Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.  

31.1          The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was taken as read.

31.2          The Chair advised that the next meeting of the Committee, due to take place on Wednesday 22 March 2023, had now been moved to Thursday 23 March 2023 at 2pm.

To receive apologies for absence and advise of any substitutions. 

32.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillor J P Mills.  There were no substitutes for the meeting. 

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 26 June 2012 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 July 2012, as set out in Minute No. CL.34, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

33.1           The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012. 

33.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To consider the external auditor’s findings 2021/22.

34.1          Attention was drawn to the external auditor’s audit findings for 2021/22, attached at Pages No. 1-39.  Members were asked to consider the report. 

34.2          The Engagement Lead from Grant Thornton advised that the report summarised the findings from the audit of the Council’s financial statements and highlighted its responsibility under the International Standard on Auditing (UK) 260 to present the observations arising from the audit to those charged with governance to oversee the financial reporting process.  At the time the report was issued, there were a small number of items outstanding which were listed in the bullet points at Page No. 3 of the report and she confirmed that all but one in relation to the housing benefits income had been resolved; it was not anticipated this would cause any problems in terms of the accounts and it was expected that the audit option would be unmodified with no qualifications - this was a good, clean opinion.  Page No. 4 of the report set out Grant Thornton’s statutory responsibilities and, with regard to the value for money work, in line with previous years, the National Audit Office had given some flexibility in order to prioritise work on the Statement of Accounts.  It was expected to bring the report around the value for money work to the next meeting of the Committee.  The draft audit opinion was included at Appendix E to the report and she wished to highlight that, given that the value for money work was ongoing, work had yet to be completed in relation to the significant weakness identified in last year’s audit.  As such, it was necessary to tweak the wording to recognise the fact that the value for money work was ongoing so it could not be confirmed if that issue had been resolved but she stressed there would be no formal statement as to whether it remained a weakness or not.  In terms of the details of the report, Page No. 6 set out the materiality levels for the financial statements and these remained the same as when they were reported in the Audit Plan in July.  Page No. 7 onwards highlighted things in relation to all significant risk areas and particular attention was drawn to Page No. 8 and the work which had been done in relation to property, plant and equipment where one small adjustment of £602,000 had been identified in relation to the input of revaluations made in year.  Page No. 9 related to the valuation of the pension fund net liability and Members were advised that, at the time the report was issued, Grant Thornton was awaiting its assurance letter from the Gloucestershire Pension Fund auditor – this had now been received and there were no exceptions to highlight.  In terms of new issues and risks, as set out at Page No. 10 of the report, there was a small issue in relation to the cut off timing for how grants were recorded in the financial statements as one item  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To consider the S151 Officer’s Letter of Representation on the closure of the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021.  

35.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated at Pages No. 40-45 which attached, at Appendix A, the Letter of Representation 2021/22 which Members were asked to approve.

35.2          The Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that, each year, on completion of the audit of the Council’s financial statements, the Chief Finance Officer was required to submit a Letter of Representation to the Council’s external auditor.  The letter formally confirmed the accuracy and completeness of the accounts and set out assurances to Grant Thornton regarding those accounts.  The draft Letter of Representation for 2021/22 was attached at Appendix A to the report and the Committee was asked to consider and approve the letter for signature by the Chief Finance Officer on behalf of the Council.

35.3          Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED           That the Letter of Representation 2021/22 be APPROVED.

To approve the Statement of Accounts 2021/22.  

36.1          The report of the Finance Manager, circulated at Pages No. 46-140, provided the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 which showed the financial position of the Council as at 31 March 2022.  Members were asked to approve the Statement of Accounts and to delegate authority to the Head of Finance and Asset Management, in consultation with the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, to amend the approved Statement of Accounts 2021/22 upon receipt of advice from the external auditor regarding any outstanding issues.

36.2          The Finance Manager indicated that a training session on the Statement of Accounts had taken place the previous week which had been attended by Members of the Committee.  She explained it had been a difficult year as a key member of staff had been on maternity leave so it had been necessary to train up new members of the team and there had been a number of competing priorities; nevertheless, the team had presented the draft accounts to Grant Thornton at the start of July.  Although there had been some elements of remote working, Grant Thornton had been able to be on site at the Council Offices for a lot of the time which had made the process easier compared to the last few years.  She drew attention to Page No. 85 of the report where a hierarchy of reserves had been included in response to a query which had been raised last year.  A Member thanked the Finance Manager for this but felt it would be useful to have comparisons.  In response, the Finance Manager advised that she would be happy to provide a comparison of the last three years following the meeting.  The Member expressed the view that it would be interesting to see the movement and whether uncommitted reserves had reduced etc.  The Head of Finance and Asset Management indicated that the uncommitted balance was the best position he could ever remember which gave assurance there was at least some money available to meet the forthcoming financial challenges. 

36.3          In response to a query regarding Officer remuneration, as set out at Pages No. 106-107 of the report, the Head of Finance and Asset Manager confirmed that phase 3 of the pay and grading structure review had been carried out earlier in the year and phase 2, focusing on the lower end of the pay scale, had just commenced so a report on that would be taken to Council in the New Year with a review of more the more senior officers following in due course.

36.4          It was

RESOLVED           1. That the Statement of Accounts 2021/22 be APPROVED.

2. That authority be delegated to the Head of Finance and Asset Management, in consultation with the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, to amend the approved Statement of Accounts 2021/22 upon receipt of advice from the external auditor regarding any outstanding issues.

To consider the Internal Audit work undertaken and the assurance given on the adequacy of internal controls operating in the systems audited.  

37.1          The report of the Chief Audit Executive (Head of Corporate Services) provided an overview of the internal audit work completed during the period.  Members were asked to consider the work undertaken and the assurance given on the adequacy of the internal controls operating in the systems audited.  

37.2          The Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that the Head of Corporate Services was not in attendance at today’s meeting but had been keen to submit an internal audit plan monitoring report to Members for consideration.  The report was positive in terms of the work that had been completed around the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and any specific questions could be answered outside of the meeting. 

37.3          It was

RESOLVED           That the internal audit plan monitoring report be NOTED.