Agenda and minutes

Members will disclose any pecuniary and any other significant interests they may have in relation to the matters under consideration.

Councillor E Anderton declared an Interest on Item 4 – National Fraud Initiative Exercise 2014/15 – because she was employed by the Department for Work and Pensions.

To approve as a correct record Minutes of the last meeting of the Audit Committee held on 25 July 2017.

The minutes of the Audit Committee meeting held on Tuesday 25 July 2017 were confirmed as a correct record.

Presentation by the Fraud & Compliance Manager.

The Fraud and Compliance Manager made a presentation to the Committee on the outcomes of the National Fraud Initiative Exercise 2014/15. He informed the Committee that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had taken over some of the benefit fraud functions previously undertaken by the council. In particular, it was now their responsibility to analyse data matches, which in the past, would have been Wyre Council’s responsibility.

He also reported on the analysis of data matches between the electoral registration and council tax systems to identify instances of benefit fraud. He said that the newest detailed National Fraud Initiative Exercise was already in process, with the matches due to be available in December 2017.

RESOLVED that the outcomes of the National Fraud Initiative Exercise for 2014/15, be noted.

Report of the Head of Finance / Section 151 Officer.

The Head of Finance (Section 151 Officer) submitted a report.

The Head of Governance explained that the Financial Regulations and Financial Procedure Rules were reviewed annually, in accordance with best practice and guidance. She said that the regular review process provided evidence which helped the council to demonstrate that it had put arrangements in place to maintain a sound system of internal control. She referred to the proposed amendments listed in paragraph 5.1 of the report.

The Head of Finance commented on forthcoming changes to the Council’s external audit arrangements, following the outcome of a previously reported procurement process, as a result of which, Deloitte LLP would take over from KPMG as the Council’s external auditors from the financial year 2018/19.

The Head of Governance also highlighted changes which had been made to provisions relating to tendering processes in the Financial Regulations, following discussions with the Council’s new Procurement Officer.

RESOLVED that the proposed changes to the Financial Regulations and Financial Procedure Rules referred to in paragraph 5.1 of the report and set out in full as track changes in Appendix 1 of the report, be approved.

Report of the Head of Finance / Section 151 Officer.

The Head of Finance (Section 151 Officer) submitted a report.

The Senior Auditor introduced the report, explaining that an annual review of the Internal Audit Charter was a mandatory requirement of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. She explained that the charter outlined the responsibilities of internal audit, including details of organisational roles and relationships, reporting lines, the scope of work undertaken, quality assurance measures and arrangements for the evaluation of the service. The first external assessment of the service was due to be completed in March 2018 by Allerdale District Council and Lancaster City Council. In addition to the current annual operational audit plan submitted to the Committee in March each year, an Internal Audit Strategy would now be developed and maintained to demonstrate how the internal audit service would be delivered in accordance with the requirements of the internal audit charter, council objectives and priorities.

RESOLVED that the Internal Audit Charter attached as Appendix 1 of the report and the Code of Ethics attached as Appendix 2 of the report, be approved.

Report of the Senior Solicitor.

The Senior Solicitor submitted a report reviewing the council’s use of RIPA since November 2016. There had been no need to use the council’s powers to conduct directed surveillance under RIPA or to use a covert human intelligence source during that period.

The Head of Governance introduced the report, informing members that the only proposed changes to the council’s policy following the annual review were a couple of typographical corrections.

RESOLVED that the position be noted.

Presentation by the Council’s External Auditors, KPMG.

The External Auditor referred to changes which the council would need to comply with by May 2018, to ensure that personal information relating to individuals was not made public and was only shared with other public bodies in tightly constrained circumstances. There had been a number of well publicised cases recently where information had not been kept secure and heavy fines had been imposed on councils as a result. Every council would need to designate a named Data Protection Officer, who would need to compile an inventory of all the personal information held and set up clear administrative arrangements for dealing with data subjects. Any loss of information would have to be reported within 72 hours.

The Head of Governance said that she had already started to deal with this and had been tasked to submit a report to the Corporate Management Team and Heads of service. Asset registers were already being populated and the processes which would need to be put in place were being identified.

The Head of Governance explained, in response to questions from Cllr Fail, the arrangements which were already in place for monitoring document retention schedules. She also explained the administrative changes which would need to be put in place to ensure that explicit permission was obtained from data subjects to use information supplied by them for other purposes.

She also confirmed, in response to a question from Cllr Moon, that a member of the public would not be able to obtain personal information about another individual by making a Freedom of Information Act request.

RESOLVED: that the implications for the Council of the General Data Protection regulations be noted.

Tuesday 14 November 2017 at 6pm, in the Council Chamber.

Tuesday 14 November at 6pm in the Council Chamber.

(Subsequently rearranged to take place at 6pm on Tuesday 21 November)