Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Butt, Dunlop and McCormack.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Councillor A Stribley attended as a substitute for Councillor B Dunlop.

Councillors are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and the Council's Code of Conduct regarding Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

Councillors are also required to disclose any other interests where a Councillor is a member of an external body or organisation where that membership involves a position of control or significant influence, including bodies to which the Council has made the appointment in line with the Council's Code of Conduct.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 10^th October 2019.

It was noted that at agenda item 18 of the meeting on 10October 2019 the Chief Executive had advised the Committee that he was liaising separately about issues raised by a member of the public, Mr Roger West, and that, if appropriate and if considered to be of assistance to the Committee, he would report back to the Audit and Governance Committee at the conclusion of those discussions.

Subject to the above, the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is Thursday 7^th November 2019.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is 12.00 noon on Wednesday 13^th November 2019.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 12.00 noon on Wednesday 13^th November 2019.

A member of the public, Mr Roger West, asked the following questions.

Question 1:

How was it possible that the Kinson Community Association had not prepared Audited Accounts for many years whilst being managed by an employee of Bournemouth Borough Council? During this time I have been informed that over £100,000 has been found to be missing.

Response by the Chairman of the Committee:

The Police, legacy Bournemouth Borough Council (BBC), and the Independent Investigator (appointed by legacy BBC with the agreement of KCA) have not been provided with any evidence to substantiate allegations of theft of any financial sum or any other financial wrongdoing. The failure to prepare audited accounts is a matter for Kinson Community Association (KCA) and the Charity Commission, the following press release has recently been made by the Charity Commission. 

‘The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into Kinson Community Association (215169) due to concerns of mismanagement and/or misconduct at the charity. The community centre is set up to promote spiritual, mental, physical and social development to the Kinson community in Bournemouth. The inquiry was opened on 19 September 2019.

The charity was entered into a class inquiry in February 2018 to look into charities which had repeatedly defaulted on their statutory filing requirements. Despite continued engagement during the course of that inquiry the charity’s financial accounts for the FYE 31 December 2015 and 2016 are still outstanding and 31 December FYE 2017 are now also overdue.

These issues raise concerns over the charity’s accountability and transparency. As such, the inquiry will examine the governance, management and administration of the charity, including having regard to:        

·       the extent to which the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance.

·       whether the trustees have properly exercised their duties and responsibilities under charity law in the administration of the charity and in particular their duty to account for the charity’s funds.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.’

Question 2:

The quality of the audio recording is very poor. Christchurch Council was much further advanced than this Council and video recorded their council meeting. When will BCP Council follow their example?

Response by the Chairman of the Committee:

BCP Council has inherited the audio equipment in each of the three main office locations. In order to provide recording facilities for all meetings, additional equipment has been installed in the committee room in Poole at no additional cost. However, it is acknowledged that the age and technical specification of the equipment at each site varies significantly and as consequence, audio recordings do vary in quality. It is not considered to be in the public interest to incur significant expenditure on upgrading the equipment in all meeting locations at this time.

At the meeting of Cabinet held  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

To receive a presentation from Officers.

CIPFA Guidelines for Audit Committees

The Committee was introduced to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (‘CIPFA’) ‘Audit Committees’ document (2018 Edition) which, it was explained, provided practical guidance for all Local Authorities and which represented best practice throughout the sector. The document provided a list and assessment of expected core functions and also suggested a range of wider activities which is was open to Local Authorities to adopt. A comparison of the respective roles of the Overview and Scrutiny and the Audit and Governance Committees was also presented.

The Committee received an appraisal and comparison of its own existing Terms of Reference compared with recommended best practice as set out in the CIPFA document. The results of a process of matching from the two sources was set out and, overall, there was reported to be a sound match between the two. In some instances BCP Council went beyond the minimum standards suggested by CIPFA.

Clarity was sought about the status of the Standards Committee and it was accepted that, quite correctly, the Standards Committee stood separate and independent from Audit and Governance with the function of implementing, in practice, the ethical standards as agreed and laid down by the Council and as included within the Code of Conduct.

In response to a further question about the ‘Value for Money’ (‘vfm’) assessment it was noted that the annual report of the Chief Internal Auditor included (for the legacy Councils) a section on vfm arrangements and provided an opinion on adequacy. The Committee were of the view that Terms of Reference of Audit and Governance Committee should, as recommended in the CIPFA document, expressly include vfm .

The Committee considered in turn each line of the matching process and particularly a number of areas where a completely explicit match did not exist. The Committee was accordingly referred to the following CIPFA model Terms of Reference not specifically included in BCP Council Terms and made suggestions set out for further discussion or for consideration by the Constitution Working Group.

CIPFA Model terms:

Governance, Risk & Control

12. To review the governance and assurance arrangements for significant partnerships or collaborations

Internal Audit

14. To review proposals made in relation to the appointment of external providers of internal audit services and to make recommendations (Not Applicable)

23. To contribute to the QAIP and in particular to the external quality assessment of internal audit that takes place at least once every 5 years

25. To provide free and unfettered access to the audit committee chair for the head of internal audit including the opportunity for a private meeting with the committee

External Audit

26. To support the independence of external audit through consideration of the external auditors annual assessment of its independence and review of any issues raised by PSAA or the authority’s auditor panel as appropriate

27. To advise and recommend on the effectiveness of relationships between external and internal audit and other inspection agencies or relevant bodies

Accountability Arrangements

34.To  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.