Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Floss Mitchell and Tom Thacker.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2019 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

There were no deputations at this meeting.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

There were no announcements at this meeting.

To receive the quarterly update on the County Council’s use of regulated investigatory powers.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services giving an update on the data regarding the County Council’s use of regulated investigatory powers between April and September 2019.

RESOLVED:

That the Audit Committee received and noted the data regarding the County Council’s use of its surveillance powers.

To consider a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources with an update on internal audit progress.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and the Director of Corporate Resources with an overview of internal audit activity against assurance work completed in accordance with the approved audit plan and to provide an overview of the status of ‘live’ reports.

RESOLVED:

That the Internal Audit Progress report for the period to November 2019 be noted.

To consider a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources providing an overview of the alternative options considered in commissioning an external assessor to undertake the pending assessment of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership against the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards / Local Government Application Note.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources on the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) – external assessment (Item 8 in the Minute Book).

During discussion, it was reported that the Director of Corporate Resources was currently the President of CIPFA, one of the organisations being considered for carrying out the independent external assessment. It was noted that the Director was not present at this meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee noted arrangements for the pending external assessment of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership against the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

To consider a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources with an update on the County Council’s Treasury Management Strategy.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources on the Treasury Management mid-year monitoring report 2019/20 (Item 9 in the Minute Book).

Key points in the report were highlighted and Members were made aware that some of the detail around the uncertainty of Brexit would now change due to the General Election last week.

In response to Members’ questions, the Committee were made aware that the increase in net investment of £3.7m (show in Table 2 of the report) reflects the combination of repayment of the Public Works Loan Board borrowing £1.5m and a small increase in investment balances of £2.2m.

RESOLVED:

That the Audit Committee noted the following recommendations

being reported to Cabinet and Full Council:

That the mid-year review of treasury management activities be noted.

To receive the non-exempt minutes of the Hampshire Pension Fund Panel and Board meeting held on 12 July, 26 July and 27 September 2019.

The Committee received and noted the non-exempt minutes of the Hampshire Pension Fund and Board meetings held on 12 July, 26 July and 27 September 2019.

To consider a report of the Director of Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services providing an overview of and update against the key aspects of the County Council’s risk management arrangements.

The Committee considered a report and exempt appendix from the Director of Transformation and Governance (Items 11 and 13 in the Minute Book).

During discussion, it was heard that:

• Departments were responsible for identifying, evaluating, and managing their own risks. Through a series of operational and strategic risk registers, held at departmental and corporate level, the County Council identifies, evaluates, mitigates and monitors its key risks.
• Oversight of the strategic risk registers is undertaken by the Risk Management Board, which actively monitors Department and Corporate Risk Registers.
• The table in the exempt appendix currently showed a high-level summary and the Committee felt that more detail was needed for future reports.

In considering the report, the Committee agreed that in future this report be brought back on an annual basis. It was also agreed that Officers would explore the options as to how the risk register could be reported to Cabinet in the future.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the contents of the report and exempt appendix and the risk management arrangements in place across the County Council.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 3,5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, being information relating to any individual and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.. Further, it is considered that, in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing this information. While there may be a public interest in disclosing this information, it is felt that, on balance, this is outweighed by other factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, namely in favour of maintaining confidentiality, for the reasons set out in the exempt minutes.

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the following items of business, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during these items there would have been disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part I Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the minutes.

To consider an exempt appendix to the Risk Management Arrangements report.

See Minute 146 above.

To receive the exempt minutes of the Hampshire Pension Fund Panel and Board meeting held on 12 July, 26 July and 27 September 2019.

The Committee received and noted the exempt minutes of the Hampshire Pension Fund and Board meetings held on 12 July, 26 July and 27 September 2019.