Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence received.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Ian Davis to his first Audit and Governance Committee.

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, the Committee noted the termination of membership of Councillor Cotterill and the appointment of Councillor Gail Hodson respectively for this meeting only, giving effect to the wishes of the Political Groups.

If a Member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Borough Solicitor in advance of the meeting.   (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet).

There were no declarations of interest.

Residents of West Lancashire on giving notice, may address the meeting to make representations on any item on the agenda except where the public and press are to be excluded during consideration of the item.  The deadline for submission is 5.00pm on Thursday 31 August 2017.

There were no items under this Heading.

To receive as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 27 June 2017.

RESOLVED:   That the minutes of the meeting held on the 27 June 2017 be

                           approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer)

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 73 to 110 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to receive a report from the Council's External Auditors, Grant Thornton setting out their findings on the audit of the accounts and value for money.

The Chairman invited Karen Murray and Georgia Jones from Grant Thornton to present the Audit Findings Report to the Committee.

A question was asked in connection with the mis-calculation of lease

payments.

Karen Murray provided a response to this question and replied that this was easy to miscalculate and was not an uncommon error and that this had been rectified.

RESOLVED:    That the report be noted.

(To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer)

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 111 to 220 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to approve a Letter of Representation and the Council's annual Statement of Accounts.

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following issues:-

·         Build-up of investment assets

·         The whereabouts of the Ruff Public Park and Pleasure Ground

         RESOLVED   A.            That the Letter of Representation set out in Appendix 1 of the report be endorsed.

                      B.            That the Statement of Account set out in Appendix 2 of the report be approved.

(To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer)

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 221 to 225 of the Book of Reports which advised of the progress against the 2017/18 Internal Audit Plan.

The Audit Manager reported that delivery of the Internal Audit Plan was progressing well and that the Plan was on track and should be delivered on time if current progress is maintained.  

He also advised Members that a new temporary appointment was currently being filled to help with the issue identified in the Annual Governance Statement relating to the management of electronic records corporately.

A Member asked whether there were any significant issues in audit work completed to date that Members needed to be aware of in respect of the Internal Audit Activity, and it was confirmed that there were no such issues at this time.

RESOLVED:             That progress in the year to date be noted.

(Note:  Councillor Dowling arrived during consideration of this item and was present for the remainder of the meeting).

(To consider the report of the Borough Solicitor)

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor as circulated and contained on pages 227 to 255 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to present an updated RIPA Policy document for approval.

RESOLVED:             That the Council's RIPA activity and the updated RIPA Policy document be noted.

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme as set out on page 257 of the Book of Reports. It was noted that the dates of future meetings of the Audit and Governance Committee would need to be changed through the Council's usual processes due to the deadline for the annual audit moving forward.

RESOLVED:             That the Work Programme be noted.