Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Amy Tregellas, Email: a.tregellas@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
Webcast: View the webcast
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Lee Baker and Terry Venner.
Councillors Hugh Davies, Marcus Kravis and Andy Milne were absent. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee
To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 12 December 2022. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee RESOLVED to approve the minutes from the Audit and Governance Committee meeting held on 12th December 2022.
(proposed by Cllr Janet Lloyd, seconded by Cllr Dawn Johnson)
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Declarations of Interest
To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting. (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.) Additional documents: Minutes: Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-
No other declarations of interest were received.
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Public Participation
The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme. For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue. We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, but you can also access them on the Somerset West and Taunton webcasting website. Additional documents: Minutes: No members of the public had requested to speak on any item on the agenda. |
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Audit and Governance Committee Action/Recommendation Tracker
To receive an update on the status and progress of actions and recommendations arising from the Audit and Governance Committee meeting held on 12 December 2022. Additional documents: Minutes: Amy Tregellas, Governance Manager and Monitoring Officer presented the report: · The action tracker provides an update on actions outstanding from the last meeting held on 12 December 2023. · The Statement of Accounts were signed off on 1 March 2023 following the resolution of the statutory override relating to the treatment of infrastructure assets. · At last meeting members were minded to have an email update on the position in respect of landlord compliance but it has been added to the agenda tonight to provide an update following some work done with Savills.
The Committee RESOLVED that the Audit & Governance Committee action tracker be noted.
(proposed by Cllr Janet Lloyd, seconded by Cllr Simon Coles)
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External Audit Progress Report and Sector Update
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Author: John Dyson, Corporate Finance Manager and Jackson Murray, Director Public Sector Audit, Grant Thornton.
This report provides the Audit and Governance Committee with a progress update regarding the work of the External Auditor, Grant Thornton LLP, together with information relating to emerging issues which may be relevant to the Council. Additional documents: Minutes: Jackson Murray from Grant Thornton presented the report: · Highlights are on Page 26 of the agenda pack. · 2020/21 financial year - the opinion was issued and work on the value for money conclusion was completed some time ago but the audit certificate was held open. The certificate was issued on 27 February 2023 and that audit year is now fully closed. · 2021/22 financial year – the audit opinion and final value for money report was issued on 1 March 2023. The certificate was issued at the same time. So that audit year is also fully closed. · 2022/23 financial year is a couple of weeks away from its conclusion. External Auditors and finance colleagues across the five councils have been discussing the accounts production and audit process for the 2022/23 financial year. Reports for Somerset West and Taunton (SWT) Council will move forward to the Somerset Council Audit Committee. · Other work Grant Thornton completes for SWT relates to grant certifications. Work on Housing Benefit Subsidy Claim is due to be completed this month. · The Department for Levelling Up, Homes and Communities (DLUHC) issued guidance late last month relating to the return on the pooling of Housing Capital Receipts, so the work will be concluded once the detail has been worked through.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · Whether the grant certification work would be transferred to the Unitary once the work had been completed. The officer confirmed that whilst Grant Thornton don’t have to statutorily report the findings of grant certification work it is included in the regular progress update reports, which will be taken to the Somerset Council Audit Committee. · Whether liaison would continue with Somerset Council to deal with any questions or comments in the next few months, particularly in respect of the production of the 2022/23 Accounts. The Officer confirmed that Grant Thornton will be the appointed auditor of Somerset Council so there will be ongoing liaison. The operational meeting was to confirm who does that. There will only be one lead going forward, but current leads will take responsibility for the closure of the 2022/23 accounts.
Councillors thanked everyone at Grant Thornton and John Dyson for all their hard work.
The Committee RESOLVED to note the Progress Report and Sector Update received from Grant Thornton.
(proposed by Cllr Janet Lloyd, seconded by Cllr Simon Coles)
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SWAP Internal Audit - Outturn Report 2022/23 Internal Audit Plan
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Author: Alastair Woodland, Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit Services
The Internal Audit function plays a central role in corporate governance by providing assurance to the Audit and Governance Committee, looking over financial controls and checking on the probity of the organisation.
