Agenda and minutes

Councillor Malcolm Wood (other Council business)

Councillor Toby Neal

Councillor Georgina Culley

Sue Sunderland

Paul Hutchings

The minute meeting held on 28 February 2014were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Shail Shah, Head of Internal Audit, presented the report which outlines and seeks the Committee’s approval of the Internal Audit Three Year Strategic Plan.

Councillor’s questions were responded to as follows:

a)  The plan is based on a risk assessment model, identifying high, medium and low risks. The plan presented is a summary of a detailed operational plan. The plan takes into account risks identified in the strategic risk register and the views of senior management. The plan is flexed throughout the year to take into account emerging risks and change in corporate priorities. Internal audit also provides services to external clients;

b)  Different local authorities present their plans in a variety of formats;

c)  Internal audit is careful not to become part of the process and to maintain its independence. However if the process fails or controls are breached, internal audit will intervene.

RESOLVED

(1)    to endorse the internal audit plan for 2014/15 and internal audit three year strategic plan 2015/16 to 2017/18;

 (2)  to make the full three year plan and the indicative number of days, available to members of the Committee.

The previous request of the committee, Simon Burton, Corporate Risk Specialist, introduced Chris Kenny, Director of Public Health.

In addition to the information within the report, Mr Kenny made the following points:

a)  public health is now placed within the responsibility of the Local Authority which receives a central government grant, separate from national health service funding, £27 million;

b)  public health is responsible for the following:

 i. health improvement;

ii. commissioning health services;

iii. health protection;

c)  all public health authorities must provide the following mandated services:

i   weighing and measuring of certain children in their area (including age and school type);

ii.   health checks for eligible people (depending upon age and health status);

iii.   sexual health services in their area. HIV treatment and care;

iv.   public health advice service, in relation to their powers and duties to commission health services, to any clinical commissioning groups (CCGs);

v.   information and advice to certain persons and bodies within their area in order to promote the preparation of, or participation in, health protection arrangements against threats to the health of the local population, including infectious disease, environmental hazards and extreme weather events;

d)    the public health function is required to identify unmet need and aim to provide services to address those needs;

e)    appreciating the potential for duplication, the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) have agreed that risks associated with Public Health will be monitored and reviewed through the Joint City and County Health Scrutiny Committee. The County and City council public health budgets are kept separate but the public health teams work together on issues such as smoking;

f)  the three most significant risks associated with this function include:

i   substance misuse (drugs) and sexual health -over performance within contracts, and increase on demand led service tariff, could lead to budget pressures;

ii.   public health budget realignment - achievement of financial targets by public health could adversely impact on the ability of the public health function to fulfil its commitments/duties to improve the public health and reduce inequalities;

iii.   clinical governance - failures in commissioning or contract management or adequate procedures could leave citizens at risk and the council open to financial liability;

g)     the health and social care act specifies who controls what, however, there are some services which can be shared between two or more commissioning bodies;

h)    the health and well-being boards consider all health and social care needs and ensure that all partners are aware of their responsibilities.

Questions from the committee were responded to as follows;

i)  additional funds are not available for one of incidents such as a flu pandemic. Such an event is not just a health issue but also a social and economic issue;

j)  with the continued austerity cuts, one of the main risks facing public health is the reduced funding into demand led services such as drug and sexual health. The issue is how to handle this as waiting lists are not acceptable. Funding will have to go where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Barry Dryden, Senior Finance Manager, presented the report which requests the Committee review the draft Accounting Policies prior to production of the draft 2013/14 Statement of Accounts.

It is noted that the draft accounting policies will also be reviewed by the external auditors and any major changes by them will be presented to the next meeting.

RESOLVED

(1)    to agree the Statement of Accounting Policies, as detailed in appendix 1 to report, for inclusion in the 2013/14 annual accounts;

(2)    to agree the following choices made under International financial reporting standards:

(i) De Minimus Capital Expenditure as follows:

·  vehicle and plant £0.003 million,

·  computer equipment £0.005 million, 

·  land and buildings £0.010 million;

(ii) Componentisation where the value of the asset is in excess of £3 million;

(iii)  Depreciation (including amortisation of intangible assets) on a straight-line basis of their individually assessed useful life for the following:

·  dwellings, buildings, vehicles, plant, furniture and equipment;

·  infrastructure and community are depreciated over 25 years;

·  intangible assets are depreciated over 5 years.

Shail Shah, Head of Internal Audit, presented to the Internal Audit Annual Report for 2013/14.

The opinion of the Head of Internal Audit on the work completed during the past year is that a reasonable level of assurance can be given that internal control systems are operating effectively.

RESOLVED to note:

(i)  the audit work completed during the year;

(ii)  the Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Opinion.