Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Surrey County Council, Woodhatch Place, 11 Cockshot Hill, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 8EF

Contact: Angela Guest  Email: angela.guest@surreycc.gov.uk

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Items
No. Item

45/22

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

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    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    An apology was received from Joanne Sexton.

46/22

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING [13 June 2022] pdf icon PDF 254 KB

47/22

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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    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.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    There were none.

48/22

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

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    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    Notes:

    1.  The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (06/09/2022).

    2.  The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (05/09/2022).

    3.  The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    There were none.

49/22

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND WORKPLAN pdf icon PDF 121 KB

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    To review the Committee’s recommendations tracker and workplan.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1. The heavy workplan was noted for the next scheduled meeting and the Chairman would look at the possibility of holding an additional meeting. 

    (subsequent to the meeting the Chairman agreed to holding an all-day meeting to cover the workplan items in November)

    1. Item 7 on the agenda – Annual Complaints Performance was deferred to the next meeting due to an error being made with inviting officers to attend this meeting.

     

    Action/Further information to note:

    None.

     

    RESOLVED:

    That the workplan and action tracker be noted.

     

50/22

INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS - Q1 pdf icon PDF 156 KB

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    The purpose of this progress report is to inform members of the work completed by Internal Audit between 1 April 2022 and 30 June 2022.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Speakers:

    Russell Banks, Chief Internal Auditor

    David John, Audit Manager (SCC)

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Audit Manager gave a precis of the nine completed audits as detailed in the report.

    2.    A Member noted that the home to school transport section had problems and had received a partial assurance.  He requested regular updates in order to keep track of progress.  The Audit Manager reminded the Committee that they could invite the relevant manager to a future meeting in order to give a verbal update.  The Chief Internal Auditor explained that Audit could not provide a report on progress until the follow-up audit was done and therefore suggested that if the Committee wanted an update prior to that then they could invite the service manager to a meeting.

     

    Action/Further information to note:

    None.

     

    RESOLVED:

    1.    That the report be noted.

    2.    That the Home to School Service Manager be invited to the January 2023 meeting of this committee to give an update.

     

51/22

ANNUAL COMPLAINTS PERFORMANCE REPORT pdf icon PDF 288 KB

52/22

RISK MANAGEMENT pdf icon PDF 159 KB

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    This report provides an update on risk management.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Speakers:

    David Mody, Strategic Risk Partner

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Strategic Risk Partner introduced the risk management report and explained that updates for the Risk Management Strategy were being streamlined in order that minor amendments did not need to go to Cabinet.

    2.    A Member stated that there was an overlap with ST22 and ST28 and asked whether they would be better combined.  The Strategic Risk Partner explained that one was about financial reform and the other one was about how we deliver against the reform and therefore it was appropriate to have them separate. It was also pointed out that the risk levels and mitigations are different for the two risks.

    3.    A Member asked that future reports make it clearer what revisions have been made.  These would be highlighted in future.

    4.    A Member asked about SD29 and ST06 which seemed very similar and also questioned the number of risks and how many could be managed.  The Strategic Risk Partner explained that ST29 was a directorate risk that had been elevated to a corporate risk and again was sufficiently different from ST29 to be separate.  He went on to explain that there were 25 risks which is more than there should be but that he was ensuring that the risks reflected the situation at the moment.

     

    Action/Further information to note:

    None.

     

    RESOLVED:

    1.    That the update on risk management be noted.

    2.    That the revised Risk Management Strategy be approved.

     

53/22

INFORMING THE AUDIT RISK ASSESSMENT FOR SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL GROUP AND PENSION FUND 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 148 KB

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    The report is an annual requirement of the International Standards on Auditing and brings together the views of management and those charged with Governance oversight into one report. 

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Speakers:

    Barry Stratfull, Chief Accountant

    Ciaran McLaughlin, Grant Thornton

    Russell Banks, Chief Internal Auditor

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Chief Accountant and Grant Thornton introduced a standard document that the Committee receive each year and the Committee were asked if they were happy with the management responses to the questions within the report.

    2.    The Chairman reported that committee members had fed back comments which had led to changes, and he was confident that it now reflected the Committee’s views.

    3.    There was a Member query regarding the response to the incidents of fraud question within the report to which the answer was no.  The Head of Assurance stated that this was a matter of materiality and that maybe the wording should be clarified.  Grant Thornton agreed. The Chief Accountant pointed out the section of the report that gave more detail on this.

     

    Action/Further information to note:

    None.

     

    RESOLVED:

    That the report be noted.

     

54/22

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

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    The next meeting of Audit & Governance Committee will be on 28 November 2022.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The date of the next meeting as 28 November 2022 was noted.