The 2022-23 Annual Internal Audit Plan is to provide independent and objective assurance on SWT Internal Control Environment. This work will support the Annual Governance Statement. Additional documents: Minutes: Alastair Woodland, Assistant Director from SWAP presented the report: · The update report on the 2022/23 audit plan covers progress, highlighting any significant findings to the Committee and flagging any changes to the Plan. · Page 36 lists the reports that have been issued since the last report in December 2022. There are two follow up audits to draw your attention to - management of material supplies and procurement cards. · Page 37 shows changes to the audit plan that have been made since the December 2022 report. Those areas of risk will be taken forward and looked at as part of the Somerset Council Audit Plan. · Pages 41 - 44 provides an overview of the work that has been completed during 2022/23. This includes a section on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) support work. · The management of material supplies was given limited assurance in 2021/22. This was followed up during 2022/23 and it was found that good progress had been made on all recommendations. All but one recommendation had been completed, with the remaining one being materially complete with an expectation that it would be completed before 31 March 2023. · There are a few recommendations outstanding in relation to the Procurement cards audit which are highlighted on page 47. There have been some staffing absences in that area which has delayed some of the recommendations. Procurement cards forms part of the risk assessment for the new authority and this will be kept under review during 2023/24 and looked at across the whole authority.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · The churn of staff in the next few months giving concern as to whether there is a process in place for the return of Procurement cards when staff leave. · How the process will be managed with potentially four different systems currently being used by district councils being managed under the Somerset Council process. · Whether there is a Somerset Council card set up and ready to be used from 1 April 2023 · How the transition process will be managed and controlled to ensure that transactions don’t get lost. · Officers confirmed that SWAP will be commencing work on 1 April 2023 looking at procurement card transactions and will do this across the year before doing a more in depth review. New authority will have a new control framework. SWT have clear details as to who currently holds cards and there is a requirement for them to be handed in when they leave the Council. There will be continuity with it moving across to the new council. Where Officer has a card now, they will continue to use this going forward to the new authority to ensure continuity and no disruption to the business. Somerset Council have set up a working group to pick up the work on procurement cards. SWT has done a thorough review of the conditions for issuing the cards which cardholders are required to subscribe to as well as the policy and guidance. All documentation has gone across to the working ... view the full minutes text for item 134. |
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Internal Audit Annual Audit Opinion Report 2022/23
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Author: Alastair Woodland, Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit Services.
The Internal Audit function plays a central role in corporate governance by providing assurance to the Annual Audit and Governance Committee, looking over financial controls and checking on the probity of the organisation. The 2022-23 Annual Audit Plan provided independent and objective assurance on SWT Internal Control Environment. This work supported the Annual Governance Statement.
Additional documents: Minutes: Alastair Woodland, Assistant Director from SWAP presented the report: · The Head of Audit is required to provide an annual opinion on how well governance, risk and internal control is working in the authority. · Page 54 provides summary of the opinion. Four categories of opinion that can be given – no assurance, limited assurance, reasonable assurance and substantial assurance. The opinion gives reasonable assurance. Over the lifetime of SWT governance, risk and control has generally improved year on year which is a good news story. · Pages 57 and 58 provide more narrative on the opinion. · There are certain things that have to be included in the opinion report. Page 59 highlights where SWAP’s work has fallen this year against the corporate risks that are in place in the organisation. This highlights the coverage and where the gaps are. The Audit & Governance Committee would want to receive assurance in the areas not being covered by SWAP. For example, there has been regular reporting to the committee on landlord safety checks. · Page 62 sets out the professional standards that are in place and that SWAP get externally assessed every five years. The last assessment showed that SWAP conformed with the standards and an annual self-assessment shows still conforming to them. · Pages 63 to 67 sets out the work that has been completed to form the basis of the opinion.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · Page 59 listing cyber security as no coverage in 2022/23 and whether it should be near the top of the list of priorities due to it being a high risk. The Officer confirmed that cyber security is a very high-risk area and has been covered in a lot of detail previously. It was not covered in as much detail in 2022/23 due to LGR and all the domains merging into a single domain. It has also been appreciated that there has been a large pull on IT resources during 2022/23 with IT radically changing for the new authority. Work has been carried out in terms of IT support to try to mitigate or provide assurance on some of those risks as well as supporting LGR. The Officer confirmed that cyber security is high on the radar for SWAP for 2023/24 and the next few years as the new IT infrastructure evolves in Somerset Council.
