Agenda, decisions and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Odze and Potter.

2.1  Councillor Gregory declared that she as member of a TMO Board.

RESOLVED: To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: To note the update on the Council’s financial position.

4.1  The Chair introduced the item, stating that the Committee would need to be assured that that there were no immediate concerns in regard to the Councils’ financial and its ability to continue with its activities and that there were plans in place to cope with the complex issues that will arise from budget changes. He said that the Audit Committee should be kept informed of this work and involved in the process. Three areas were to be focused on:

·  The position in the current year in regard to the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account

·  Next year’s budget and the priorities emerging and numbers of priorities to ascertain the scale of the challenge

·  The Executive response and plans put in place to cope with challenges

4.2  Ian Williams presented to the Committee on the overall financial position, as follows:

·  A third tranche of government funding amounting to £3.5m

·  Compensation Scheme announced for loss of income with the first 15% Local Authorities ow risk

·  Government priority to apply collection fund deficits in particular to Council tax a business rates

·  Government has suggested that deficits can be dealt with equally over three years

·  A shortfall of approximately 9m for the general fund

·  Pressure of 8m on the Housing Revenue Account

·  Work was ongoing to mitigate shortfalls

4.3  The Chair asked if the amount of £1.9m was an additional budget pressure and if it included SEND. Ian Williams confirmed that this amount did not include SEND. He told the Committee that the current financial position eroded the Council’s ability to be flexible in its activities and tightened the ability to invest. Work was underway to cut back costs for example in the agency spend budget. The Capital Programme was being reviewed also, for instance to slow down some schemes.

4.4  Councillor Lynch asked for an update on workforce at the council given changing circumstances, in particular in relation to redeployment and recruitment.  Ian Williams confirmed that the Council was looking at opportunities to repurpose and redefine roles with large numbers of staff working from home. The staff survey demonstrated that many staff considered that they worked more effectively from home. All Call Centres had been consolidated into one. Consideration was being given to how the corporate estates are used.  He considered that the Audit Committee could have involvement in the process. Councillor Rebecca Rennison confirmed that staff would be consulted on any staffing changes that were carried out and confirmed the Council’s commitment to its staff. She told the Committee that the reporting on the overall financial position was a transparent process. The Council was still learning on this, in particular in relation to the impact on the Council’s income and reports back would be made on this.

4.5  Ian Williams told the Committee that work was underway on delegation levels, tightening up on the general control environment.

4.6  The Chair asked that an update on the overall financial position be added to the agenda for the September meeting of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

RESOLVED: To note the update on the completion of the statement of accounts.

5.1  Ian Williams told the Committee of challenges for the audit process in the current year.  Weekly meetings were being held with the External Auditors who aimed to substantially complete by mid-august.  Ian Williams reported a focus on the impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s finances.  The auditors would have to be satisfied that organisation would be a going concern a year from the date of the audit.  Ian Williams referred to the Council’s subsidiary companies.

The audit was progressing well with a special Audit Committee on September to sign of the statement of accounts.  

5.2  Michael Honeysett told the Committee that the work around valuations of property and equipment was impacted by Covid-19, extending the time taken to complete the audit. He said that any reductions in valuations would be in the new financial year rather than the current year.  The likely reduction in the value of assets would be factored into next year’s accounts.  

5.3  Councillor Brian Bell stated that there was anecdotal evidence that some members of staff were taking early retirement because they were unhappy with the current working arrangements. He asked if a lot of requests for early retirement were being received. Ian Williams told the committee that the voluntary retirement scheme had been carried out in the previous year, with a number of staff taking voluntary redundancy.  He said the option was available but with consequent reductions in entitlement. Ian Williams reported that that had been no significant increase in requests for early retirement.

5.4  Lucy Nutley (Mazars) told the Committee that it had not been possible to produce the accounts as work on valuations of property and equipment was taking longer in the circumstances of the Pandemic. Remote working was not proving as effective. Further, in relation to the material liability on the London Pension Fund (LPF), the London Pensions Fund would not be able to give an assurance on this until mid to late august.  Lucy Nutley thanked staff for their work on the accounts, stating that they were a good set of accounts and Mazars had limited comments.

RESOLVED: To note the update on the completion of the statement of accounts.

RESOLVED: To agree the terms of reference for the Capital budget deep dive.

6.1   The Chair told the Committee that the oversight of Council Capital had uncovered that the various ways that some of the estimates and oversight needed consideration. He said that Capital was not a very substantial part of the Council’s activities and as it moved into more high risk areas, both in regard to expenditure and borrowing, there was a need to manage this in a closer way.

6.2  Ian Williams told the Committee that the proposal was to carry out a number of pieces of work to develop a better understanding of how some of the departmental forecasts are made, how best practice is applied to the development of forecasts. It would develop an understanding of the different types of capital programmes the council had. Participants in the process had been identified from all of the Council’s activities.   

RESOLVED: To agree the terms of reference for the Capital budget deep dive.