Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Items
No. Item

26.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.  

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Smith and Catherine Hickman.

27.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 217 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

28.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 85 KB

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2018.

Minutes:

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2018 were approved as a true and correct record following the below amendment being made:

 

The following sentence on page four should read:

 

“Did the Electorate have the right to challenge the Audit Fees, this had been challenged Before, about a total cost of £1,500. Not too many at this council.”

 

Rob Stubbs, Deputy Director Place & Head of Finance confirmed that he had received no further information on the two action points requested at the previous meeting and that as soon as he received the information, he would circulate it to the Panel electronically.

29.

RBWM Key Risks Report pdf icon PDF 446 KB

To consider the above report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Saunders introduced the report and explained to the Panel that the report had been updated and the amendments to the report would be attached to the minutes.

 

The changes and amendments were as follows:

 

Ø  Paragraph 10.1 new appendices:

o   Appendix A1 – heat map showing current impact/probability assessments and headline of detail of the current key operational risks.

o   Appendix A2 – detail supporting the key strategic risks in appendix A.

Ø  Paragraph 11.5 added “… and appendix A1 covers the key operational risks. There are three new strategic risks presently awaiting full articulation covering:

o   Non-compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

o   Governance failure of joint owned companies e.g. Achieving for Children and Optalis.

o   Governance failure of contractual arrangements e.g. Volker Highways.”

Ø  Paragraph 11.6 was removed because it was now also dealt with by appendix A1.

Ø  Paragraph 11.8 now read: “The (then) CMT endorsed the risk appetite categories and bandings used in appendix B at their meeting 8 February 2012. These were first presented and endorsed by this Panel as part of the “Risk Management Policy and Strategy 2012/13” at their meeting 19 November 2012 and annually thereafter” – Councillor Saunders felt it was helpful to see a status report on things seen before and previously approved.

Ø  Paragraph 11.9 was new and read: “The risk register provides an alert system for missed risk owner reviews. A summary of these will now be presented by the risk and insurance manager to the head of finance and deputy director on a monthly basis. Cllr Saunders felt it was important that the process made explicitly clear what happened if risk owners had for whatever reason not on a timely basis updated the review of risks which they owned, what would happen.

 

Councillor Saunders stated that the report was intended to give an adequate degree of confidence that the processes which officers facilitate enabled the various key Members management and key Members of Cabinet to focus upon the key risks, be they strategic or operational, and for them to assess the nature of those risks to assess the level of risk which exists today with whatever controlled environment was in place today, to then consider whether first further risk mitigation was appropriate and what that might be; and therefore to seek to predict what the residual further managed risk is and whether the council should rationally and reasonably accept an appetite for that level of risk to simply remain and not be reduced all the way to zero. It is that process that is described in the report and its detailed appendices, and examples could be seen of where the products of that process come to be stacked. He added that risk owners were not in the room aside from Rob Stubbs, Deputy Director Place & Head of Finance, therefore any comments made regarding whether the risks had been assessed or mitigated appropriately or whether the risk appetite was judicious, any comment made would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

APRP Work Programme pdf icon PDF 109 KB

To note the work programme.

Minutes:

Rob Stubbs, Deputy Director and Head of Finance stated the Work Programme would not change after the next election and that work remained and needed a body charged with governance. He added he would bring that report on standing items to the Panel on an annual basis.

 

Councillor E. Wilson stated having the Managing Director attending for annual governance was sensible. Councillor Brimacombe stated Audit and Performance Review Panel was about money and performance, where functions consumed money, was money spent well and was it performing well therefore, the Panel could ask directorates to attend and ask questions. Councillor Saunders commented it was up to the Panel to dig as deep as it wanted to. If something was being done in an operating area, the Panel should invite that relevant Panel to attend. Councillor Brimacombe suggested framing some questions for relevant lead officers and risk owners prior to their attendance.

 

Councillor D. Wilson stated Universal Credit should be discussed at the July 2018 Panel following the roll out of Universal Credit in May 2018 so there was data to be scrutinised. Councillor Saunders stated a report on Universal Credit was due to go to Cabinet which illustrated that the Council might have to provide online support for those who were not able to use online forms. Payments to claimants were to be made monthly which meant claimants had to learn to budget for a whole month. Budgeting support was to be provided by the DWP and the Royal Borough so that was another reason for the Borough to provide more funding to the Citizens Advice Bureau. Councillor Saunders believed that the Borough along with partners were well positioned to manage and respond to issues that were likely to arise following the roll out of Universal Credit in May 2018.

 

Councillor E. Wilson stated at the February 2018 meeting, he understood that the Panel could potentially cease to exist and queried if there was a handover planned. Councillor Saunders confirmed that all functions of the Panel would have to continue as they were regulatory and statutory. He suggested Members advised those managing constitutional changes that specific obligations of the Audit and Performance Review Panel be mapped for any such changes.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Audit and Performance Review Panel noted the report.