Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber

Media

Items
No. Item

ASC.001

APOLOGIES

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Pearson and Brine

ASC.002

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive declarations of interest.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

ASC.003

MINUTES

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27 April 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED               That the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 April 2021 are approved as a correct record.

ASC.004

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

This Chair of Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

 

DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF QUESTIONS

Noon on Thursday, 8 July 2021

 

Questions must be submitted to the Chief Executive, Democratic Services, Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud and can be sent by email to

democratic.services@stroud.gov.uk

 

 

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

ASC.005

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK pdf icon PDF 314 KB

To adopt the Information Governance Framework.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Information Governance Officer introduced the report and advised that following a GDPR audit carried out in 2019 a dedicated information officer responsible for governance had been hired. The accountability framework from the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) had been used to help set out the approach for the Policies included in the Information Governance Framework.  It was also advised that they were working to embed the knowledge and use of the framework across the council using a team of information champions.

 

Councillor Hurst asked a question about the on-sale value of this report and whether the information was sourced from other councils. It was confirmed that there were a number of different policies available online however, finding one policy that was fit for purpose at Stroud was difficult.

 

Councillor Baker asked if there were plans to include compensation for serious data breaches. The Information Governance Officer advised that they were looking to review the complaints policy again to ensure it was aligned with other Council policies. With regards to compensation the legal team would provide advice based on the specific case at the time. In response to a further question, it was advised that a Data Breach Policy was included in Appendix D and that full investigations were carried out with any data breach to ensure it could be used as a learning exercise. It was also confirmed that a register of data breaches was maintained and updated.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Davies it was confirmed that the wording regarding confidentiality for email signatures had been reviewed and IT had been asked to implement this. The Information Governance Officer also advised that there had been approximately 5 data breaches that year and that 3 of the breaches had related to human error with an officer selecting the wrong email address when sending an email. They had therefore been trialling new software which would help to reduce the risk of this by warning the user of irregularities.

 

Councillor Kay questioned whether the records management policy was fit for purpose as it left decisions as to when and what records needed to be retained down to service managers which could allow some services to destroy some documentation which could be needed in the future. The Information Governance Officer responded by stating each service area had its own retention schedule which were being reviewed. The ICO did not stipulate how long you need to keep every single document and therefore it is left up to councils to decide how long they need to retain information. They also advised that they could look into this further to see if they could find any further guidance to assist managers. The Monitoring Officer advised that this was an operational decision and therefore the Information Governance Officer may not be able to provide any further guidance. Councillor Kay requested for his concerns with regards to data retention and record management to be recorded.

 

Councillor Pearcy requested reassurance on the level of resources available to deliver  ...  view the full minutes text for item ASC.005

ASC.006

ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERNAL AUDIT ACTIVITY 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 493 KB

To provide the Committee with an annual report on Internal Audit Activity which fully meets the Head of Audit Risk Assurance’s (ARA) annual reporting requirements, as set out in the Public Sector Internal Auditing Standards (PSIAS) 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance (ARA) introduced the report to the committee and advised that the work of the Internal Audit team had been in line with the requirements of the public sector internal auditing standards (PSIAS) and that despite the difficult and tumultuous year he was able to provide a satisfactory level of assurance.

 

Councillor Davies thanked Piyush for the report and referred to page 30 where he queried the global IT hardware shortage created by the pandemic and stated that we needed to be cautious of blaming Covid-19. He also asked for an update with regards the continual issues with procurement. The Strategic Director of Resources advised that there was a delay in the initial IT equipment arriving due to the shutdown of the manufacturing at the beginning of the last year. With regards to procurement it was confirmed that they were now relatively low risk issues, however they were now trying to ensure that they were moving towards 100% compliance. An action plan had been formed to build in improvements and later in the year a report would come back to Audit to confirm what actions had been taken.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Pearcy the Head of ARA confirmed that they would be reviewing the level of information provided in the summaries of the Audit reports. He also confirmed that the number of high priority recommendations detailed in Section (6e) was not dissimilar to other councils of a similar size and was what they would normally expect.

 

Councillor Wilsher asked whether there was a mechanism in place for ensuring the recommendations made were followed up. The Head of ARA stated that feedback from high risk recommendations is provided at Committee by way of follow up reports.

 

Councillor Hurst asked for clarification of the figures on page 85 of the report relating to attempted fraud to which Head of ARA clarified the figure was for the whole Council and not an individual sector.

 

Councillor Davies proposed and Councillor Baker seconded.

 

Councillor Davies asked the Committee to note that the ARA had been externally audited and had received a very high commendation referring to the quote on page 17.

 

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED

a)   Assess, form the findings set out in this Internal Audit Annual Report, whether it can take reasonable assurance that the internal control environment, comprising risk management, control and governance is operating effectively;

b)  Note that the performance of Internal Audit meets the required standards; and

c)   Note the council wide counter fraud activity during 2020/21 which includes the fraud reporting requirements as mandated by the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.

 

ASC.007

ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 311 KB

To summarise Stroud District Council’s corporate governance arrangements in place during 2020/21, via the publication of an Annual Governance Statement.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance presented the statement and explained there was a requirement for an annual review of the effectiveness of internal control and they were required to produce an Annual Governance Statement to accompany the Statement of Accounts.

 

In the absence of any questions or comments, Councillor Davies proposed and Councillor Pearcy Seconded.

 

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED

a)    To review and approve the Annual Governance Statement and the actions planned by the Council to further enhance good governance arrangements; and

b)   Agree that an update on actions taken to address the governance issues identified will be provided to the February 2022 Audit and Standards Committee meeting.

