Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllr Connor Relleen and Robin Taylor, Executive Head of Organisational Development.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 September 2023 and published on the Council’s website.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

To receive from Members, declarations of interests in relation to any items included on the Agenda for this meeting, in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest submitted for this meeting.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from members of the public of which notice has been duly given in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

There were none.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

There were none.

To formally agree our enquiries of management with reference to planning staffing and potential risks.

Cllr David Beaman had requested the committee to look at staffing and potential HR risks, especially with regards to the planning department, in light of the level of staffing turnover in the last few months.  It had been noted that there was a high number of agency staff in the planning department who may not know the area so will have a lack of background knowledge and additional costs.

It was suggested this should be highlighted in the governance statement. Members felt work was needed to look at how we could keep staff and what the issues were (pay, wellbeing, working from home). Cllr Follows advised that with regards to planning officers it was unfortunate that Local Authorities could not compete with the packages offered by the private sector.

Action: Invite Executive Head of Organisational Development and HR Manager to come along to a future meeting and discuss what processes were in place.

To receive any updates on Risk Management.

Including:

·         Any near misses

·         Changes in controls

·         Notable successes

·         Recruitment of Risk Officer

Robin Taylor, Executive Head of Organisation Development, had submitted apologies for the meeting but sent the following statement:

“You will recall that in the presentation I gave to committee members when we last met that a gap in officer resource around risk management was inhibiting progress in other areas of risk management and that this had been identified as an area to address by internal audit.  I have now agreed a plan with the Council’s Corporate Management Board.  I am pleased to confirm that Grace Da Costa, the Council’s Graduate Trainee, will be providing support on risk management in the short term.  Grace will work with me and others to revise the Strategic Risk Register and will also look at the other actions in the audit plan including putting in place a risk strategy for the Council.  In the longer term, I have agreed that when I recruit further performance and strategy officers into the Waverley team that one of these will lead on risk management for WBC.”

The committee agreed that it would be necessary to recruit someone with seniority in the long term to produce a Risk Strategy but that it was welcomed that a resource had been identified in the short term.

The purpose of this report is to contribute towards the effective two way communication between the Waverley Borough Council’s external auditors and the Audit and Standards committee, as ‘those charged with governance’.

Rosie Plaistowe, Financial Services Manager and Deputy Section 151 officer, outlined the document circulated with the agenda and asked members to review and comment.

It was pointed out that there was a typographical error on page 30 (11) and ‘why’ needs to be removed.

Members asked why the change in accounting with regard to depreciation (page 32)? Rosie advised that it was a change in method only but this would be expanded in the narrative.

Members were satisfied with the document and asked Ajay Jha, Grant Thornton, if the document satisfied what Grant Thornton required.  Ajay advised the process and how this document would advise in the process.

The committee NOTED the document.

To receive the Waverley 23-24 Audit Plan from Grant Thornton.

Ajay Jha, Grant Thornton, outlined the document circulated with the agenda.  He went through the key areas of significant risks identified and highlighted the proposed timeline for the process. Members asked if the 4 key risks were because they were high monetary value but not able to be changed significantly or because they needed/could be changed.

The committee advised that in accordance with ISA (UK) 315 revised Grant Thornton would be assessing the design and implementation of relevant IT systems namely Agresso (financial reporting) and iTrent (payroll).

Members asked if Grant Thornton were ok for resources now and asked for assurance that there would be no delays as in previous years.

The Committee NOTED the plan.

To receive an update on the AGS and enable the Committee to raise any potential emerging governance issues that may need to be addressed.

Recommendation

The Committee is invited to raise any potential emerging governance issues for consideration.

The Committee considered the draft Annual Governance Statement 2023/24 and made comment on any areas of concern or additional information required.

As discussed earlier in the meeting it was suggested that information regarding the levels of staffing across the board and the potential of Waverley losing skills and knowledge should be added to the statement under either 5.1 or 5.4.  This also included the loss of senior management.  Cllr Follows advised that there was a review of senior roles being carried out.

Under Principle 2 it was highlighted that Waverley needed to carry out more stakeholder engagement with communities.  It was highlighted that this was being addressed by reinstating the Town and Parish Forums.

