The quorum for this Committee is three Members and substitutes are allowed.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tony Brett, David Rundle and Craig Simmons.

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in any of the following agenda items.  Guidance on this is set out at the end of these agenda pages.

None declared.

The Head of Environmental Development, John Copley has been invited to attend the meeting to inform the Committee of work to mitigate the risk of climate change on the City Council.  He will give a brief presentation.

John Copley, Head of Environmental Development attended the meeting following an invitation from the Committee to hear more on the work of the Council to mitigate the effects of climate change.

John Copley introduced the presentation and said that the Council had taken the decision to produce an Adaptation Strategy and to concentrate on the mitigation of the impacts of climate change on the Council, its buildings and the way it provided services.

The Head of Finance has submitted a report on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young which details the progress made in delivering the work set out in the 2013/14 audit plan.

The Committee is asked to comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young, which detailed the progress made in delivering the work set out in the 2013/14 audit plan.

Alan Witty from Ernst and Young introduced the report and thanked the Finance Officers for the regular meetings that he had with them which he found invaluable.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

The Head of Finance has submitted a letter on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young which details the Oxford City council Grant Certification Fee.

The Committee is asked to comment on and note the contents of the letter.

The Head of Finance submitted a letter (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young which detailed the Oxford City Council 2012/13 Housing and Council Tax Subsidy Benefit Certification Fee.

Alan Witty from Ernst and Young presented the letter to the Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the contents of the letter and the fee.

The Head of Finance has submitted a document on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young which provides a briefing on issues which might have an impact on the City Council.

The Committee is asked to comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a document (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young which provided a briefing on issues which might have an impact on the City Council.

The Committee agreed to note the document.

The Head of Finance has submitted a report on behalf of the Council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which details the progress made in delivering the work set out in the 2013/14 audit plan.

The Committee is asked comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the Council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which detailed the progress made in delivering the work set out in the 2013/14 audit plan.

Christopher Dickens from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) introduced the report.  He said that there were no significant control weaknesses that required stating in the Annual Governance Statement.  He highlighted the following:

·                     Budgetary control, risk management and performance – Audit report to be issued.

·                     Human Resources and Facilities including – Payroll including tax and NI compliance – One recommendation from the audit.

·                     Finance – Fixed Asset Register implementation – No issues arising.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

The Head of Finance has submitted a report on behalf of the Council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which details the Internal Audit Risk Assessment and Plan for 2014/15.

The Committee is asked comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which detailed the Internal Audit Risk Assessment and Plan for 2014/15.

Christopher Dickens from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) introduced the report and said that consultation on its contents had taken place with officer and that the Plan was flexible.

The Committee agreed to note the Internal Audit Risk Assessment and Plan for 2014/15.

The Head of Finance has submitted a report on behalf of the Council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which details the Internal Audit Charter

The Committee is asked comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) on behalf of the Council’s Internal Auditors, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) which detailed the Internal Audit Charter.

Christopher Dickens from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) introduced the report.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

The Head of Finance has submitted a report which updates the Committee on the progress made on the implementation of internal and external audit recommendations.

The Committee is asked to comment on and note the report.

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which detailed the progress made on the implementation of internal and external audit recommendations.

The Committee further updated as follows:

·                     Housing Benefit Claims – the check rate on these was being exceeded by 10%

·                     Business Continuity Plans – IA507 and IA508 – All Service Heads had been requested to amend their Business Continuity Plans to reflect the corporate priorities.

·                     Grants Monitoring – If groups in receipt of a grant did not supply the monitoring information required, they may not receive grant funding in the future.  Officers continued to work with organisations on this to ensure that the information was supplied.

The Committee agreed:

(a)          To note the report;

(b)          To request that Officers review the timescales for the implementation of medium risk recommendations that had immediate actions to have a more realistic timeline especially for recommendations that required immediate action;

(c)          As part of the grants monitoring process to request that information is included detailing which groups/organisations were new bidders and which were not.

Minutes of the meeting held on 27^th February 2014.

The Committee agreed to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th February 2014 subject to the inclusion of apologies for absence from Councillor Mike Rowley.

The Committee will meet at 6.00pm in the Town Hall on the following dates:

Thursday 26^th June 2014

Monday 22^nd September 2014

Thursday 18^th December 2014

Thursday 26^th February 2015

Thursday 23^rd April 2015

The Committee will also be asked to consider amending the date of the September 2014 meeting.

The Committee agreed:

(a)          To note that it would meet in the Town Hall on the following dates at 6.00pm

Thursday 26^th June 2014

Monday 22^nd September 2014 – to be confirmed at the meeting on 26^th June

Thursday 18^th December 2014

Thursday 26^th February 2015

Thursday 23^rd April 2015

(b)          To consider further the date of its September 2014 meeting at its first meeting of the 2014/15 Council Year;

(c)          To note that prior to its meeting on 26^th June 2014 at 5.00pm a training session would be held for Audit and Governance Committee members.

If Committee wishes to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of any aspects of the preceding agenda items it will be necessary for Council to pass a resolution in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 specifying the grounds on which their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act if and so long as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

(The Access to Information Procedure Rules – Section 15 of the Council’s Constitution – sets out the conditions under which the public can be excluded from meetings of the Council)

No matters considered.