Agenda item

Ian Morton of Veritau introduced the item, taking questions from Members about issues that the Internal Auditor had identified in both Woodlands Management and Fleet Management (Appendices 1 and 2). He confirmed the Auditors’ overall opinions of the controls within the system at the time of the audit as being “Substantial Assurance” for Woodlands Management and “Reasonable Assurance” for Fleet Management.

The Chief Finance Officer stated that detailed figures on the costs associated with woodland maintenance and disposal would be presented to Members as part of the Budget Report at the 17 March Authority meeting.

The Strategic Leadership Team had agreed that a progress report on the Asset Management Plan would be submitted to the Audit, Resources and Performance Committee on 19 May 2017.

Cllr C Furness proposed an amendment to Recommendation 1, to replace the word “consideration” with the words “implemented urgently”. Cllr Furness also proposed the addition of a second recommendation, that the Auditor report back in September 2017 on progress in the implementation of their agreed actions.

In response, the Chair expressed confidence in the current audit arrangement and the Chief Executive Officer reminded Members that a rolling audit programme had been approved at an earlier Audit, Resources and Performance Committee. The Director of Corporate Strategy and Development stated that the Authority was moving quickly in response to the Auditor’s findings and that the Auditor routinely checked progress against timescales.

Ian Morton highlighted the positive response of officers to the audit findings and assured Members that any failure to implement actions on time would be reported to them at  a later  meeting.

Following these assurances,, Cllr Furness withdrew his motion.

The Chair thanked Mr Morton for his reports.

The recommendation was moved, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

That following consideration of the agreed actions, the internal audit reports for the two areas covered under Block 1 for 2016/17 be received (in Appendices 1 and 2).