The Committee RESOLVED to note the Annual Opinion on the effectiveness of the internal control environment in the delivery of SWT objectives.
(proposed by Cllr Janet Lloyd, seconded by Cllr Steven Pugsley)
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Summary of Level 1 and 2 Audit Actions Progress
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Author: Malcolm Riches, Business Intelligence and Performance Manager.
The purpose of this report is to update the Committee on progress against level 1 and 2 Internal Audit actions as at the end January 2023.
Additional documents: Minutes: Malcolm Riches, Business Intelligence and Performance Manager presented the report: · The report shows the position at the 31 January 2023 which is: o 2 audit reports (General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and SWT Regeneration Projects) with all Priority 1 and 2 actions completed since the last report (see Appendix 1). o 3 audit actions completed since the last report (see Appendix 2). o There are currently no overdue audit actions that are beyond their current target date. o 4 audit actions currently open whose due date is after 31 January 2023. These actions are listed along with a Red Amber Green (RAG) status of progress being made in Appendix 2 with all showing as green. 3 of these actions are on schedule to be completed before 31st March 2023, and the 1 remaining action (Records Management) is being incorporated as part of the LGR Information Governance Workstream.
There was no debate on this item.
Councillors thanked Malcolm Riches for preparing the report and providing regular reports to the committee.
The Committee RESOLVED to note the progress being made with audit actions, and that there are currently no overdue audit actions.
(proposed by Cllr Simon Coles, seconded by Cllr Tom Deakin)
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Fraud Outturn Report 2022/23
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Author: Amy Tregellas, Governance Manager and Monitoring Officer.
The purpose of this report is to present the Committee with the outturn position in respect of the actions set out in the SWAP Baseline Assessment of Maturity in relation to Fraud report. Additional documents: Minutes: Amy Tregellas, Governance Manager and Monitoring Officer presented the report: · The report gives an outturn position on the work that has been done on fraud following on from the SWAP fraud maturity reports previously presented to the Committee. · Page 78 sets out the list of recommendations and actions proposed by SWAP as well as an update on the current status of those actions.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · Whether work has been completed to identify where fraud tends to happen, the high risk areas and what things to be particularly alert for. Officers confirmed that there is a document provided by SWAP which focuses on the high-risk areas where fraud could occur, and this risk increases where there is a change of system or personnel. Fraud is factored into the SWAP annual audit plan. SWAP have been working with the fraud workstream to evaluate the risks fully across the new authority to ensure that it is factored into the corporate and operational risk registers moving forward. There is also a counter fraud programme for the new authority. · Whether cyber fraud was high on the list of frauds that take place. The officer confirmed that there is a fraud risk assessment being undertaken on the authority which will identify high fraud risk areas. SWAP has a specialist trained team who have an in-depth knowledge of fraud, and work with external specialists to ensure fraud risks are identified and evaluated in a proactive way. · Whether and stress testing would be carried out for the new Council to ensure that any new systems put in place are working, e.g. that fictitious employees are not being set up and paid on the Payroll system. Officers confirmed that every audit undertaken by SWAP must consider the fraud risks as a requirement of the auditing standards. SWAP are aware of the significant changes that are happening as a result of LGR with services and systems coming together, and it will be a case of making sure that there are appropriate controls in place which are robust in terms of fraud. SWAP are considering priority areas with the Somerset Council Senior Leadership Team and will also have dialogue with Service Directors, once appointed to find out when service changes will take place in order to make sure SWAP are involved when they can be to advise on fraud controls. SWAP have a key role in providing management assurance. The management of risk relies on robust management controls such as budget monitoring arrangements. In terms of the staffing example SWT has monitored staff pay and carried out reconciliations between the finance records and payroll system. · In respect of 15 items on the report all are complete with the exception of the 4 being carried forward to the new Council.
