Archived decisions

At a meeting of the GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 9 March 2006

Councillors:

30. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor T. G. Knight who was representing the County Council at a meeting of the South Downs Joint Committee.

31. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally, at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

32. MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

33. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no communications from the Chairman on this occasion.

34. DEPUTATIONS

No deputations had been received.

35. AUDIT COMMISSION - EXTERNAL AUDIT PLAN 2006/07

Mr. S. Goodyear, representing the Audit Commission, presented the Commission's Audit Plan for 2006/07 (Item 6 in the Minute Book).

He outlined the structure of the audit and its main features drawing a distinction between the Commission's statutory requirements and its mandated tasks which this year, for the first time, included reassessing the County Council's arrangements for securing quality data vis à vis measurement of the County Council's Performance Indicators (PIs). Enhanced performance information was required to feed into the Corporate Performance Assessment (CPA) model which would be obtained from a review of management arrangements for securing data quality, an analytical review of some or all CPA PIs and investigation of significant variances and spot checks of a sample of performance against CPA PIs. Key controls would be tested.

In relation to specific risks, Mr. Goodyear explained that these would be reassessed and some might change before the audit commenced. The same applied to specific risks associated with Value For Money (VFM). In that context, the Committee offered Adult Care as an area for consideration by the Commission. The Committee noted how the audit would provide conclusions on Best Value PIs for the Commission's formal report to the County Council on compliance and for national publication. It would also inform the 2006 CPA assessment with results feeding into the County Council's overall score and the Commission's VFM conclusion. The same approach as last year was being adopted for the CPA scored assessment covering both improvements achieved and action taken by the County Council to maintain its trend of improvement. Services not improving would be looked at more closely.

The Committee noted the audit plan and its cost to the County Council which, whilst showing a 2.4% increase, was 22% below the mid-point of the Commission's fee scale due to the County Council's four star status. The Committee also noted the Commission's revised reporting arrangements for 2005/06. The Committee indicated that it wished to receive the Commission's audit memorandum; in relation to other matters, the Committee asked the Monitoring Officer and County Treasurer to report to the next meeting.

36. INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY AND PLAN 2006/07

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer reviewing the current audit strategy and highlighting changes to which the Committee's approval was sought (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The Internal Audit Service's terms of reference required revision to reflect the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

RESOLVED:

That the internal audit strategy 2006/07 be approved including changes to the Terms of Reference for the Internal Audit Service provided to Hampshire County Council as set out in Appendix B to the report of the County Treasurer.