MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE AUDIT AND PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2006 COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

Present:

Cllrs Anne Bishop (Chairman), Ivan Bulwer, Mike Cunningham, Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond, Barbara Foster, Susan Scoccia

Also in attendance:

Cllrs Jilly Wood

Officers Present:

Steve Beynon, Joe Duckworth, Heidi Marshall, Ged Richardson, Alastair Rankine, Derek Rowell, Bob Streets

45. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2006 be confirmed.

46. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

47. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

There were no public questions.

48. INTERNAL AUDIT OUTCOMES REPORT

The Chief Internal Auditor introduced his report, which included audits on the Contract audit progress, the Coastal Visitors Centre and Cowes High School. The Committee reviewed the Audit Plan for 2006 and was advised that between 85% and 90% of the work would be achieved.

Concerns were raised in particular about school construction works and the methods used to ensure that contractors were financially sound. The Committee was advised that a robust financial analysis, which included cash flow issues, was undertaken for each contractor employed. The Board noted that the Government’s Constructionline system had recently been adopted by the Council’s Property Services department, but the schools building programme benefited from a partnership approach. In the majority of cases working with partners had realised savings when compared to the traditional tendering process.

Questions were also raised about the subsidy for the Coastal Visitor Centre and the impact of the loss of income from the Tourist Information Centre (TIC).

RESOLVED:

THAT the report be noted.

49. QUARTERLY FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE REPORT

The Chairman suggested that this item be moved to the next meeting of the Committee, to enable further clarification of the information presented.

The Committee was advised that the CorVu system had been used to address issues raised in the CPA. All reports produced were discussed by Directors and Cabinet Members on a monthly basis as a robust method of identifying potential problems of performance and risks. Targets set would be reviewed during the Service Planning process to ensure that they were realistic. The corporate risk register was also reviewed monthly, together with the top twelve corporate projects with information being passed to Cabinet Members and the Audit and Performance Committee on a quarterly basis.

RESOLVED:

(a) THAT the Chairman be delegated to liaise with the Financial Director regarding the format of information.

(b) THAT a revised report be presented at the meeting scheduled for 16 January 2007.

(c) THAT all future Quarterly Performance Management Reports be reviewed by the Audit and Performance Committee prior to submission to the Cabinet.

50. MEMBERS QUESTION TIME

There were no questions presented.

CHAIRMAN