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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Brentwood County High School, Shenfield Common, Seven Arches Road, Brentwood CM14 4JF

Contact: Zoey Foakes 

Items
No. Item

100.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr Chilvers and substitued by Cllr Naylor. 

101.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 558 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 13 June 2018 were approved as a true record.

102.

Annual Statement of Accounts 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Report to follow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council’s External Auditors, Ernst & Young had substantially completed their audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2017/18.

 

The report presented the findings and the final Financial Statements including the Annual Governance Statement.

 

External Audit proposed to issue an unqualified audit opinion for the Statement of Accounts 2017/18 and an unqualified value for money conclusion.

 

E&Y presented their findings and explained to members the Adjusted and unadjusted differences made to the audited statement of accounts.

 

2017/18 was the first year the Council had worked to the earlier statutory deadline of 31st May, which was signed by the Interim Chief Finance Officer, to publish an unaudited Statement of Accounts. The revised deadline for the publication of the accounts following External Audit to issue their opinion was 31st July 2018, which was expected to be met following this Committee.

 

Members of Committee had been informed that due to the tight timescales following the Audit, it was not possible to publish this report alongside the Agenda on 17th July 2018.

 

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Russell and SECONDED by Cllr Hones to move the recommendations in the report. 

 

A vote was taken by a show of hands and it was RESOLVED that:

 

1.    The Audit Results Report 2017/18 in Appendix A is considered, and findings of External Auditors are noted.

 

2.    The amended Letter of Representation attached in Appendix B is approved and signed by the Chairman of the Committee (appended to the minutes).

 

3.    The Annual Governance Statement included in Appendix C is approved and signed by the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council.

 

4.    The Statement of Accounts for 2017/18 attached in Appendix C is approved and signed by the Chairman of the Committee and the Interim Chief Finance Officer.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

To enable the Council to meet the requirements of the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 in respect of approval of the financial statements and the annual governance statement.

 

An amended version of Appendix B was tabled at committee and appended to these minutes. 

103.

Leisure Strategy Working Group Report pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report within the agenda contained the report and recommendations of the Leisure Strategy Working Group which met on 9 July 2018, for consideration by the Audit and Scrutiny Committee. The Members of the Working Group consisted of the following Members: Cllrs Hossack, Poppy, Tierney, Davies and Barrett and they were supported by the following Officers: Philip Ruck, Kim Anderson and Stuart Anderson.

 

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Russell and SECONDED by Cllr Middlehurst to approve the recommendation in the report.

 

A vote was taken by a show of hands and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

 

To note the Leisure Strategy Working Group and agree the recommendations contained within and refer it to the 11 September Community Health and Housing Committee.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

As part of the Council’s due diligence in delivering a successful Leisure Strategy, Members and officers needed to have a complete picture of the associated costs, risk profiles of the Borough’s Leisure facilities and identify opportunities for income generation.

 

Comments received from Sport England as part of the Local Development Plan consultation, stated that a Leisure Strategy was required that assessed Council owned sports and leisure facilities in order that the Council could continue to work with partners to ensure that appropriate provisions were made for the residents of Brentwood. The strategy should not only consider how the Council could provide services, but also how other partners could. The strategy should also use current sports facility evidence to identify strategic priorities to then inform what would be included in the Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan. Following the feasibility work, the Council would then be able to determine which projects would be funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and those funded by planning obligations.

 

The Council’s Asset Management Strategy 2014/15 also set out the need to obtain maximise income where possible from its asset portfolio.

104.

Scrutiny Work Programme 2018/19 Update pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report provided the 2018/19 draft scrutiny work programme for members consideration and as attached at Appendix A (of the report).

 

Members should note that the workplan was a timeline of the latest and proposed working position of the working groups and not the actual timeline of the subject matter or project being reviewed. These timelines were subject to change depending on the work and outcomes of the working groups.

 

The Committee were requested to consider the draft work programme at Appendix A (of the report) and agree any amendments.

 

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Russell and SECONDED by Cllr Barrell to approve the recommendation in the report.

 

A vote was taken by a show f hands and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: 

 

That the Committee considers the Scrutiny work programme 2018/19 attached at Appendix A (of the report) and agree any amendments for approval.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

The Constitution required that the Audit & Scrutiny Committee agrees its Scrutiny work programme at each meeting of the Committee.

105.

Urgent Business

An item of business may only be considered where the Chair is of the opinion that, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the Minutes, the item should be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.  The meeting concluded at 7.25pm.