Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on 19 September, 2008
PRESENT:
Councillors: P.R.C. Hutcheson (Chairman); M.F. Cartwright; D.A. Kirk; R. McIntosh; R. Smith.
Also in attendance: Mr. P. Sharman, District Auditor and Mr. G. West, Audit Manager for Minute 79.
74. APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M.F. Cartwright; P. Galton; D. Harrison and P. Marsh-Jenks.
75. 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, declare 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, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 12 of the Code.
There were no declarations of interest made by Members under this item.
76. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26 June, 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
77. DEPUTATIONS
There were no deputations.
78. AMENDED ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT
The Authority considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) about the proposed amended Annual Governance Statement. It now included three particular statements as highlighted by the external auditors and mentioned in the report.
RESOLVED:
That the amended Annual Governance Statement, as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report, be approved for inclusion with the Statement of Accounts for 2007/08.
79. HFRA - ANNUAL GOVERNANCE REPORT - AUDIT 2007/08
The Committee considered the Audit Commission's draft Annual Governance report (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on behalf of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.
Mr. P. Sharman and Mr. G. West introduced their report and highlighted the main issues contained therein. These related to some minor errors in the financial statements relating to the 2007/08 Pension Fund Account transfers and a matter regarding the Authority's accounting arrangements in respect of participation in the Fire and Rescue Assurance Mutual Limited (FRAML). The Chief Officer reported that the financial statements had been corrected and the required financial adjustments had been made to the Authority's 2008/09 accounts to put right the Pension Fund transfer error. With regard to the FRAML, the auditors said that they were awaiting technical advice on how best to present the Authority's interest in the accounts.
The District Auditor was pleased to report that the Authority had in place adequate corporate arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources. Members were required to agree the draft management letter of representation shown as Appendix 1 to the report. The Chief Executive highlighted several proposed amendments to the draft letter in response to the issues which the District Auditor had raised and these were agreed by the Committee. Accordingly, it was
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Committee thank the Audit Commission for their Annual Governance Report and notes with satisfaction those actions taken to address the issues they had raised.
(b) That the Committee agree the Management letter of representation as amended and that the letter be signed and sent to the District Auditor on behalf of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.
80. PROGRESS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTIONS ARISING FROM INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) about the progress of the implementation of recommendations and actions arising from Internal Audit Reports. A Member highlighted an error in paragraph 4.6 of the report and that the word "occasion" should be substituted for the word "exceptionally".
RESOLVED:
That the Committee endorses the audit action reports, and progress made towards the implementation of recommendations for improvement.
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