Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Friel, Maher, Parry and Fairclough (Substitute Member).

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were made.

Minutes of the meeting held on 31 March 2010

RESOLVED:  

That the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 31 March 2010 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the External Auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Mr. D. Newman, from the Council's External Auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, presented the First Annual Certification Report summarising the results of the grants certification work following the 2008/09 certification process.

Appendix A of the report provided details of the level of fees charged by PricewaterhouseCoopers against each of the audited claims and Appendix B provided details of the claims that have had issues raised to the funding bodies and the Council's management response against each issue.

RESOLVED:  

That the Annual Certification Report be noted.

Report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy

The Committee considered the report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy which incorporated a copy of the Annual Governance Statement which had been produced in compliance with the new framework for ensuring "Good Governance in Local Government" published by CIPFA/SOLACE.

The Annual Governance Statement, following review and approval by the Committee, should be certified by the Leader of the Council, Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer and published with the Council's Annual Statement of Accounts.

RESOLVED:  

That the Annual Governance Statement be approved.

Report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy

The Committee considered the report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy, incorporating a copy of the unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2009/10 (including an executive summary), which had been produced in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003.

The Regulations require the 2009/10 Statement of Accounts of all Local Authorities to be approved by a resolution of a Committee of the Council by 30 June 2010.  Sefton’s Constitution delegates responsibility for this decision to the Audit and Governance Committee.

Following approval, the Accounts will be made available for public inspection by local electors on 12 July 2010 for a period of 28 days.  The Accounts will then be subject to audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers and they will report their findings to this Committee on 29 September 2010.

The Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy identified the major issues/variations that occurred during the last financial year and answered questions from Members on various aspects of the Statement of Accounts with regard to the assessment of the deficit on the Local Government Pension Scheme by the scheme Actuary, employee emoluments in excess of £50,000, Senior Officers remuneration, the provision in relation to Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and the valuation of Works of Art.

The Committee also recorded its thanks to the Officers for their work in the preparation of the Statement.

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the Statement of Accounts 2009/10 be approved;

(2)      the information on Senior Officers remuneration (Paragraph 19) be included in the table providing details of employees remuneration in excess of £50,000 (Paragraph 18) in the final version of the Statement of Accounts for 2009/10.

To consider passing the following resolution:

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the Press and Public.

RESOLVED:  

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favoured exclusion of the information from the press and public.

Report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy

The Committee considered the report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy which provided an update on the Corporate Risk Register.

RESOLVED:  

That the updated Corporate Risk Register be approved.

Report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy

The Committee considered the report of the Interim Head of Corporate Finance and ICT Strategy reviewing Internal Audit Activity for 2009/10 and setting out the Chief Internal Auditor’s opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s internal control environment.

The report included a Self Assessment Review of Internal Audit undertaken as part of the review of the system of internal control which had been compiled in line with the guidance provided in the CIPFA Code of Practice for Internal Audit 2006.

The Committee was informed that the Acting Chief Internal Auditor was, in general, satisfied that the Council continues to operate within an adequate and generally effective overall control environment.

The report also provided details of arvato’s Performance on Benefit Fraud Management during 2009/10. 

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the report and the opinion arising from the work of the Internal Audit Service be noted;

(2)      the self assessment Review of Internal Audit contributing to the consideration of the system of internal control be noted; and

(3)      the report on Benefit Fraud Management activity be noted.