Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

All Members were present and no apologies were received.

To enable Members to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in the Authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

Members were mindful of their duty to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest they had in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest was not already in the Authority’s register of interests, and their ability to disclose any other personal interests in any such matter that they might have wished to disclose.

No declarations were made.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting on 10 December 2024 were reviewed and agreed.

As a matter arising from Item 12 of the meeting, the Recruitment for the role of Independent Persons to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Authority, the Chairman requested volunteers for the Working Group responsible for overseeing the recruitment. It was agreed that Councillors Mellor, Harrison and Lucioni agreed to join the Working Group.  The Working Group will be informed of the recruitment campaign's outcome in due course by the Governance Team.

Pursuant to Standing Order 19, to receive any deputations to this meeting

There were no deputations.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

There were no announcements.

To receive a report presenting the updated Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 for approval by the Audit and Governance Committee to allow the audited accounts to be published by the statutory backstop date of 28 February 2025.

The Committee received the Statement of Accounts 2023/24 from the Chief Financial Officer (item 6 in the minute book).

The Committee was reminded that the unaudited accounts were previously approved in September 2024. These accounts have been brought back for re-approval due to several issues that have since arisen.

The cash flow statement required correction due to a change in its presentation. While the beginning and end figures remain unchanged, the breakdown has been adjusted, as detailed in Appendix 1.

The Pension Fund figures have been revised due to changes in assumptions used by the actuary in the IAS19 figures. Although there is no impact on the revenue budget, adjustments were necessary because of changes in the LGPS actuary’s assumptions and some assumptions that did not transfer correctly. This resulted in a £2 million difference, which needed to be addressed by the Committee.

The Committee discussed the reasons behind these IAS 19 changes and learned that they were due to updated mortality rates. The external auditor identified a difference, prompting the Actuary to recalculate the figures.

The Committee inquired about the payment of fees to the external auditors. It was confirmed that no fees have been paid for the 2022/23 period onwards. The expected amount has been set aside, pending a final figure to be negotiated by Public Sector Audit Appointments in due course.

RESOLVED

·         The Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 was approved by the HIWFRA Audit and Governance Committee.

·         Delegation to the Chief Financial Officer to make non-material changes to the accounts agreed between EY and the Authority prior to the publication of the audited Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 by the statutory backstop date of 28 February 2025 was approved by the HIWFRA Audit and Governance Committee.