The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park.  Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 November 2018 (Minute Nos. 359 - 368) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 November 2018 (Minute Nos. 359 – 368) were taken a read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Chairman welcomed the Business Manager Mid-Kent Legal (Andy Bell) to the meeting.

The Business Manager gave an update on progress of the Audit high risk action recommendations for retaining signed contracts and information supporting external invoices, following concerns raised at the Audit Committee meeting on 28 November 2018.  He explained that signed contracts were kept in three secure deed rooms across the three authorities.  He reported that a form system had been installed in each of the deeds rooms, and also lists of each individual contract.  He further explained that forms for each contract were then scanned once completed, and Legal Services were currently undertaking a reconciliation of the 10,000 registers held.  With regard to financial invoicing, these were usually related to planning applications, and reports for each were held in dedicated sub-folders.

The Chairman asked the Head of Audit Partnership to confirm whether he was satisfied with the improvements.  The Head of Audit Partnership stated that both recommendations would be tested by Audit to ensure the new arrangements were properly embedded.  He added that the June 2019 report would provide assurance as to whether they had been implemented.

Rich Clark (Head of Audit Partnership) introduced the report which set-out the Internal Audit Plan for 2019/20.  He stated that having considered all the highlighted risks set-out in the Plan, he was satisfied that the Council’s resources were adequate.  The Head of Audit Partnership stated that they had looked at other Local Authority and private sector Audit Plans, and were satisfied that the Council’s expertise was sufficient to deal with those risks.  He drew attention to page 20 of the report, which set-out their planned work for 2019/20 and set-out high priority projects.

Members congratulated officers on the document which they considered was clear and concise.  Members made the following comments: many long-standing Members would be standing-down at the 2 May 2019 elections, a lot of experience would therefore be lost and this would have an impact on the Council; pleased that economic development, homelessness and strategic planning were high priority projects; planning enforcement had improved but there were still issues, so would like to see a focus on that; emergency planning in relation to Brexit was critical given Swale’s location in terms of road access; assured that officers would report any concerns regarding resources; was important to provide audit training for new Members before meetings commence; concerned that officers were having to pick-up issues in the Borough from social media; Policy Development and Review Committee would need to look at social media; needed to be very careful about IT especially in terms of Freedom of Information requests; should look at GDPR; and needed to hold Member training on GDPR after the May election.

In response to query from a Member, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance suggested contacting the Council’s Communications Section in relation to providing social media training for Members.  He also suggested that training be provided in the role and responsibilities of Audit Committee for all Members after the May elections.

In response to a query from a Member, the Head of Audit Partnership explained that they were unsure what extra requirements there would be following Brexit.  Audit would monitor routine actions around this, and time would tell if further actions were required. The plan could be revised as circumstances changed.

The Chief Financial Officer clarified that it was an internal audit plan and therefore would not include air quality management.  The Head of Audit Partnership advised that air quality featured in their ‘audit universe’ as a potential area for review.  He stated that he was satisfied that the Council was drawing sufficient assurance from other sources such that additional work from internal audit would not assist further.

A Member asked why there was nothing specific on business rate reserve levels, and were they high enough?  The Head of Audit Partnership reported that this was something that the Council’s external auditors considered.  He added that work on the Council’s budget would look at how reserves were set. With regard to Human Resources procedures, the Head of Audit Partnership stated that no concerns had been identified. 

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 552.

The Head of Audit Partnership introduced the report which provided information on the Council’s risk management framework 2019/20.  He explained that the report had been produced by Alison Blake (Audit Manager) who was now on maternity leave.  He stated that the number of operational risks highlighted, were consistent with the amount identified at other local authorities.   He drew attention to page 43 of the report, which set out the Corporate Risks, and page 44 which set out the Operational Risks.  The Head of Audit Partnership stated that a workshop to look at Corporate risks was scheduled for Summer 2019, and Audit were working with the Council’s Monitoring Officer on the framework. 

In response to queries from Members, the Chief Financial Officer stated that the transport infrastructure risk could not be mitigated further and this was an area where the Council were constrained by decisions from external agencies such as Highways England.  The Chief Financial Officer agreed to check whether health care and education could be included as an Operational Risk.

The Chairman queried why two risks had been removed.  The Chief Financial Officer explained that ‘Income generation’ had been removed as it was linked to the budget, and it did not make sense to have it listed separately.  He stated that ‘external parties’ had been removed as a better way to monitor this had been identified. 

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance suggested that the proposed recommendation be amended to include the following wording ‘satisfied with progress to-date’.  This was agreed by Members.

Resolved:

(1)      That the Audit Committee were satisfied with progress to-date on the operation of the risk management framework.

Trevor Greenlee (Grant Thornton) introduced the Certification of Claims and Returns 2017/18 report which set out the outcome for the Council’s claim for housing benefit subsidy.  Mr Greenlee advised that a number of small errors had been identified (these were appended to the report) but the amounts were so small any impact would be minimal.  The Department for Work and Pensions comments were awaited. 

In response to queries from a Member, Mr Greenlee stated that a few local authorities had achieved no errors, but this was generally because they had smaller claims.  Mr Greenlee confirmed there was an error on appendix B and that for ‘calculation errors relating to earned income’, it should read ‘Six cases resulted in an overpayment of benefit and three cases in an underpayment of benefit’.

Members congratulated the Revenues and Benefits Manager and her team on the outcome of the Audit on housing benefit subsidy, and it was agreed that a letter of thanks should be sent to them on behalf of the Audit Committee. 

Resolved:

(1)  That the Certification of Claims and Returns 31 March 2018 be noted.

(2)  That a letter of thanks, on the outcome of the audit on the housing benefit subsidy, be sent to the Revenues and Benefits Manager on behalf of the Audit Committee.

Mr Greenlee introduced the External Audit Progress report which updated Members on progress in delivering Grant Thornton’s responsibilities as the Council’s external auditors.

In response to a question, Mr Greenlee stated that in his experience officers at Swale Borough Council were extremely positive and easy to work with.  They had a good working relationship with the Council’s finance team.

Resolved:

(1)        That the External Audit Progress Report be noted.

Mr Greenlee introduced the report which provided an overview of the planned scope and timing of the statutory audit of the Council.  He stated that two risks had been identified, one in relation to reductions in government funding, and the other associated with Brexit.  Mr Greenlee stated that the Brexit risk was the same for all local authorities in Kent.

Resolved:

 (1)    That the report be noted.

The Chairman advised that Councillor Duncan Dewar-Whalley (Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance) was standing-down at the 2 May election.  Members thanked the Member for all his help and support on the Audit Committee and wished him well.