members.

 

On a recommendation from Councillor Geoff Ward, seconded by Councillor Will Sandry, it was

 

RESOLVED (unanimously):

 

  1. To NOTE the adjustment to the financial statements which is set out on page 18 of the Governance Report;
  2. To APPROVE the letter of representation on behalf of the Avon Pension Fund which is set out on page 9 of the Governance Report.

[At this point, the Chair directed the attention of the Committee to the recommendations from the previous item “Audited Statement of Accounts”, and reminded the Committee that they now needed to make their decision about the accounts.]

 

On a motion proposed by Councillor Brian Simons, seconded by Councillor Barry Macrae, it was:

 

RESOLVED (unanimously):

 

(1) To APPROVE the audited Statement of Accounts for 2010/11 after receiving the Governance Reports from the Audit Commission for the Council and Pension Fund

 

[The Chair signed the accounts, which were passed to the 151 Officer for signature and safe keeping]

 

29.

PRESENTATION - THE ROLE OF THE AUDIT COMMISSION

Minutes:

Wayne Rickard (District Auditor) gave a presentation [a copy of which is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 2 and is available on the Council’s website] on the role of the Audit Commission and proposed changes to the governance arrangements of the Commission.

 

The Chair thanked the District Auditor for his presentation.

Appx 2 Audit Commission Presentation pdf icon PDF 226 KB

30.

BRIBERY ACT 2010 pdf icon PDF 46 KB

Minutes:

Jeff Wring (Head of Risk & Assurance) introduced the report.  He explained that the Bribery Act had come into force in July 2011.  He referred in particular to paragraph 4.4 (page 2 of the report) which listed as a commercial offence “failure to prevent bribery”.  He also referred to the arrangements put in place to mitigate the risk of bribery, and these were laid out in paragraph 4.12 (page 4) of the report.

 

Councillor Will Sandry asked how many times in the last 12 months a member of staff had used the whistleblowing arrangements.

 

The Head of Risk & Assurance said that the Council received approximately 5 whistleblowing reports in any year, and about 75% of these were anonymous.  So it was difficult to give an accurate figure for members of staff.

 

Councillor Sandry asked what percentage had been found to be proven.

 

The Head of Risk & Assurance said that in about a third of cases, evidence was found of “something not quite right”, although in many cases it was down to poor management rather than deliberate fraud.  He also explained that a proportion of whistleblowing incidents are the result of a breakdown in a working relationship.

 

Councillor Barry Macrae asked if all reports were treated seriously and properly investigated, and logged so that patterns could be spotted.

 

The Head of Risk & Assurance confirmed that a log was kept so that patterns could be spotted and investigated further.

 

John Barker observed that it would be very important to keep track of the activities of social enterprises and other partnerships.

 

It was RESOLVED (unanimously):

 

  1. To NOTE the report;
  2. To ACKNOWLEDGE the new legislation together with the Council's current response to this.

[The Committee agreed to note that the next meeting would be held on 6th December 2011, at 5:30pm.  The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that matters were in hand to arrange dates for 2012 which would be announced in due course.]