Page 76 - The Annual RIPPA report was presented at the September meeting.

Page 80 – point 14 needs to be changed to 2023/24.

Rosie Plaistowe advised the Annual Governance Statement would be signed alongside the Statement of Accounts.

To review the current terms of reference and make any recommendations to council for changes if necessary.

The committee were asked to consider the current terms of reference and comment and propose any amendments necessary.

2.1 – should this include ‘as proposed by group leaders’.

2.3 – does not make clear that the Chair and Vice Chair are nominated from the 7 members and they are ‘proposed by council and elected by the committee’.

2.6 – it was felt the quorum should be 4 councillors not 3 due to the responsibilities of the committee.

3.1.13 – should this set out as an annual review.

The committee proposed that the clerk develop a grid of responsibilities and dates when they were discussed to ensure all elements are considered throughout the municipal year.

Action: The Audit Committee recommend to Standards to consider the proposals made above and incorporate into the Constitution for the Audit Terms of Reference if agreed.

To note the committee annual report outlining the issues considered in 2022/23.

The Committee NOTED the annual report for the Audit Committee and highlighted it was very useful.

It was commented that the membership should have also included Cllr Wicks as Vice chair, however, it was pointed out that the report only covered till June 2023 and Cllr Wicks was appointed at the September 2023 meeting so would be included in next years report.

To inform the Audit Committee of Senior Management’s progress in implementing the actions raised by Internal Audit following a review in their service areas. This report will enable the Committee to consider what action is required in respect of those that are overdue or appear likely to be implemented later than the target date.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee considers the information contained and, following discussion at the Audit Committee meeting identifies any action it wishes to be taken.

Richard Bates advised that Gail Beaton had now retired as Internal Audit Manager. Southern Internal Audit Partnership (SIAP) would now fulfil the role in the short term until a review has been carried out going forward.

The Chair asked that a formal vote of thanks be noted for Gail’s work with the council.

Members were advised that 3 items had been identified for requests for extensions.

The Committee AGREED the three extensions.

The Committee’s Terms of Reference include provision for the Committee to approve, monitor and comment on the progress made in the achievement of the Internal Audit Plan.  An update on the current position of the internal audit reviews is attached.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee notes the contents of the Internal Audit Progress report as attached.

Iona Bond, SIAP, introduced herself and advised that her team would work closely with the Finance Team to service the Audits and would keep the committee involved in the process. She emphasised that SIAP had a risk based approach and were confident that they can fulfil the role.

Members asked about the budget committed and were advised this was what was already commissioned.  They also set out concern as to how SIAP were going to be able to chase and get responses from officers when they were not sited internally and were assured that regular action tracking would be carried out with emails sent to officers to get updates. Any failures to respond would be reported back to the Chair and committee. Any limited or no assurances would be reported to Executive Heads and/or Directors.

The Audit Committee NOTED the progress on the Audit Plan.

The report provides an update to the Committee on the work being completed in investigating fraud, primarily focusing on Housing Tenancy Fraud.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Audit Committee notes the success of the fraud investigation activity.

The Chair asked for assurances that the investigations at GBC would not occur at WBC. Richard Bates assured the committee that WBC’s processes were more robust in monitoring and that the only concern was the systems risks which were currently being looked at.

Members were please to see 3 properties had been recovered and asked how we investigate potential housing fraud. They were advised that intelligence was key and members should report any concerns to housing officers who could then investigate.

Members commended the work of the Fraud Officer and NOTED the report.

The Committee’s annual recurrent work programme is attached.  The work programme details regular items, but other items can be submitted to each meeting on an ad hoc basis or at the request of the Committee.

Recommendation

The Audit Committee is invited to note its recurrent annual work programme.

The Committee NOTED the forward work programme and asked that items to be reviewed and responsibilities set out in the terms of reference should be incorporated in the work programme.

To consider the following recommendation on the motion of the Chairman:

Recommendation

That pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item(s) on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item(s), there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 1001 of the Act) of the description specified in the appropriate paragraph(s) of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (to be identified at the meeting).

There were no items to consider in exempt session so the Chair closed the meeting.