MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE AUDIT AND PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY, 29 JUNE 2006 AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

 

Present:    

 

Cllrs Anne Bishop (Chairman), Ivan Bulwer, Mike Cunningham, Barbara Foster, Susan Scoccia

 

Also in attendance: 

 

Cllrs Andy Sutton, Jilly Wood

 

Officers Present:

 

Andrew Carpenter, Simon Dear, Joe Duckworth, Stuart Fraser, Prue Grimshaw, Ged Richardson, Bob Streets, Paul Thistlewood, April West

 

Others Present:

           

Alastair Rankine (Audit Manager from the Audit Commission)        

 

Apologies:

 

Cllr Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond

 

 


The Chairman announced that item 8 would be brought forward on the agenda to allow officers to meet other commitments. The Committee indicated that there was a lot of business on the agenda and suggested that more regular meetings were needed to keep on top of the workload.

 

8.                  MINUTES

 

RESOLVED :

 

            THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2006 be confirmed.

 

9.                 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

10.             PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

 

There were no public questions.

 

11.             REPORTS OF THE AUDIT COMMISSION

 

a.                                                Assessment of Performance Indicators

 

The Committee noted the report of the Audit Commission which summarised the processes and outcomes of the audit of performance indicators. The report considered the Councils ability to produce accurate and reliable performance data over the period 2004/05. 

 

Members were informed that some of the data used in the audit was out of date but the new performance management system, CorVu, should rectify this in the future.

 

RESOLVED

 

THAT the report be noted.

 

b.                                                Children and Young People’s Service Diagnostic

 

The Head of Children and Family Services and the Children's Trust Development Adviser introduced the report from the Audit Commission which set out the findings of a review into the progress made on the Children’s Trust and ‘every child matters’. The review considered the progress made on the implementation of the new arrangements for Children and Young People and made recommendations on improvements. 

 

The Children’s Trust Adviser updated Members on the progress made since the recommendations had been received from the Audit Commission focussing on the exception areas on the survey summary results and areas for development.

 

Members considered the findings of the report and asked questions relating to the consultation undertaken during the review.

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the report be noted.

 

12.             FINAL ACCOUNTS 2005-06

 

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Financial Officer which set out the Council’s accounts for 2005-06. The accounts required approval by 30 June 2006.

 

Members were informed that the accounts had been made available to the public via a notice in the County Press. Members suggested that this information could be placed on the Council’s website the following year. 

 

Members considered the accounts and asked for clarification on a number of points.

 

RESOLVED:

 

            THAT the Statement of Accounts be approved.

 

13.             THE COUNCIL’S STATEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROL

 

Members considered the report of the Programme Lead for Performance Improvement on the Council’s Statement on Internal Control (SIC). The SIC included three extra internal control issues, as requested by the Committee on 25 May 2006.

 

The Committee approved the Council’s SIC for recommendation to the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council.

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the Statement on Internal Control be approved for recommendation to the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council.

 

14.             INTERNAL AUDIT PERFORMANCE REPORT

 

Members considered the report of the Chief Internal Auditor on the Council’s Internal Audit Performance for 2005/06 and were informed that there were no significant internal issues to give cause for concern from the period 2005/06.

 

The Committee were informed that an ICT Auditor had now been recruited and that the department now had the resources to resume audits in schools.   

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the report be noted.

 

15.             DEVELOPMENTS IN THE COUNCIL’S RISK MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

 

Members considered the report of the Programme Lead for Performance Improvement which set out developments in the Council’s risk management arrangements.

 

The Committee noted the action plan set out in Appendix A of the report.

 

RESOLVED:

 

            THAT the report be noted.

 

 

16.             MEMBERS QUESTION TIME

 

There were no Member questions.

 

 

The meeting closed at 7.55 pm

 

 

 

CHAIRMAN