Councillors thanked Amy Tregellas for bringing forward this report.
The Committee RESOLVED to note the Fraud outturn position report. (proposed by Cllr Janet Lloyd, seconded by Cllr Simon Coles)
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Annual Governance Statement 2022/23
This matter is the responsibility of the Leader of the Council, Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts.
Report Author: Amy Tregellas, Governance Manager and Monitoring Officer
To present the Committee with the Annual Governance Statement for 2022/23 (Appendix A) and the outturn position for the 2021/22 Action Plan (Appendix B). Additional documents: Minutes: Amy Tregellas, Governance Manager and Monitoring Officer presented the report: · The Annual Governance Statement is being presented earlier than normal this year so that the committee can review and sign it off before the council is dissolved on 31 March 2023. · The format follows the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) guidance and framework which hasn’t changed in the last few years. · The Statement starts of Page 93. · Page 119 sets out the Council’s corporate governance framework. · Pages 121 to 126 give an outturn position on the actions raised last year and their current status. They have either been completed or superseded by LGR.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · Members expressed disappointment that the SWT equality group ceased to meet some time ago but appreciated that this was due to LGR work. · The lack of feedback system relating to Members sitting on outside bodies and that feedback rarely happened through the Portfolio Holder reports due to time constraints at Full Council meetings. · Reporting on the outside bodies needs to be established at Somerset Council due to the amount of work (approximately 100 outside bodies on the list) and the need to keep people updated with what is going on. The officer confirmed that this point would be picked up with colleagues in the Democratic Services team to take forward. · Whether the key to success with reporting back from outside bodies is to keep it as simple as possible for Members so they engage in that process. A template would be helpful that could be completed electronically. · Whether the reasonable assurance conclusion is as good as it gets? Officers confirmed that the opinion could be either no assurance, limited assurance, reasonable assurance or substantial assurance. A substantial opinion is the highest opinion, but the threshold is very high and it is unlikely that many authorities would achieve that. · That Local Community Networks should also be considered in terms of giving feedback so that case studies and best practice is shared around the County.
The Committee RESOLVED to approve the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2022/23 (Appendix A) and notes the outturn position for the 2021/22 Action Plan (Appendix B).
(proposed by Cllr Steven Pugsley, seconded by Cllr Simon Coles)
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Health and Safety Update
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Communications and Corporate Resources, Cllr Benet Allen.
Report Authors: Sean Papworth, Assistant Director Corporate Services and Mike Barter, Health and Safety Business Partner.
The purpose of this report is to provide the Committee with progress updates on the Health and Safety Performance Framework and delivery of the Health and Safety Management System (HSMS) Improvement Programme.
