Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on 30 April 2007.
PRESENT:
Councillors: P R C Hutcheson (Chairman); M F Cartwright; M G Cooper;
D Harrison; D A Kirk; R McIntosh; R Smith; R. Williams.
Mr. R. Reeve, Audit Manager also attended the meeting.
29 APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor H. Jones.
30 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 debate, disclose their interest and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the Fire Authority's Code of Conduct consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.
There were no declarations of interest made by Members under this item.
31 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 29 September 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
32 DEPUTATIONS
There were no deputations made under this item.
33 INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY 2007/08 REVIEW
The Committee considered the report of the Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) about the delivery of the current audit strategy.
Members noted that good progress was being made and that those areas subject to ongoing development had been highlighted within the report.
RESOLVED:
That the internal audit strategy for 2007/08 be approved.
34 ANNUAL AUDIT AND INSPECTION LETTER 2006/07
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) introducing the Audit Commission's Annual Audit and Inspection Letter 2006/07. It was reported that the rating assessment shown against financial management in paragraph 33 of the Letter should read a `3' and not a `2' out of 4 rating. Also, that the figure of £53.64 per head of population in paragraph 43 should be amended so as to refer instead to average Council Tax Band D. The Committee noted that the correct version appeared on the web.
The Audit Manager introduced the Audit and Inspection Letter and summarised the main findings. Members congratulated all staff on the positive nature of the Letter which showed the Service to be performing and improving well. The Chief Officer reported that work was underway to determine those actions required to positively address areas for further improvement. It was intended to report this to the Performance Review Committee at a later date.
During discussion attention was drawn to those comments made in the Letter about Member involvement in producing the annual Statement of Internal Control and to the Governance Committee's independence in terms of its composition. Members expressed no concerns about this and queried the applicability of the CIPFA guidance which was based on local authorities with an executive leader and cabinet system. It was considered very difficult to achieve complete independence bearing in mind the size of typical combined fire authorities and the need to achieve political proportionality and representation from the constituent authorities on all the standing committees. It was made clear in relation to the comment regarding the Corporate Management Team (CMT) that it was not a decision making body and that all Members were welcome to attend its meetings. The Audit Manager reported that similar comments had been expressed by the Finance and General Purposes Committee when they considered the same item at their meeting on 26 April 2007. The Audit Manager would be looking in future to measure the effectiveness and performance of the Governance Committee rather than its composition.
RESOLVED:
That the Audit Commission's Annual Audit and Inspection Letter 2006/07 be received and noted.
35 AUDIT AND INSPECTION PLAN 2007/08
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) introducing the Audit Commission's and Inspection Audit Plan for 2007/08.
The Audit Manager presented the Plan which set out the audit and inspection work intended for the 2007/08 financial year. Five specific risks had been identified with the aim of assessing the arrangements put in place by the Authority to manage them. These would be cross-checked with the Authority's Strategic Risk Register to ensure that controls were in place to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of the risk occurring and/or strategies introduced to mitigate the impact of the risk. Also, it was intended to carry out a further assessment of `Use of Resources' which would update on progress since the 2006/07 assessment.
RESOLVED:
That the Audit Commission's Audit and Inspection Plan for 2007/08 be received and noted.
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