Venue: Committee Room C, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN. View directions
Contact: Amelia Christopher Email: amelia.christopher@surreycc.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: There were none.
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING - 20 MAY 2019 PDF 73 KB
To agree the minutes as a true record of the meeting. Minutes: The Minutes were approved as an accurate record of the previous meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter (i) Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or (ii) Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting NOTES: · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest · As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner) · Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial. Minutes: There were none. |
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QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes: 1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (23 July 2019). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (22 July 2019). 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
Minutes: There were none. |
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RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER PDF 95 KB
To review the Committee’s recommendations tracker. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
David John, Audit Manager Amelia Christopher, Democratic Services Assistant
Key points raised during the discussion:
Action/Further information to note:
None.
RESOLVED:
The Committee monitored the progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings.
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INTERNAL AUDIT & COUNTER FRAUD ANNUAL REPORT AND OPINION 2018-19 PDF 119 KB
The purpose of this report is to give an opinion on the adequacy of Surrey County Council’s control environment as a contribution to the proper, economic, efficient and effective use of resources. The report covers the audit work completed in the year from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 in accordance with the Internal Audit Strategy for 2018/19.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman considered Item 7 (this item) before Items 6 and 8.
Witnesses:
Russell Banks, Chief Internal Auditor David John, Audit Manager
Key points raised during the discussion:
· Areas of significant weaknesses had been highlighted by Internal Auditors. There was now a clear commitment and desire from management to improve internal control and governance through the transformation programme. · That the Committee had a key role in overseeing the Internal Audit function and would continue to ensure that the Internal Audit performance indicators were satisfied. · Reported the proactive approach with the Council’s Strategy on counter fraud. a) The Chief Internal Auditor recalled the case of the former employee of Surrey County Council who defrauded the Council of around £90,000 through the use of a pre-paid card scheme, which was discovered in May 2017. However, it was explained that Internal Audit had identified relatively small amounts of fraud considering the large size of Surrey County Council. b) The Chief Internal Auditor summarised examples of the three areas of minimal assurance identified and reported the specific weaknesses within the CFL Care Assessment audit with a detailed summary in Annex 2. c) The Audit Manager stated that work was in progress on the Looked After Children Initial Health Assessments and an update would be given at the next Committee in September. He was hopeful that verbal robust assurance could be given later this calendar year. d) The Audit Manager explained that high priority actions of partial and minimal assurance were being monitored in a management system with follow-up emails to managers and to the relevant auditor. Managers were required to report back to Internal Audit to explain any overdue actions and that compensating controls would be in place to mitigate any further and future delays. The system tracked performance and ensured more regular engagement between Internal Audit and the Corporate Leadership Team on a quarterly basis. |
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STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2018/19 PDF 113 KB
To inform the Committee of the result of the external audit of the council’s 2018/19 Statement of Accounts, to receive the external auditor’s Audit Findings Report and to approve the council’s letter of representation from the Executive Director of Resources.
Annexes: (to follow)
1. 2018/19 Statement of Accounts 2. 2018/19 Audit Findings Report 3. Executive Director of Resources’ letter of representation. Additional documents: Minutes: An amended cover report with additional information and the annexes waspublished in the supplementary agenda on 25 July 2019.
Witnesses:
Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Corporate Finance Tom Beake, Grant Thornton Ciaran McLaughlin, Grant Thornton Leigh Whitehouse, Executive Director of Resources Craig Tucker, Principal Accountant – Finance
Key points raised during the discussion:
· That concerning the financial statements the anticipated audit report would be unmodified with adjustments having no impact on the Council’s usable reserves. · One additional audit adjustment since the publication of the report was provided to the Committee on a non-trivial misstatement to the valuation of land and buildings specifically on the Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) opening balance. An erroneous interpretation of valuer guidance given in 2013/14 had now been adjusted. a) The Executive Director of Resources explained that the Eco Park PFI was a finance lease liability under an integrated services charge. This was calculated in part on the tonnages of waste sent for disposal and the VfM cost of a reduced unitary payment would be approximately £2 million a month for an operational facility. b) Grant Thornton informed the Committee that the actuarial calculation from the Government changes and court rulings from the impact of the McCloud and GMP equalisation on the Council’s financial ... view the full minutes text for item 34/19 |
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This report presents the audited financial statements of the Pension Fund for the year ended 31 March 2019, in light of the County Council’s obligations as the administering authority under the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations.
The external auditor (Grant Thornton) expects to issue an unqualified opinion on the accounts.
Grant Thornton, as the Council’s external auditor, has completed its audit and the Pension Fund financial statements are presented to this Committee to be approved prior to publication.
Annexes: to follow
Additional documents: Minutes: An amended cover report with additional information, an amended page to an annex and the remaining annexes was published in the supplementary agenda on 25 July 2019.
Witnesses:
Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Corporate Finance Mamon Zaman, Senior Accountant Ciaran McLaughlin, Grant Thornton
Key points raised during the discussion:
· That she was pleased to state that the external auditor (Grant Thornton) had issued an unqualified audit opinion and that there were also no material misstatements. · That the Pension Fund Draft Accounts 2018/19 were approved by the Pension Fund Committee on 7 June 2019 and that it was expected that the Pension Fund Draft Annual Report 2018/19 (which included the Pension Fund Accounts 2018/19) would be presented at the next Surrey Pension Fund Committee on 13 September 2019. · That the most recent funding position was 93.3% at the end of 2018 was thought to improve, with the results from the 2019 Full Triennial Valuation for the 31 March 2019 Funding Position remaining outstanding. · That Surrey Pension Fund was now a partner fund of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Limited (BCPP) in line with the Government’s proposal to pool Local Government Pension Scheme assets into the regional asset pool of £45 billion, the Fund had transitioned approximately £400 million to the BCPP by Autumn 2018.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
None.
RESOLVED:
That the Committee:
external auditor’s conclusions and recommendations. |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of Audit & Governance Committee will be on 26 September 2019. Minutes: The date of the meeting was noted as 26 September 2019. |