Agenda item

Members were provided with a report which provided details of the important points which had been raised by witnesses at the Committee meeting held on 13 September 2011. In addition the Committee was provided with information on the membership of other London Borough’s Audit Committees as way of a comparison.

Councillor George Cooper, an experienced Member of LBH’s Audit Committee attended the meeting and provided the review with his views on the effectiveness of the Audit Committee and its terms of reference.

Councillor George Cooper – Member of LBH’s Audit Committee

·          The Audit Committee had an important role to play and provided reassurance that procedures were in place to protect the Council

·          For example in relation to the Corporate Risk Register, the Audit Committee’s role was to scrutinise the processes behind the risk register and to ensure processes were in place to protect the Council

·          Reference was made to the Internal Audit service within the Council which tried to identify internal weaknesses before weaknesses were exposed. This was an important role of the Audit Committee

·          It was important that Audit Committee Members were trained to ensure that they could carry out their duties efficiently

·          Training needed to be on-going and the use of Internal Audit case studies would be a good means of giving Members practical training

·          Audit Committee substitutes had an important role to play and they also required training

·          It would be beneficial for Substitute Members of the Audit Committee to attend Audit Committees, and to receive agenda, to ensure they were up-to-date on the workings of the Committee

·          Reference was made to the importance of building up a number of suitably trained Substitute Members 

·          The membership of the Audit Committee, in relation to both Council and Independent Members could be increased

·          A second Independent Member would balance up the membership of the Audit Committee and would also ensure that the task of succession planning was much easier should the present Independent Chairman step down

·          The Chairmen of each of the Policy Overview Committees could be Members of the Audit Committee. Chairmen would have the knowledge and understanding of the service areas under their Policy Overview Committee remit which would be beneficial in their role as Members of the Audit Committee

·          Reference was made to the proposal contained in the Department for Communities and Local Government consultation on the Future of Local Public Audit whereby local Audit Committees would be responsible for the appointment of External Auditors. An additional Independent Member would provide further impartiality for this task

·          It would be preferable for Members (and Independent Members) to have auditing skills or a similar background

·          The Audit Committee was reliant on the professionalism of the Audit officers who worked on a daily basis on audit issues. Therefore the balance was correct in terms of officers providing the agenda for the Audit Committee for Members to monitor and oversee

·          The Audit Committee did receive sufficient assurances from officers on internal audit matters and there were occasions where Corporate Directors and Heads of Service attended Audit Committees to update Members on agreed recommendations from Internal Audit findings and opinion, which had not been implemented

·          The summary of Internal Audit reports was sufficient in detail for the Audit Committee to scrutinise as full reports would be too detailed for the Audit Committee to scrutinise. Officers provided more detail if required

·          The Audit Committee worked very well and made challenges to the Head of Audit and Enforcement when required

Members thanked Councillor George Cooper for the information he had provided the review. Members noted that for the next meeting of the Committee Ian Luder an Independent Member of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Audit Committee would provide evidence to the review.

RESOLVED -

1.      That the information provided as part of the witness session be noted.