Agenda and minutes

Eastbourne Borough Council Audit and Governance Committee - Wednesday, 18th September, 2019 6.00 pm

Venue: Court Room - Town Hall, Eastbourne. View directions

Contact: Committee Services on 01323 410000

Items
No.	Item
14.	Minutes PDF 139 KB To confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 24 July 2019. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 24 July 2019 were submitted and approved and the Chair was authorised to sign them as an accurate record.
15.	Apologies for absence/declaration of substitute members Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Dean Sabri, Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee. Deputy Chair, Councillor Maxted, acted at Chair for the meeting.
16.	Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct. Minutes: None.
17.	Questions by members of the public. On matters not already included on the agenda and for which prior written notice has been given (total time allowed 15 minutes). Minutes: None received.
18.	Urgent items of business. The Chairman to notify the Committee of any items of urgent business to be added to the agenda. Minutes: There were none.
19.	Right to address the meeting/order of business. The Chairman to report any requests received to address the Committee from a member of the public or from a Councillor in respect of an item listed below and to invite the Committee to consider taking such items at the commencement of the meeting. Minutes: A request was received from Councillor Smart just before the start of the meeting, regarding the minutes of the last meeting. Following an invitation by the Chair to address the Committee, Councillor Smart spoke for 10 minutes and voiced his concerns about the delay in publishing the statement of accounts and asked if the Council had met its obligation to publish a notice and provide explanation of the delay. He also raised concerns regarding levels of transparency, citing a £2m transaction from 2017 that he could not find in the 2018 reporting. The Chair thanked Councillor Smart for his remarks. As the Chief Finance Officer was not present to respond, his comments would be reported to her after the meeting.
20.	Internal Audit Report for the first quarter of the financial year 2019-2020 PDF 94 KB Additional documents: Appendix A - Internal Audit Report for EBC Audit Governance Committee Sept 19 , item 20. PDF 77 KB Appendix B - Counter Fraud Savings - Internal Audit Report for EBC Audit Governance Committee Sept 19 , item 20. PDF 56 KB Minutes: Jackie Humphrey, Chief Internal Auditor, presented the report and the Committee considered the summary of activities of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud for the first quarter of the financial year: 1^st April – 30^th June 2019. The Committee raised a query around the figures for the National Fraud initiative. The Chief Internal Auditor explained that cases could vary widely in their complexity, with the more complex often requiring liaison with external bodies such as other local authorities. The Chair thanked Jackie Humphrey and the Council for their work. RESOLVED (unanimous) that the report be noted.
21.	Strategic Risk Register Quarterly Review PDF 72 KB Additional documents: Appendix 1 - Strategic Risk Register , item 21. PDF 89 KB Minutes: Jackie Humphrey, Chief Internal Auditor, presented the report regarding the Strategic Risk Register, which provides a high level record of the key risks facing the Council. Following the quarterly review of the Register by the Corporate Management Team, two risk scores were increased. The report and presentation noted and explained these increases to the Committee. The Committee considered the report. It recognised the influence of the Brexit issue on decision making and noted an expectation that there would be more clarity later this year. The Chair thanked Jackie Humphrey for the report. RESOLVED (unanimous): that the report be noted.