| Number | Item |
| | Tabled Papers  |
| | Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 26th June 2011 |
| | Agenda Front Sheet |
| | All Public Documents |
| 1. | Apologies/Substitutes |
| 2. | Declarations of Interest |
| 3. | Minutes – To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of this Committee held on the 21st April 2011 |
| 4. | Part I – For Decision |
| | To consider the work of the Internal Audit Team over the financial year 2010/11 and the opinion of the Head of Audit Partnership in relation to the Council’s control environment in the context of the Annual Governance Statement.To decide whether the outcomes of the Internal Audit work and the other matters referred to in this report provide evidence of a substantial level of internal control within the Authority which supports the findings and conclusions shown in the Annual Governance Statement for 2010/11. |
| | Internal Audit Annual Report 2010 |
| 5. | This report provides a brief introduction to the work of the Benefit Fraud and Visiting Team and sets out a summary of the Team’s work for the financial year 2010-2011 |
| | Benefit Fraud Annual Report 2010/11 |
| 6. | This report sets out the Annual report of the activity of the Audit Committee for 2010/2011 |
| | Annual Report of the Audit Committee 2010/11 |
| 7. | Each year the council must produce an Annual Governance Statement that summarises the approach to governance demonstrates how its approach fulfils the principles for good corporate governance in the public sector and draws a conclusion about the effectiveness of its governance arrangements. The attached statement is submitted for the Audit Committee to approve on behalf of the council. The draft has been submitted to the chairs of relevant council committees and groups and the Leader. Any further comments on the draft will be reported to the meeting. The report highlights just one area of significance for ongoing review; this concerns the emerging new approaches to local partnership working and the need to ensure that good principles of corporate governance are adopted in the design of these arrangements.The Portfolio Holder (Councillor Robert Taylor) endorses the summary of our governance arrangements and supports the conclusions. |
| | Approval of Annual Governance Statement |
| 8. | Following the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government’s decision to abolish the Audit Commission CLG launched a consultation on future proposals at the end of March. Consultation extends to the end of June. The former Audit Committee was briefed and considered a preliminary response which was then the subject of a briefing with new Audit Committee members earlier this month and with the Parish Forum in April. Following consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of this committee the response attached at Appendix A was submitted to the CLG on 21 June. Any amendments from this committee will be submitted to CLG separately. The proposals will allow the council to appoint its own external auditor which is not contentious and contains many proposals of a technical and regulatory nature. However it contains proposals for the structure of Audit Committees which were contentious with Members and implications for parish councils that could give rise to an added cost burden. Appendix B is a more recent letter from the CLG Permanent Secretary that explains the determination of government to outsource the Audit Commission by April 2012. There is still some speculation as to when all the new responsibilities for external audit will come into being. |
| | CLG Consultation – The Future of Local Public Audit |
| 9. | Part II – Monitoring/Information Items |
| | Report Tracker and Future Meetings |