Agenda item

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property introduced the report. He said that Members would see that there was no training planned for the next meeting of the Committee due to the number of reports planned for the agenda.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said that he was confident that the new external auditor, Azets, would be present at the January 2024 meeting, but he had not had any recent contact from EY Ltd.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property listed the reports scheduled for the next meeting of the Committee and said that as customary the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be invited for budget scrutiny.

Councillor Williamson said that he was pleased to see that there would be no training on the next agenda, allowing Members to concentrate on the budget. He asked, as discussed at the last meeting of the Committee, if there were any opportunities for agenda items to be ‘’carried over’’ to further enable the budget to be given priority.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that items were placed on the agenda as they needed Members attention. He said that should items be just for noting they could be provided to Members outside of the meeting.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said that as previously discussed, ‘’call over’’ could be operated. This would mean that the Chairman would decide which reports on the next agenda would be discussed, or ‘’called over’’ and discussed and voted upon, and which reports would be just for noting and not debated. 

Councillor Deering said that he would not have a problem with this approach. He referred to paragraph 3.1 of the report and asked why the receipt of the statement of accounts was delegated to a Sub-Committee and not an additional meeting of the full Audit and Governance Committee.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said that due to the unpredictability of when the statement of accounts would be returned, a Sub-Committee had historically been used to approve them as soon as practicable. He said that the self-selecting Sub-Committee meeting was held during the day and was usually less than an hour long.

Councillor Deering said that he understood that this was good housekeeping, but that in principle the statement of accounts should go through the full Audit and Governance Committee.

The Chairman and Councillor Hart agreed with Councillor Deering’s comments. Councillor Hart said that Members could attend an extra daytime meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee to approve the statement of accounts if required.

It was moved by Councillor Deering and seconded by Councillor Williamson that the recommendation, as detailed, be approved. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the statement of accounts be submitted for approval to a full Audit and Governance Committee, to be arranged by Officers as soon as practicable after the audit is completed. 

Councillor Williamson proposed an amendment to the Audit and Governance Committee Work Programme recommendation A) to include the words ‘’subject to the operation of ‘’call over’’ at the January 2024 meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee’’.       

It was moved by Councillor Williamson and seconded by Councillor Nicholls that the recommendations, as detailed, be approved.  After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that A) the work programme, subject to the operation of ‘’call over’’ at the January 2024 meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee, as set out in the report be approved; and

B) that any training requirements be specified.