Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lord W Khan and Briggs, and S Arnfield.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 22^nd September 2022.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the last meeting held on 22^nd September 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no additional items of business.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to any item on the agenda, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest in any items on the agenda. 

To determine during which items, if any, the public are to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no items of business where members of the public needed to be excluded from the meeting. 

To consider questions, statements or petitions from Members of the Public.

No questions, statements or petitions had been received from members of the public.   

To consider and approve the audited Statement of Accounts 2021/22.

Howard Hamilton-Smith introduced the report, which presented the Council’s audited Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 and sought formal approval of the Committee and sign off by the Chair.  Approval and sign off was also sought for the Letter of Representation from the Head of Finance and Property to Grant Thornton (external auditors). 

The Committee was informed of the audits findings and requested to approve the signed 2021/22 Annual Governance Statement.  

Georgia Jones gave an overview of the audit findings report and highlighted the following key points: -

·         An asset (Charter Walk Shopping Centre) included as an Investment Property, should have been classed as Other Land and Buildings.  This reclassification resulted in additional depreciation charged through the Council’s Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. 

·         Assurance was still awaited from the pension fund auditor on underpinning controls and supporting data for the pension fund net liability.  Once this has been received the audit opinion would be issued. 

Concerns were raised over whether the reclassification of Charter Walk would have a detrimental effect on the business case, but assurance was given that it would have no effect on business plans. 

Three recommendations were outlined which had been identified for the Council as a result of the audit of financial statements and progress would be reported during the course of the 2022/23 audit.  An update on actions taken to address the previous years recommendations was also provided.

It was queried if the Council had the necessary arrangements in place to deliver Value for Money.  It was anticipated that a Value for Money review will be concluded by February 2023 and the findings be reported back to the committee. 

RESOLVED - (1) That the Statement of Accounts be approved and signed;

                         (2) that the Letter of Representation be approved and signed;

                         (3) that the audit findings be noted; and            

 (4) that the signed Annual Governance Statement 2022 be approved.       

To consider the Work Programme for the current year.

Members noted the changes to the work programme.

It was proposed that the Value for Money 21/22 report be submitted to the January 2023 meeting of the Committee and the External Audit Plan 22/23 be submitted to the meeting in March 2023.

It was suggested that the approval of audited accounts be retained as a separate single item for consideration by the Audit and Standards Committee in the future. 

RESOLVED – That the work programme be noted and amended for the Value for Money 21/22 report to be considered in January 2023, and the External Audit Plan 2022/23 to be considered in March 2023.