Agenda item
Audit Commission's Progress Report
The purpose of this progress report is to brief the Audit Committee on work currently being planned or undertaken by the Audit Commission.
Minutes:
Gary McLeod (Audit Commission) introduced the report and summarised the work undertaken by the Audit Commission since the last report to the Committee in September 2009. He advised Members that on work on Use of Resources had been completed, with a final score of three achieved for Managing Finances and two for Governing the Business and Managing Resources respectively. Other activities included completion of the Accounts memorandum, certification of 11 grant claims prepared by the Council and the agreement of the 2008/09 Annual Audit Letter. Work on the 2009/10 audit was underway, and the draft supplementary opinion plan would be submitted at the next meeting following a review of organisational and system level risks. Gary McLeod advised that planning for the 2010/11 audit would start in the next few weeks and views of Members on any areas of risk where external audit work could be beneficial were welcomed.
Gary McLeod then referred to the draft Final Accounts report for 2008/09 which detailed the main finding of the audit completed on 29th September 2009. Discussion had taken place with officers and would continue into the New Year prior to finalisation.
Referring to the Use of Resources scores, the Chair commented that some scores were lower than expected and he enquired whether this was attributable to some issues concerning a particular secondary school and because of deposits that had been made to two Icelandic banks that had subsequently collapsed. Furthermore, he asked whether the scores attained reflected present or past performance. The Chair sought comparisons with how the Audit Committee were performing compared to equivalent committees in other local authorities. He enquired what the responsibilities of the lead members were with regard to performance.
In response, Andrea White (District Auditor, Audit Commission) advised that issues concerning a secondary school and the Icelandic bank deposits had been taken into consideration, however other wider issues had also contributed to the assessment. She affirmed that a rating of two signified an adequate performance and that the appropriate arrangements were in place. A three rating signified consistently high performance across the Council and a proactive approach being taken. Members heard that appropriate arrangements had been made with regard to the Audit Committee’s role, and its efforts would be enhanced by taking a more proactive stance, further consideration of training needs for Members, scrutinising specific issues such as limited assurance and following up on progress on recommendations that had been agreed.
Andrea White explained that Use of Resources reflected the priorities of the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) which included achieving best value and a focus on delivering partnership working. Areas for improvement had been highlighted by the Audit Commission, such as increasing stakeholder involvement, a more consistent approach to systems and process, provide more examples of effective partnership working and improving data quality. It was noted that the Council’s Transformation programme would impact more positively in future as the programme comes to fruition. Members heard that the purpose of the Audit Commission’s report was to assess how local authorities monitored their performance and Councils needed to focus on outcomes. Performance management systems should be council wide and this included lead members playing a role.
Duncan McLeod (Director of Finance and Corporate Resources) added that there had been active dialogue with the Audit Commission and the suggestions made had been helpful. There was a need to raise standards in a number of areas and Duncan McLeod stressed that management of resources was a much wider issue than financial considerations and the whole Council needed to be involved.
The Chair thanked the Audit Commission for their input and noted the suggestions that had been made.
Supporting documents:
- Audit Committee - 2008-09 Progress Report Brent LBC Dec 2009 cover, item 4. PDF 288 KB
- Audit Committee - 2008-09 Progress App 1 Brent UoR report 2009, item 4. PDF 300 KB
- Audit Committee - 2008-09 Progress App 2 LB BRENT 08-09 Fin Acc, item 4. PDF 275 KB