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A report by the Corporate Director (Corporate Services) provided the Committee with a copy of the External Auditor's management report for 2017/18.
The Chair took the opportunity to welcome Ms Bruce, External Auditor, and opened the report for discussion.
In response to a query from Councillor Creswell the Council Leader advised there was a meeting of Group Leaders scheduled for 23 August and the formation of a cross-party group was on the agenda for discussion.
In response to a query from Councillor Feaver the External Auditor advised that for the purposes of expressing an opinion on the financial statement, controls and operations could be found to be satisfactory or requiring improvement. The fact that the majority of the controls and operations had been found to be satisfactory means they can be relied on and that no further work is required.
Councillor Brown sought the External Auditors opinion on the financial sustainability arrangements of the Council and if she was of the opinion that the Council should consider putting a moratorium on spending. He further sought clarification on her opinion of the transform agenda and asked her to comment on the efficacy of its success.
In response the External Auditor advised that as auditors they did not get involved in the running of councils and decisions to be made were for those charged with governance which is all the Councillors in the organisation. She advised they could recommend that a financial strategy be put in place, however it was not for them to suggest what that strategy should be. She further advised her review of the transformation programme had been at a high level and she was not in a position to state whether she was of the opinion it would be effective or not.
Discussion took place on the transparency of current and historical internal audits. Following discussion of what constituted historical it was agreed the internal auditor would review the feasibility of providing information for the previous two years and issuing a link to Committee.
In response to a query from Councillor Gatt on the inclusion of family interests on Registers of Interest the Chief Executive undertook to seek clarification from the Head of Legal Services.
Councillor Feaver sought clarification on Registers of Interest in relation to staff hospitality and whether in the interests of transparency information could be made public.
In response the Chief Executive advised he would investigate what was available.
Thereafter Committee agreed to:
- note the contents of the External Auditor's Management Report for 2017/18;
- task the Audit Manager with ensuring full internal audit reports be placed on the Members portal and sending links to the Committee;
- task the Audit Manager with checking the feasibility of providing historical audit reports to Committee;
- task the Chief Executive with seeking clarification from the Head of Legal Services on the inclusion of family interests on Registers of Interest; and
- task the Chief Executive with investigating what information is available on staff hospitality.