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 13 March 2019 (Minute Nos. 548 - 557) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 March 2019 (Minute Nos. 548 – 557) were taken as 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.

Councillor Peter Macdonald declared a Disclosable Non-Pecuniary Interest as he was a trustee of the Dolphin Barge Museum which was mentioned in item 8, Annual Financial Report 2018/19.

Councillor Julian Saunders declared a Disclosable Non-Pecuniary Interest as he was a trustee of Faversham Swimming Pools which was mentioned in item 8, Annual Financial Report 2018/19.

The Chief Financial Officer introduced the report which set out the Annual Work Plan for the Municipal Year 2019/20. 

The Head of Audit Partnership drew attention to pages 4 and 5 of the report which set out in more detail the work of the Audit Committee.  He welcomed questions from Members.

Resolved: 

(1)      That the Annual Work Plan be noted.

The Head of Audit Partnership introduced the report which included his annual opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation’s framework of governance, risk management and control which could be used to inform the Annual Governance Statement for 2018/19.

The Head of Audit Partnership reported that he had given an overall positive assurance opinion, which he considered to be a good result for the Council.  He went through the report, highlighting the following:

Page 16 – this provided more details of the work carried out, with 470 audit days, and a contingency of 40/50 days.

Page 17 – this provided a summary of projects, with assurance ratings showing as consistently green.

Page 18 – there were a couple of items waiting to be concluded and there would be a full report on these in November 2019.

Page 19 – this was an executive summary and the Head of Audit Partnership was happy to provide more detailed reports to Members.

Page 25 – this included recommendations to management, with improvements that could be made, and follow-up actions.  The Head of Audit Partnership explained that there was a small number of items overdue, but these were not a matter of concern.  He added that there had been a high level of cooperation from officers.

Page 26 – this showed broader work on governance.  In relation to fraud, no matters had been brought to the Head of Audit Partnership’s attention.

Page 27 – he advised that the risk register would be refreshed shortly to review any new risks.

Page 28 – this outlined the work carried out on standards and ethical compliance.

Page 32 – audit of the auditors; internal auditors were externally audited every five years. 

The Head of Audit Partnership outlined the training and qualifications within the audit team, and congratulated staff on the qualifications they had achieved.  He thanked his team for the work they had completed in providing the conclusion of this audit.

A Member referred to page 18 of the report and the removal of one of the projects from the 2018/19 Plan.  The Head of Audit Partnership explained that the project had been removed following the death of a member of staff.

A Member congratulated Ben Davis, Auditor, Andy Billingham, Auditor and Louise Taylor, Trainee Auditor on their achievements and wished them well in the future.

Resolved:

(1)      That the Head of Audit Partnership’s opinion that, in the view of internal audit, the Council’s system of internal control, corporate governance and risk management arrangements have operated effectively during 2018/19, be noted.

(2)      That the work underlying the opinion and the Head of Audit Partnership’s assurance that it was completed with sufficient independence and conformance with Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, be noted.

The Audit Manager introduced the report which outlined how the Audit Committee had effectively discharged its duties during 2018/19.  The report provided assurance to the Council that important internal control, governance and risk management issues were being monitored and addressed by the Committee.  The report also sought to provide additional assurance to support the Annual Governance Statement.

The Audit Manager outlined the themes of the report which included where the Audit Committee sat in the Committee structure; the business it had reviewed in 2018/19; attendance at the Audit Committee; assurance of the Audit Committee, by both internal and external auditors; financial matters and the Committee’s terms of reference.  The Audit Manager outlined some Member training topics and concluded by stating that the Audit Committee had demonstrated that it had fulfilled its duties during 2018/19.

The Chairman explained that there would be a training session for Members ‘The Role of the Audit Committee’, and this would be held at 7pm on 10 September 2019.

A Member suggested that an additional training topic could be ‘Understanding Risk Management and the processes around it’.  The Chairman was happy with this suggestion.

Resolved:

(1)      That the Audit Committee Annual Report for 2018/19 be agreed.

(2)      That the Chairman of the Audit Committee provides the report to a meeting of the Full Council to demonstrate how the Committee has discharged its duties.

Appendices I and II to-follow – appendices added 29 July 2019.

The Financial Services Manager introduced the report which sought the Audit Committee’s approval of the Council’s Annual Financial Report for 2018/19 and included the external auditor’s Audit Findings Report.

The Financial Services Manager explained that the Annual Accounts showed the Council finances in accordance with accounting regulations.  He drew Members’ attention to the significant items in the Expenditure and Funding Analysis; the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement; the Movement in Reserves Statement; the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement. 

In response to a question from a Member, the Financial Services Manager explained that the cost of pensions shown in the accounts was based on an International Accounting Standard (IAS 19).  This used different assumptions from those used when calculating the actual cost of pensions to the Council which was based on a valuation made every three years by the Kent Pension Fund’s actuaries.

A Member asked why, on page 88, there had been two loans of £5 million each.  The Financial Services Manager explained that in January 2019 the Council had arranged two external loans of £5 million each, from other local authorities.  One loan was for 12 months at a rate of 1.1% and the other for 18 months at a rate of 1.2%.  The loans were required to maintain the Council’s cash balances.  The Member also asked for further information on the package of £369,100 for 14 staff.  The Financial Services Manager explained that this was the cost of the exit package, following a staff restructure, resulting in efficiency savings, with staff retiring or taking redundancy.

A Member asked for further information on the sale of vacant land at Minster Cliffs, as outlined on page 120 of the report.  The Member had considered the valuation to be low.  The Chief Financial Officer reported that Cabinet had decided to sell the land in 2018, and a price of £1 - £1.1 million had been agreed.  The Chief Financial Officer agreed to send the Cabinet report to the Member.

A Member asked if there was a particular issue with Council Tax evasion in Swale?  The Chief Financial Officer explained that an annual report on this matter was submitted to the Audit Committee each year.  Swale had bigger difficulties with this issue than some other local authorities such as Maidstone, but the recovery on business rates was high at over 90%.

Mr Trevor Greenlee (Grant Thornton) was invited to introduce the tabled report on the Audit Findings for the Year Ended 31 March 2019.  He apologised for the limited time Members had to read the report and explained the timescales that Grant Thornton worked to. 

Mr Greenlee referred to the sections on Headlines; Summary; and Significant findings – audit risks, key judgements and estimates; and Value for Money and drew Members’ attention to the key findings and other matters arising from their audit.

In response to questions, Mr Greenlee explained that he was not looking at individual decisions of the Council, but looking ahead, proper arrangements were in place to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 173.