Agenda and minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2018, attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2018 be signed as a correct record.

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/18/81), attached.

The Committee received the Report of the Head of Devon Audit Partnership (CT/18/81) summarising the Partnership’s activity in the first six months of 2018/19. 

The Head of Partnership and Members discussed and noted, in particular:

·       The new Access Plymouth contract represents the Partnership’s first client in the third sector, while the appointment of DAP as First Level Controllers for Clarion Housing Group regarding their EU funding bid will hopefully be a ‘stepping stone’ to providing wider audit services to the housing sector.

·       the Counter Fraud Team are now well established within the Partnership and won the Team of the Year at the recent Association of Local Authority Risk Managers (ALARM) Risk Awards.

·       members congratulated the Head of Devon Audit Partnership on the positive feedback received from customers so far this year in terms of the added value of their audit services, which goes beyond independent assurance and risk identification.

·       DAP holds the Customer Service Excellence Award and has for the first 6 months of the year had close to 98% of clients ‘satisfied’. Any work identified by customers as not meeting the expected standards is investigated and measures are put in place to ensure performance improves accordingly.

·       Members thanked the Head of Devon Audit Partnership for the recent training events at Buckfast and Sparkford. The Chair highlighted the importance of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the need for members to be trained in this area.

It was MOVED by Councillor Hackett, SECONDED by Councillor Deed and

RESOLVED

that the Committee notes the 6-month update report.

Report of the Head of Partnership (CT/18/82), attached.

The Committee received the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/18/82) monitoring the Budget of the Partnership at month 6, indicating a potential slight underspend at year-end due to increased work undertaken, but this is offset by the increase in staff to complete the work.

Members noted:

·       GDPR had been one of the areas of extra work to the Partnership.

·       IT audits as a growing area of business, and the potential to increase the Partnership’s service offer given the scarcity of IT assurance and compliance resources in the area.

It was MOVED by Councillor Mathews SECONDED by Councillor Evans and

RESOLVED

that the Committee note the projected outturn, variances and reason.

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/18/83), attached.

The Committee considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/18/83) setting out the updated strategic and operational risks currently facing the Partnership.

The Head of Partnership discussed the risk of a partner leaving, reputational damage from poor quality audit delivery and failure to adopt modern auditing techniques.

Members noted:

·       the risk inherent with the partner council’s reducing budgets and the potential impact on DAP.

·       the Head of Partnership reported managing considerable reductions over the years and highlighted additional work that had been brought into DAP to mitigate this and ensure that specialisms within the team were maintained.

·       an internal marketing programme focussing on the diverse products the Partnership offers.

It was MOVED by Councillor Parker-Delaz-Ajete SECONDED by Councillor Deed and

RESOLVED

that the Committee notes the updated Strategic and Operational Risk Register; and the actions in place to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/18/84), attached.

The Head of Devon Audit Partnership presented the Quality Improvement Action Plan setting out the areas for advancement for DAP in the coming 12 months. 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hackett, SECONDED by Councillor Parker-Delaz-Ajete.

RESOLVED

that Committee notes the current Quality Improvement Action Plan, the challenges for the future and the action being taken by management to react to these challenges.

10.30am on 11 March 2019