Venue: Civic Suite, Lewisham Town Hall, London SE6 4RU
Contact: Olga Cole
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Minutes PDF 21 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
RESOLVED
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that the Minutes of the meeting
of the Panel held on September 12 2013, which was open to the press
and public, be confirmed and signed as a true record of the
proceedings.
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2. |
Declarations of Interests PDF 33 KB
Minutes:
Councillor Mallory declared a
personal interest in Item 5 as Chair of the Abbey
Manor Management
Committee.
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3. |
Annual Audit Letter 2012-13 PDF 157 KB
Minutes:
The report was introduced by
Jamie Bewick of Grant Thornton who
stated three key workstreams had been
considered, the Audit of the
Accounts, Value for Money, and Grant Claims
Certification.
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In terms of the Audit of the Accounts, he confirmed an
unqualified opinion had been given within the Government set
deadline and stated they were of a good standard.
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In respect of Value for Money,
he stated the Council had a good track record of meeting targets
but future resilience would be required and he noted the Lewisham
Futures programme could be crucial in meeting the demands placed on
the Council.
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For Grant Claims and Returns,
Mr Bewick confirmed the Capital Receipts Pooling return andthe
NNDR3 return had been signed off in September; the Housing and
Council Tax Benefits claim had been signed off that day; while work
on the Teachers Pensions returns was ongoing, as they appeared to
have been produced without a proper audit trail to
evidence.
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The Chair asked how much time
had been spent on the Value for Money element and was informed
about 15 days in total had been spent on Budget projections. He
suggested it may be helpful to include for the public comparisons
with other London Boroughs. Mr Bewick
promised to consider such a change for future reports. Councillor
Mallory added that information about what were the key indicators
of performance could also aid the public
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Councillor Ingleby asked why financial planning and financial
control on the Value for Money section were both ranked as
‘amber’. Jamie Bewick said
this was a reflection of the Council’s financial situation
facing 2014/15 with the need to make, as of yet, unidentified
massive savings.
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The Chair asked to be informed
of the outcome of the Teachers Pensions review when it was
finalised, including the liability to the Council in funding a 20%
share of the £40,000 discrepancy.
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4. |
Financial Forecasts for 2013-14 PDF 121 KB
Minutes:
The report was introduced by
the Interim Head of Financial
Services who noted the report had already been considered at
Mayor & Cabinet and at the Public Accounts Select
Committee.
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The Chair asked officers to
provide him with information about Council Tax collection rates in
new build developments.
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Mr King asked if re-evaluation
of the capital programme could be brought forward to the end of the
second quarter. He was supported by Councillor Mallory who said
advancing the programme might allow slippage to be spent
elsewhere.
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Officers advised that some
capital projects were spread over several financial years and that
some apparent underspends in any given
year were required to complete projects in subsequent financial
years, but that processes could be re-examined to see if some
earlier monitoring could be done.
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In response the Chair suggested
that a longer term view be taken on larger key projects and that
there be an earlier review of all other areas in the capital
programme.
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RESOLVED
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that the report be received and
officers be requested to consider modifications to the monitoring
of capital schemes as suggested by the Panel.
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5. |
Internal Audit Update Report PDF 456 KB
Minutes:
The report was introduced by
the Interim Head of Corporate Resources who reported the two
outstanding reports from 2012/13 had now been completed. He said
work was progressing on the 2013/14 Audit Plan and he pointed out
the deletions and additions to the Plan, as well as noting a review
of the approach to continuous auditing would coincide with the
Oracle finance system upgrade and new reporting tool.
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The Head of Technology and
Transformation addressed the Panel on the Disaster Recovery for ICT
and Third Party Access reports. He said the Council has embarked on
an ambitious plan to link Business Continuity Plans with Disaster
Recovery for ICT and comply with ISO 20731. Fifteen primary systems
had been identified and all Council Directorates had been surveyed
for their expectations in terms of recovery targets. However
emergent Public Service Network security arrangements had proved
absolutely overwhelming and no focus was able to be given to the
audit. As a result, officers were now predicting two years, rather
than a few months, would be required to fully align Business
Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery.
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The Chair asked why the Council
had 220 servers and was not more committed to cloud computing. The
Head of Technology and Transformation said the Council did make
some use of cloud computing and would increase usage over time but
owing to commitments in the Capita contract it was not logical to
abandon reliance on servers. Any cloud solution embraced by Capita
during the term of the current contract would benefit that company
rather than the Council.
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Councillor Ingleby asked for more information on Third Party
Access and was informed 6 out of 11 overdue recommendations had
been implemented and two superseded. Again, Public Service Network
requirements were the cause of the delays.
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The Chair asked for an update
on the photocopier contract and was told by the Head of Technology
and Transformation that next year the Council would be able to move
away from a demand driven regime to one where resources were
strictly rationed.
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Councillor Mallory asked if the
cleaning contract needed to be reassigned given the lack of
monitoring of the contract. Mr Chris Harris of Baker Tilly stated the monitoring of the contract was
insufficient and would be followed up until attended to, with
regular meetings and feedback being arranged. The Chair asked that
the relevant Head of Service be asked to give a written update on
the cleaning contract at the next meeting.
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Mr Webb highlighted an apparent
lack of progress in implementing the 2013-14 Plan. In response, Mr Chris Harris acknowledged
implementation was behind target but was at a more advanced stage
than at the same time last year. The Interim Head of Corporate
Resources confirmed steps the position is being closely monitored
and assurances were given by the contractor that sufficient
resources were in place to ensure the timely completion of the
Plan, subject to no significant delays on the Council
side.
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The Chair noted the additional
financial function responsibilities ...
view the full minutes text for item 5.
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6. |
Anti Fraud and Corruption Update PDF 62 KB
Minutes:
The Interim Head of Corporate
Resources introduced the report and stated, as in previous reports,
information was provided on Special Investigations, Benefit
Investigations and Housing Investigations. He confirmed work was
progressing well in all areas and highlighted the training planned,
and now delivered, in support of teams undertaking
assessments.
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RESOLVED that the report be
noted.
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The meeting ended at
8.53p.m.
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