 

ASC.008

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 296 KB

To approve the unaudited Statement of Accounts 2020/21 and signed by the Strategic Director of Resources on 1 July 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Principal Accountant presented the unaudited Statement of Accounts which had been signed off by the Section 151 Officer on the 1 July 2021. The audit of the accounts by Deloitte had begun on the 5 July 2021. The Principal Accountant brought the Committees attention to the 4 main statements on page 150 (Para 3) and the Chief Financial Officer’s Narrative Report in Appendix A and proceeded to highlight key figures throughout the appendix.

 

Councillor Davies asked whether the Council had been hugely adversely affected financially by Covid due to the support provided by Central Government. The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that there had been an impact of approximately £4.1million and grant funding had been received of approximately £3.6million so the Council was in a relatively stable position however the impact on the medium term was still unknown.

 

Councillor Davies also asked for clarification on the collection fund smoothing, the Strategic Director of Resources advised that the government funding arrived in the last financial year however the collection fund balance won’t unwind until the current financial year, so there is a mismatch.

 

Further questions were asked by Councillor Davies, Hurst and Pearcy, the following responses were provided by the Principal Accountant:

·         The Council had not yet used any of the Brexit Reserve

·         With regards the funds listed on page 210 at the end of March 2020 the Council had approx. £9million invested with a valuation on the 31 March 2021 of £8.7million a further £1million was invested during 2020/21 with a valuation of £9.867million at the end of March 2021. The latest valuation at the end of June 2021 was approximately £10.176million

·         There are no available predictions yet with regards pension reserves for 2022.

·         Last year they had been required to caveat all property valuations with a clause of material uncertainty they had therefore had almost all of the Council’s properties revalued during 2020-21 to help provide more certainty.

 

Councillor Kay offered his thanks to the Finance Team for their care of the Councils resources and asked for this to be included in the decision. The Committee endorsed Councillor Kay’s statement.

 

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED      To approve the unaudited Statement of Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021 and recognise the hard work of the Finance Team.

 

ASC.009

EXTERNAL AUDIT PLAN pdf icon PDF 616 KB

To receive an update from External Auditors Deloitte.

Minutes:

The Strategic Director of Resources gave apologies for Deloitte who were unable to attend the meeting and advised the Committee that he would ensure that any questions would be passed to Deloitte for response outside of the meeting.

 

Councillor Pearcy asked a question regarding changes to accounting standards and whether this might impact or delay the audit. The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that they look at new accounting standards as soon as they are released and they don’t anticipate any impact on the Audit.

 

The Chair, Councillor Studdert-Kennedy, asked for confirmation on the timescales, the Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that he would contact Deloitte and circulate the response.

 

RESOLVED      To note the update and draft planning report from External Auditors Deloitte.

 

ASC.010

TREASURY MANAGEMENT pdf icon PDF 519 KB

To advise on the treasury management activities in 2020/2021, in accordance with the Council’s Treasury Policy Statement. To report on actual 2020/2021 Prudential Indicators in accordance with the requirements of the Prudential Code.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In presenting the above report, the Principal Accountant drew attention to several paragraphs and answered Members’ questions which covered:-

·         The Council was using reserves to internally borrow however this should not impinge on any other activity.

·         The Property and Multi Asset funds are investments intended for the medium to long term, the treasury strategy sets limits for investments that can be more than 365 days.

·         The strategy which was approved in February 2020 and 2021 includes provision for internal borrowing for the next 4-5 years but this would be revisited each year by the Committee.

 

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED To approve treasury management activity annual report in 2020/21 and the actual Prudential Indicators

 

ASC.011

PLANNING REVIEW pdf icon PDF 163 KB

To receive a verbal update and to consider the draft terms of reference in Appendix A.

Minutes:

The Chair, Councillor Studdert-Kennedy, offered his thanks to the internal audit team who had put together the report. The Head of ARA introduced the report and advised that following the April Committee the Internal Audit Team was requested to undertake a review of planning enforcement. The Draft Terms of Reference had been prepared following in depth consultation with both Officers and Members, they needed to ensure that everyone who wanted to provide comments could do so. The focus of the Audit would be to look at the development of policy and procedure, Member oversight of the service and a review of the operational activities and processes.

 

Councillor Davies wanted to ensure that it was made explicit that the audit would include working with and consulting with Parish Councils to understand their view of our planning activity. Councillor Davies wanted the scope of the Audit to cover the performance of the Council in responding to Parish Councils. The Head of ARA confirmed that Parish Councils were consulted in the drafting of the terms of reference. It was also confirmed that the planning applications audit would report on the performance of the planning department in relation to its correspondence with Parish Councils. In terms of the planning enforcement audit they would look at the effectiveness of communications with regards to tracking important complaints and keeping interested parties informed. The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that the communication issues Cllr Davies has referred to with Parish Councils would be looked at with regards the Audit and data would be provided as part of the Audit results. The Chair proposed that ‘in particular with Parish Councils’ was added to the penultimate bullet point in Para B in the terms of reference after ‘Communication processes’. This amendment was seconded by Councillor Davies and endorsed by the Committee.

 

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED      To note the verbal update and consider the draft terms of reference as amended in Appendix A.

 

ASC.011a

To consider the Work Programme for 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 16 KB

Minutes:

There were no questions or comments raised.

ASC.011b

To consider any risk management issues

Minutes:

The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that they had asked ARA to review the risk management arrangements of the Council and work with the Committee about how they wish to be updated with this information. The Committee would be able to consider the recommendations from ARA at a future Committee.

 

ASC.012

MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission.

Minutes:

There were none.

 

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