Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Guildhall, St. Giles Square, Northampton, NN1 1DE.

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

None.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 9th November were agreed and signed by the Chair with the amendment ISO260 to ISA260 in 8.1  

 

3.

Deputations / Public Addresses

Minutes:

There were none.

4.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Kilbride declared a personal non pecuniary interest in item 6 as had completed a print job for the cobblers in the past.

 

Councillor Marriot declared a personal non pecuniary interest in item 10 as an employee of BT.

5.

Matters of Urgency which by reason of special circumstances the chair is of the opinion should be considered

Minutes:

None.

6.

Audit Committee Review of Loan to NTFC and Development at Sixfields pdf icon PDF 179 KB

(Copy herewith)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Meredith addressed the Committee on behalf of the people of Talavera. He advised they were angry with the prospect of the situation the Council is in and want to see the money returned.

 

Councillor Beardsworth addressed the Committee. She asked what advice was given to the Cabinet regarding the loan and if the advice given to Councillor David Macintosh during Cabinet on the 17th July 2013 was taken on board. She also asked how long it would take to complete the audit of NTFC and can the public be assured that papers, reports and documents regarding the audit would be published for transparency. She advised that it was rumoured that when First Land LTD went to the site they were advised by NTFC that only warehouses can be built on the site.

 

The Chief Finance Officer began by elaborating on the report. He stated that the report covers both the chronology of events and the background work PWC have completed. A number of issues were highlighted to the committee

1)    This review is one of a number of reviews alongside KPMG and the police.

2)    An internal review is taking place reviewing Council’s policy and procedure.

 

4.2.2 of the report was alluded to outlining the risks in relation to the Audit Committee review.

 

Senior Audit Manager from PWC elaborated on the report further. He advised theAuditCommitteehadaskedInternalAudittoconducta reviewintothecircumstancessurroundingtheloan to theFootballCluband inparticulartoconsidertherelevantpoliciesandproceduresthatare applicableto a transactionof thisnature.Thisreviewwillfocusonwhetherthe currentpoliciesandproceduresareadequate andwhethertheywereadheredtointhisinstance.

 

It was advised that areportfortheAuditCommittee would be producedon theadequacyandeffec  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Debt Analysis Report pdf icon PDF 473 KB

(Copy herewith)

Minutes:

Head of Revenues and Benefits and Revenues Manager presented the report and elaborated thereon.

 

It was advised that thechairoftheauditcommitteehadrequesteda reportto be providedto eachauditcommitteethatshowsanalysisofdebtandthe ageof outstandingdebt across NorthamptonBoroughCouncil(NBC)

 

Thecorporatedebtrecoveryteam,part of LGSS RevenuesandBenefits, is responsiblefor therecoveryofalloverduedebtacross theCouncil. Initiallyrequestsfor paymentshouldberequestedfromindividual service areas toensureincomeis collectedas soonas possible.Wherethis has beencompletedand debtsare still outstandingthedebtis thenpassedto theCouncils recoveryteamin ordertoseek paymentofthe debt.Therecoveryteam haveresponsibilityforrecoveryofoverduedebt asfollows:

 

§                   CouncilTax

§                   Business Rates (NNDR)

§                   Business improvementdistr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Treasury Management Strategy Mid Year Update 2015-16 pdf icon PDF 139 KB

(Copy herewith)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The LGSS Finance Manager presented the report and elaborated thereon. It was advised that this report  was put beforeAudit Committeeforscrutiny and also toadviseAudit  Committee  of  plans  for  treasury  management  training  for members tobedeliveredin thenewfinancial year.

 

TheCouncil’s TreasuryManagementMid-Year Report for 2015-16 attached at Appendix1 was outlined by the Finance Manager and it was advised that thisreportwaspresentedtoCabineton9 December2015 andto Council on 14December2015.

 

The Finance Manager stated that AuditCommitteeareaskedto reviewthereportandto makecommentsor recommendations as theythinkappropriate.

