Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Watford

Contact: Sandra Hancock  Email: democraticservices@watford.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

11.

Apologies for Absence/Committee Membership

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

12.

Disclosure of Interests (if any)

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

13.

Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2019 to be submitted and signed.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2019 were submitted and signed.

 

The Chair invited Jo Taylor to provide an update on the council’s statement of accounts.

 

Ms Taylor informed the committee that the council’s accounts had been reported on time.  Subsequently the Annual Audit Letter had been produced and was very similar to the draft version presented to members at the previous meeting.  A copy had been circulated to the committee.  She advised that discussions were currently being held to agree dates for the housing benefits work and planning for the future.

14.

Ombudsman's Annual Letter 2019 pdf icon PDF 355 KB

  • View the background to item 14.

Report of the Group Head of Democracy and Governance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received a report of the Group Head of Democracy and Governance which included the annual review letter from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

 

The Group Head of Democracy and Governance reported that three out of five investigations carried out by the Ombudsman had been upheld.  The upheld complaints had been reported to Cabinet.  All of the Ombudsman’s recommendations had been fulfilled and lessons had been learnt by the three services.

 

RESOLVED –

 

that the report be noted.

15.

Shared Internal Audit Service - Annual Report 2018-19 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service

Minutes:

The committee received a report of the Head of Assurance for the Shared Internal Audit Service, setting out the service’s Annual Report for 2018/19.

 

The Client Audit Manager explained that this annual report related to the whole service whereas the report in July was specifically about the work carried out in Watford.  It was hoped that this report would be presented at the July meeting in future years.

 

RESOLVED –

 

that the report be noted.

16.

Shared Internal Audit Progress Report - Recommendations update pdf icon PDF 334 KB

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received a report of the Client Audit Manager setting out the progress on the outstanding recommendations from previous audits and amendments to the current Audit Plan.

 

The Client Audit Manager informed the committee that the planned projects shown in paragraph 2.8 of the report were usually back-loaded with the agreement of officers.  The next report should show a higher percentage of projects to draft stage.  He added that one of the audit projects had been moved into the next financial year.  He noted that the number of outstanding recommendations continued to decline.  There had been two requests for extensions to deadlines as shown in Appendix C and referred to in paragraph 2.4 of the report.

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.      that the Internal Audit Progress Report for the period to 6 September 2019 be noted.

 

2.      that the amendments to the Audit Plan, as at 6 September 2019, be approved.

 

3.      that the change to the implementation date for two recommendations (paragraph 2.5 of the report) for the reasons set out in Appendix C be agreed.

17.

Exclusion of Press and Public

THE CHAIR TO MOVE: that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act for the reasons stated below in terms of Schedule 12A.

 

NOTE: if approved, the Chair will ask members of the press and public to leave the meeting at this point.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED –

 

that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) Schedule 12A of the Act for the reason stated in the report.

18.

WBC SIAS Update report Part B

This report is considered Part B in accordance with Paragraph 3, Part 1, Schedule 12A.

Minutes:

The committee received a report from Shared Internal Audit Service.  The Head of Community Protection and Head of Finance responded to members’ questions.

 

RESOLVED –

 

that the report be noted.

 

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