Agenda item - Council policies considered by the Audit & Standards Committee

Report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources

1)           That the Committee notes that there are no proposed amendments to the council’s:

o   whistleblowing policy

o   policy and guidance in relation to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

o   counter fraud strategy and framework

2)           That the Committee notes that changes to the council’s accounting policies for presenting financial information will be considered by the Audit & Standards Committee as part of the approval of the statement of accounts.

3)           That the Committee notes the progress being made to assess the completeness and effectiveness of policies that inform the council’s Corporate Risk Assurance Framework.

81.1      The Committee considered a report that set out the results of a review conducted into the functions discharged by the committee.

81.2      Councillor Druitt noted that the committee had responsibility for the approval of the council’s whistleblowing policy yet he had carried out an internet search that appeared the policy was last agreed in 2009.

81.3      The Executive Director, Finance & Resources clarified that the policy had been approved since 2009 but a database issue meant that searches on both the internet and council’s intranet meant that the results returned were sometimes out of date or unrelated to the search term. Improvements to the council’s database would be the subjected of a targeted piece of work.

81.4      Dr Horne stated that he did not believe the committee were receiving information that the other committees with responsibility for functions such as the approval of the Information Governance Strategy were being effectively reviewed and agreed. Dr Horne stated his belief that the Audit & Standards Committee should have a wider range of responsibility.

81.5      The Lawyer stated changes to the committees Terms of Reference and wider constitutional changes was a long process but could form part of the next review of committee effectiveness. The Democratic Services Officer added that the Terms of Reference for each committee could only be amended by Policy, Resources & Growth Committee and approved by Full Council.  Any potential amendments would also have to be submitted to the Constitutional Working Group for consideration.

81.6      Diane Bushell stated that the committee no longer received Targeted Budget Management (TBM) reports which made it harder to review financial practices.

81.7      The Head of Internal Audit stated that it had been acknowledged that the TBM report received a large amount of scrutiny from other boards and committees and often was quite out of date at the point it was referred to this committee for information. The Audit & Standards Committee was scheduled to carry out a ‘deep dive’ for TBM in September 2017. The Head of Internal Audit suggested that this could be reconsidered as part of the next effectiveness review.

81.8      RESOLVED-

1)           That the Committee notes that there are no proposed amendments to the council’s:

o   whistleblowing policy

o   policy and guidance in relation to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

o   counter fraud strategy and framework

2)           That the Committee notes that changes to the council’s accounting policies for presenting financial information will be considered by the Audit & Standards Committee as part of the approval of the statement of accounts.

3)           That the Committee notes the progress being made to assess the completeness and effectiveness of policies that inform the council’s Corporate Risk Assurance Framework.