Agenda and minutes

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee - Tuesday 27 April 2021 6.30 pm

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Online. View directions

Contact: Nikoleta Nikolova, Senior Democratic and Electoral Services Officer  E-mail:  nikoleta.nikolova@harrow.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

148.

Attendance by Reserve Members

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

 

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

 

(i)            to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)          where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)         the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)         if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

149.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

 

(a)          all Members of the Committee;

(b)          all other Members present.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that the Declarations of Interests, published in advance of the meeting on the Council’s website, be taken as read.

150.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 205 KB

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2021 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2020 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

151.

Public Questions

To receive any public questions received in accordance with Committee Procedure Rule 17 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

 

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

 

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 22 April 2021.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

152.

Petitions

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

153.

Deputations

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B) of the Constitution.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received.

154.

References from Council and other Committees/Panels

To receive references from Council and any other Committees or Panels (if any).

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

Resolved Items

155.

Verbal update on the Statement of Accounts

Minutes:

A verbal update from the Director of Finance was given in respect of the statement of accounts.  This provided an overview as to why confirmation on the reports from 2019/20 was delayed; staff vacancies at the council’s auditors and, as a result of the recommendations, from the FRC report, additional checks had to be carried out.  Due to the delay, it was proposed that the statement of accounts be signed off and for the Chair of the Committee to be advised as soon as possible.

 

It was reported that, under normal arrangements the Committee would have seen the audit plans back in January and been informed as to how the auditors would have conducted their work on the 2020/21 accounts.  Due to delays, it was aimed to provide this information to the Committee by July 2021.

 

The Committee acknowledged the challenges but noted that the reports should have been ready in January.  The Director of Finance advised that the statement of accounts had been prepared on time and that the delay was in the audit of the statement of accounts.  In addition, it was questioned whether there was likely to be unexpected issues in relation to the 2019/20 reports, but the Director of Finance reassured the Committee that this was not the case.

 

Members asked if any statutory deadlines might be missed but the Director of Finance clarified that no penalties would be incurred on the Council for these delays and that the Council had met all their deadlines for the statement of accounts.

 

RESOLVED:  That the verbal update be noted.

156.

Internal Audit & Corporate Anti-Fraud Plans 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 215 KB

Report of the Director of Finance.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided details on the 2021/22 Internal Audit & Corporate Anti-Fraud Plans and the Internal Audit Charter.

 

Members were advised that the internal audit plan for 2021/22, took into account the risk management framework and the corporate priorities and the requirement to provide an annual internal audit opinion.  The plan would be delivered primarily by a dedicated internal team of the Council.  However, it was highlighted that there were some challenges with resources and around Covid-19 restrictions still in place.  It was reported that the plan was flexible and may be adjusted throughout the year to meet the needs of the organisation, with any significant changes to be bought back to the Committee.

 

The Committee were advised that Internal Audit’s independence has not changed since last year and that asked to note that all the core financial system reviews would be undertaken as evidence-based control self-assessments with specific testing on authorisations throughout the previous year because during the pandemic there had to be a different approach in order for various transactions to continue to be appropriately authorised.

 

It was noted that previously, there was a mixture of full reviews and control based self-assessments, however, because of the stability in previous years and the introduction of Dynamics, the challenges of the pandemic had resulted in time being more constrained.

 

With regard to the corporate compliance checks the annual checks on contract procedure rules and financial regulations as well as fees and charges would continue.  New to this year are the checks on HR policies in order to make sure these policies are implemented correctly.

 

Risk management in decision making would be a real-time review of risks addressed in Cabinet reports.  This had been introduced in December 2020 and had proved to be successful and therefore would be continued throughout 2021/22.

 

The KPIs have remained consistent with the previous year.

 

During the discussion, Members and Officers highlighted the following:

 

·                 A concern was raised in relation to the covid-19 grants with it being noted that there was an inconsistency with families having not received this grant.  The Committee was informed that due to the volume of different covid-19 grants, in order to get specific information, the relevant area manager would need to be contacted.

 

·                 The transparency of the authorisations was queried and whether they would be available to see online. However, it was explained that the authorisations in the report were for the core financial system and would be retained within the Civic Centre, with some contained via email and this needed to be checked for due diligence.

 

·                 It was questioned as to why there was no manual of operations of how these processes should be conducted.  The officer explained that not every system would have a manual and where manuals were available, they would be taken into account during audits and, in addition, these manuals would also be reviewed.

 

·                  Members questioned how previous issues identified compared to this report’s findings.  It was explained that audit knowledge had been considered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 156.

157.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

To resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence, or of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

 

Agenda Item No

 

Title

Description of Exempt Information

11.

Information Report – Corporate Risk Register 2020/21 Q4

Exempt from publication under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) as it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That in accordance with Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items for the reasons set out below:

 

Agenda Item No.

Title

Description of Exempt Information

11.

Information Report – Corporate Risk Register 2020/21 Q4

Exempt from publication under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) as it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

 

158.

Verbal Covid-19 update from Public Health England

Minutes:

An officer from Public Health England joined the meeting discuss public health and Covid-19 in respect of the negative impact on communities.

 

RESOLVED:  That the verbal update be noted.

159.

Information Report - Corporate Risk Register 2020/21 Q4

Report of the Director of Finance.

 

Minutes:

 Members received a confidential report in relation to Quarter 3 2020/21 Corporate Risk Register.  The Head of Internal Audit undertook to incorporate comments made by the Committee into the Quarter 4 update of the risk register.

 

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.