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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Cabinet/Committee Room - 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk L39 2DF

Contact: Jill Ryan 

Items
No. Item

36.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

There were no apologies received.

37.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

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

Minutes:

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, the Committee noted the termination of Councillors Wynn and  Pope and the appointments of Councillors Delaney and   Mrs Witter respectively for this meeting only, thereby giving effect to the wishes of the Political Groups.

38.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST pdf icon PDF 299 KB

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).

Minutes:

There were no Declarations of Interest received.

39.

PUBLIC SPEAKING pdf icon PDF 176 KB

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 10.00am on Friday 25 January 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no items under this heading.

40.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To receive as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the 30 October 2018.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the meeting held on the 30 October 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

41.

GRANT THORNTON - PROGRESS UPDATE pdf icon PDF 125 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 379 to 385 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to receive an update from the Council's External Auditors Grant Thornton on a range of different matters.

 

The Chairman invited Georgia Jones from Grant Thornton to present the Progress Report to the Committee.

 

RESOLVED:            That the Grant Thornton Progress Report be noted.

42.

GRANT THORNTON - AUDIT PLAN pdf icon PDF 141 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 387 to 403 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to receive a report from the Council's External Auditors which set out their plan for the audit of the Council's 2018/19 financial statements and consideration of value for money issues.

 

The Chairman invited Georgia Jones from Grant Thornton to present the Audit Plan report.

 

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

 

·         Value for money arrangements in respect of the Housing Revenue Account  (HRA)

·         Introduction of new software

·         External Audit Fees and delivery of the work on time

·         Early closure dates for publication of local government accounts, and whether this could subject the Council to penalty fees

 

RESOLVED:    That the report be noted and that the Audit Plan be approved. 

43.

RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK AND POLICY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as set out on pages 405 to 417 of the Book of Reports which set out details of the operation of the Risk Management Framework over the last twelve months and recommended changes to the current Risk Management Policy.

 

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

 

·         When training on Risk Management would be undertaken – this is scheduled for October/November

·         In relation to the Risk Management Policy a Member asked that the time of  year when the Policy was reviewed could be added in the Policy and when the Working Group meets.

·         It was noted that there was a typo on page 411 of the report, the second bullet point should say "ambitious" for West Lancashire and not "ambitions".

 

RESOLVED: (A)         That the continuing effective operation of the Risk Management Framework and the comments above be noted.

 

                       (B)          That the proposed amendments to the Risk Management Policy as set out in the appendix be endorsed for approval by Cabinet incorporating the additional amendments as noted above.

 

44.

INTERNAL AUDIT ACTIVITIES - QUARTERLY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 419 to 424 of the Book of Reports which advised of progress against the 2018/19 Internal Audit Plan.

 

The Borough Treasurer reported 64% of the items on the plan were in progress compared to 62% for the same period in the previous year and outlined the key reasons for this position.

 

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

 

·         The number of Council house sales sold privately in the past 12 months.

·         The planned Treasury Management and Main Accounting audits.

 

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

45.

PROPERTY SERVICES - ARRANGEMENTS RELATING TO THE ENGAGEMENT OF A CONTRACTOR pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as contained on pages 425 to 440 of the Book of Reports which set out details of the issues arising from an internal audit examination of Property Services arrangements with a contractor.

 

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

 

·         The new procedures and management now in place

·         Tendering exercises

·         VAT issues

 

 

RESOLVED: (A)      That progress against the action plan be noted.

 

                       (B)       That a follow up audit of Property Services procurement is undertaken during 2019/20 to confirm that the new arrangements are working effectively.

 

46.

RIPA ACT REGULAR MONITORING OF USE OF POWERS

Improved monitoring of activity under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) introduced by the relevant Code of Practice, recommends that Members receive reports regularly from Officers on RIPA Activity.

 

There is no relevant activity to report since the last meeting of the Committee.

Minutes:

In relation to the quarterly monitoring of activity under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) the Borough Solicitor reported that there was no relevant activity to bring to the attention of the Committee.

 

RESOLVED:     That the report be noted.

47.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 189 KB

To consider the future Work Programme of the Committee.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme as set out at page 441 of the Book of Reports.

 

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

 

·         Members requested the training session to be longer and the possibility of Audit and Governance Committee starting at 7.00pm.

·         A training session was requested on Social Value.

 

RESOLVED: (A)      That the Work Programme be noted.

 

(B)      That a training session on Social Value take place in October 2019.