 

It was also noted that itis plannedto offer treasurymanagementtrainingearly inthenew financialyear,tobedeliveredbyCapita,theCouncil’streasury managementadvisers,Trainingwillbeofferedinitiallyto CabinetandAudit Committeemembers, as they havespecificgovernanceresponsibilitiesin respectoftreasury management,b  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Draft Treasury Management Strategy 2016-17 pdf icon PDF 121 KB

(Copy herewith)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

LGSS Finance Manager presented the report and elaborated thereon. It was advised that the  draft  Treasury  Management  Strategy  for  2016-17  was put before  Audit Committee for review andto inviteAuditCommitteeto putforwardany recommendations thattheythinkappropriate. P.50 of the report was referred to outlining the main changes.

 

·         Updates to PrudentialandTreasuryIndicators

·         Updates to interestrateforecasts

·         Updates to debtfinancingbudgetforecasts

·         Updates to theMRP policy

·         Expansion oftheCouncil’scounterpartypolicytoinclude appropriate counterparties witha sovereignratingofAA.

·         Re-wordingofthe50%restrictionon overseas counterpartiestotake out MoneyMarketFunds andinstantaccessdeposit accounts

 

It was also advised that the investment counterparty limits were set out on P.91 of the report.

 

In response to questions from the Committee regarding the possibility of adding human rights records as a sovereign counterparty criteria alongside credit ratings and financial risk the Chief Finance Officer responded by explaining that proceeding down the ethical route would be a large shift in the policy determining which counterparties the Council invest with, but the committee are welcome to make recommendations to be considered by Council and Cabinet.

 

The Finance Manager advised that, aside from the UK, at very few investments had been made during the current year with the AA+ countries listed on p.88 of the report.

 

RESOLVED

 

Th  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Risk Review of 2015/16 Budget Options pdf icon PDF 96 KB

(Copy herewith)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Strategic Finance Manager elaborated on a report submitted by the Chief Finance Officer.

 

It was advised that theriskassessmentofthebudgetproposals was brought to AuditCommitteefor consideration and that any feedback for consultation process will be taken to Cabinet and Council.

 

In response to questions from the Committee the Strategic Finance Manager confirmed that the New Build – Dallington in the table on p.104 of the report was for 100 new Council houses.

The Chief Finance Officer advised that the Little Cross Street project is part of the draft Housing Revenue Account capital programme within the Major Works category.He stated that there are 2 aspects to disabled adaptations referring to p.100 of the report on general fund making adaptations to private dwellings stating that proportion of that is funded by government grant.

 

In response to questions regarding funding for town centre improvements the Chief Finance Officer advised that funding for this in first 4 years has been redirected to St Giles street scheme.

It was advised that the funding towards broadband is the Borough’s contribution to a County Council scheme.  Details of what this scheme was made up of could be provided to the Committee.

 

The Chief Finance Officer also advised that there are a number of different funding sources for the Delapre scheme.

 

RESOLVED

 

TheAuditCommitteeconsideredissuesin relationto riskwithinthebudget proposalsfor2016/17

 

 

 

 

11.

Financial Monitoring Report (Period 6) pdf icon PDF 120 KB

(Copy herewith)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Strategic Finance Manager presented the report. The report presented the financial position to the end of September 2015 for the General Fund and HRA revenue and Capital budgets.

It also presented the car parking income and usage to the end of November. It was advised that the GF Capital Programme is currently forecasting no significant variances to the end of September

 

Car parking graphs at page 117 and 118 were talked to. The income from daily ticket sales showed more than the profiled budget to date with the ticket usage graph also showed the higher usage over previous years of the car parks.

 

In response to questions from the Committee the Chief Finance Officer advised that Hardingstone and Collingtree were the 2 planning appeals referred to in the report and the estimated costs associated with them is the Council’s element only.

 

The Chief Finance Officer advised the Committee that a significant saving has been made since transferring back office services to LGSS.

 

The Head of Revenues and Benefits stated that a large saving would be made over a 5 year period  built into the original LGSS base case had been delayed so that benefits would be realised a little later that envisaged..

 

The Chief Finance Officer stated that a minimum level of general reserves is set  and maintained by the Borough Council.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee considered thecontentsofthefollowingfinancereports:

 

·General FundRevenueMonitoring (Appendix1);

 

·General FundCapital Monitoring (Appendix2);

 

·HRA RevenueMonitoring (Appendix3);

 

·HRA CapitalMonitoring (Appendix4).

 

 

 

The Committee notedthe positiononcar parkingincomeand usageas at 30November

(Appendix5A and5B).