Additional documents: Minutes: Sean Papworth, Assistant Director – Corporate presented the report: · The quarterly report covers performance and the programme that has been running for the last 18 months. · In terms of the programme every work-stream and project has been completed and the programme will be wrapped up once assurance has been completed in respect of the original audits. A desktop exercise is underway to complete the assurance piece of work and to collate appropriate evidence. · Lone working continues to be reviewed and additional devices have been rolled out to staff for additional safety. This will continue to be reviewed to ensure that all staff that need devices get them. · The Health and Safety Team continue to carry out inspections across the work that we do, and this will continue going forward. The focus at the moment is around contractors as the data continues to suggest that’s the area where attention is needed. · The Health and Safety Team and Human Resources Team are working to ensure that the data around our people is being reviewed to identify any themes or trends, and that they are picked up and dealt with accordingly. · The performance report on page 138, in 2022/23 there should be a total of 98 accidents listed in the table. The trend is seeing a lot more reporting in terms of near misses. Also seeing a slight increase in accidents but for the most part they are very minor accidents that might have gone unreported in the past. The improvement in reporting allows officers to start picking up any themes in the data.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · What the term fracture (MOP) meant on Page 138. The officer confirmed that MOP means member of the public. · Where the responsibility lies in terms health and safety in terms of contractors and whether it depends on the type of work that they are doing. Officers confirmed that it varies dependent on the size and duration of the work. The focus has been on the fundamentals to understand as much as possible about our contractors such as whether they have the right health and safety systems in place, do they have documentation to prove they are paying attention to their health and safety and do they have the right insurance in place. This information is then input into our systems to keep track on whether the contractors are keeping their information up to date. A piece of work has been completed on risk assessments to ensure they are thinking ahead and that work isn’t starting before risk assessments have been completed. Officers can review and challenge risk assessments from contractors when they are received. Work being carried out on our behalf by contractors is still a risk so inspections will continue to focus on the paperwork and ensuring that what they are doing on the ground matches what they say they are going to do in their paperwork. · How health and safety arrangements will transition across to the new Somerset Council, particularly ... view the full minutes text for item 139. |
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Landlord Compliance Report
This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Cllr Francesca Smith.
Report Author: Ian Candlish, Assistant Director Housing Property
This report provides an updated position for the main landlord health and safety property compliance disciplines.
Additional documents: Minutes: Ian Candlish, Assistant Director Housing Property presented the report: · This is an update to landlord safety compliance up to 6 March 2023. · It covers the key safety areas as outlined in section 1.2 on page 139. · Comparative performance is set out for each workstream in the tables for each area in section 4 of the report, based on the previous report that came to the committee in December 2022. · Overall, there is an improvement in compliance activities and particularly we have done a range of procurement activities set out in section 1.6 on page 140.
During the debate, discussion took place around: · Whether the figure of 81% in section 4.2.8 on page 144 was due to accessing tenants properties. · What was meant by compartmentalisation and tenancy management in section 4.3.8 on page 147. Officers confirmed that if you take a large building such as a block of flats, it is split into different compartments for fire safety. For example, long corridors would have fire door breaks and in the roof area there would be splits between the different parts of the building with fire break walls. When work is carried out one of the key issues is to ensure that it isn’t breached, for example if a hole is drilled to put a cable or pipe through then the appropriate sealing would have to be put in place. The actions come out of the fire risk assessments and remedial actions arise when the assessor has seen an area of concern, or they haven’t been into a particular area. SWT has to provide evidence that what in place is appropriate. · That the tenancy management actions relate to fire safety in terms of talking to tenants about areas that are fire escape routes that might have items in them which could create fire or block an escape route in the event of a fire. The Housing Tenancy team check these on a regular basis and take appropriate action if any issues are found. · The number of overdue actions for fire safety listed on pages 147 and 148. Officers confirmed that the actions for this area related to two things. Firstly, the communal fire door programme and entrance door fire programme, both of which relate to compartmentalisation. Where work is undertaken to take out the fire door, the whole frame would also have to be taken out and any issues that might be found when taking the frame out would also have to be dealt with. If there is no evidence that this check was completed when the previous door and frame was fitted there is an assumption that it needs to be checked. Secondly, inspections are taking place and a contract is running for any areas where evidence is needed following a fire risk assessment, which couldn’t be evidence at the time of the assessment. · That the overdue actions relating to fire safety are all medium and low risk so all urgent and high-risk actions have been addressed and nearly 10,000 actions ... view the full minutes text for item 140. |
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Audit and Governance Committee Chair's Annual Report 2022/23 - For Information Only
This report provides an update from the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, Cllr Lee Baker, on the work of the Audit and Governance Committee for the 2022/23 financial year. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no questions, comments or discussion on the Chair’s Annual Report and it was for information only. |