Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2018 were submitted and approved, and the Chair was authorised to sign them as an accurate record.

An apology for absence had been received from Councillor Md. Harun Miah.

There were none.

On matters not already included on the agenda and for which prior written notice has been given (total time allowed 15 minutes).

There were none.

The Chairman to notify the Committee of any items of urgent business to be added to the agenda.

There were none.

Report of Audit Manager (Eastbourne).

The Committee considered the report of the Audit Manager regarding a summary of the activities of Internal Audit for the first half of the year. A list of all final audit reports issued from 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 and the level of assurance attained were detailed in the report.

The Audit Manager highlighted section 3 of the report, which detailed possible joint service performance indicators that could be reported to Eastbourne Borough Council's Audit and Governance Committee and Lewes District Council’s Audit and Standards Committee. Once agreed, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud would review the performance indicators on a regular basis to ensure that they remain relevant and provided useful data for monitoring and governance purposes at both authorities. Any future changes to the performance indicators would be subject to consultation with the Committee.

(Note: The Committee wished to commend the Audit Manager on her report despite the decreased number of staff in the department. It also wanted to recognise and convey its thanks of all of the hard work by the Audit and Counter Fraud department.)

Resolved: (Unanimous) That the report be noted.

Report of external auditors (BDO).

The Committee considered a report by the Council’s External Auditors, BDO, which summarised the main issues that arose from the certification of grant claims and returns for the financial year ending 31 March 2017.

The Audit Manager explained that BDO had identified a number of errors the Council had made in administering benefit and calculating subsidy entitlement. The number of errors identified created a delay in signing off the grant claims and returns compared to the previous year. The Audit Manager further explained that BDO was unable to sign off on the grant claims and returns due to outside work, which resulted in the Council being charged an additional fee of £8297, as detailed in the report.

The Committee acknowledged it was aware of the reasons for the delay.

Resolved: (Unanimous)That the report be noted.