 

 

The Committee notedthelatestpositionin relationto theCouncil’s outstanding debts asat 30 November(Separate agendaitem andreport)

 

 

The Committee considered whe  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

External Audit Update - Certification of Claims and Returns - Annual Report 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 104 KB

(Copy herewith)

Presented By: N Bellamy, External Auditor (Audit Commission)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

KPMG Director submitted a report and elaborated thereon. The report was supplied to the Committee at the meeting. It was advised that the report summarised the results of work KPMG have carried out on the Council’s 2014/15 grant claims and returns.

 

It was advised that KMPG’s work on the Council’s Housing Benefit Subsidy claim was subject to a qualification letter and one adjustment was necessary to Pooling of Housing Capital Receipts return as a result of their certification work this year.

 

It was reported that the indicative fee for KPMG’s work on the Council’s 2014/15 Housing Benefit Subsidy was set by Public Sector Audit Appointments but the actual fee for this work will be higher than the indicative fee set due to additional work and training being undertaken by the audit team due to an unexpected and long term sickness absence of the key member of staff responsible for assisting with this work. Plus additional testing was required in 2014/15 in respect of the assessment of job seeker allowance (JSA) end dates for non-housing revenue claimants and the calculation of child care costs for private tenant claimants. We are currently discussing the additional fee with the S151 Officer and when agreed the final fee will be subject to approval by the PSAA.

 

Cllr Marriot stated that the issue surrounding the long term absence highlights that no risk assessment has been completed on internal staff knowledge.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the report be noted

13.

Internal Audit Update pdf icon PDF 411 KB

(Copy herewith)

Presented By: C Dickens, Internal Auditor (PWC)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Internal Audit Senior Manager submitted the report and elaborated thereon.

It was reported that The 2015/16internalauditplanwas approvedbytheAuditCommitteeon 7September2015and sincethenPWChaveundertakenwork in accordancewiththe plan.

 

It was advised that Workis progressing on LGSSContract and Governanceand risk and that thisisa non-assurancereviewtosupporttheCouncilinre-designingriskmanagementarrangements,ensuringtheseare fitfor purpose,fullyintegratedinto Councilbusinessactivitiesand thatconsiderationof riskisintegraltodecisionmakinggoingforward.

 

Aworkshopis plannedforJanuary2016withtheSeniorManagementTeamtoidentifyrisksand existingsourcesofassuranceand/orgapsand determinethe appetiteto risk,inordertoensure thattheCouncilcandeliveritsservicesina costeffectiveand efficientmanner.

 

In response to questions from the Committee the Internal Audit Senior Manager stated that one of PWC’s concerns is that the Council has attained full ownership of the activities within the Council and how the Council’s relationship sits with LGSS.

It was also explained that PWC look at how Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Risk Based Verification (RBV) Policy pdf icon PDF 230 KB

Minutes:

 

The Head of Revenue and Benefits presented the report. It was advised that the report was brought to theaudit committee to advise them of the new approachto verifyingclaimsfor HousingBenefitandCouncilTaxReduction andtoseek approval of the Risk BasedVerification(RBV)Policy. The Committee were advised RiskBasedVerification(RBV)isa method of applyingdifferent levelsof verification checksto benefit claimsaccording tothepredicted riskassociatedwith those claims. The main benefitsassociatedwith the RBV approach aretwofold:

 

·Inlowrisk cases enables tofasttrack’ HB/CTRapplications which deliver significantcustomer serviceimprovementsandserviceefficiencies

·In highrisk cases enables to moreaccuratelydetectfraudanderror at thepoint of dataentry

 

 

RESOLVED

TheAuditcommittee APPROVED theRisk BasedVerificationPolicy(AppendixA).

 

15.

Exclusion of Public and Press

THE CHAIR TO MOVE:

“THAT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS BE EXCLUDED FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE MEETING ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSURE TO THEM OF SUCH CATEGORIES OF EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED BY SECTION 100(1) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS LISTED AGAINST SUCH ITEMS OF BUSINESS BY REFERENCE TO THE APPROPRIATE PARAGRAPH OF SCHEDULE 12A TO SUCH ACT.”

Minutes:

The Chair moved that the Public and Press be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that there was likely to be disclosure to them of such categories of exempt information as defined by Section 100(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 as listed against such items of business by reference to the appropriate paragraph of Schedule 12A to such Act.

 

The Motion was  not Carried.