Agenda and minutes

The Chairman declared the meeting open and outlined that John Cornett (KPMG) had been delayed in traffic, on a proposal from the chair and with the agreement of the meeting an adjournment of 15 minutes took place.

(The meeting adjourned at 6.15pm)

(The meeting reconvened at 6.30pm)

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no petitions or requests to address the meeting.

There were no items of urgent business.

To receive communications from the Chairman.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

The following item contains exempt information as defined in the following paragraph of Part 1, Schedule 12A of Local Government Act 1972.

3– Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Members are reminded that whilst the following item has been marked as exempt, it is for the meeting to decide whether or not to consider it in private or in public. In making the decision, members should balance the interests of individuals or the Council itself in having access to the information. In considering their discretion members should also be mindful of the advice of Council Officers.

Should Members decide not to make a decision in public, they are recommended to resolve as follows:

“That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that, if the public and press were present, it would be likely that exempt information falling under the provisions of Schedule 12A, Part I, Paragraph 3 would be disclosed to them, and that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

Resolved

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business, on the grounds that they could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 12A of that Act.

** Please note that this report will follow as it is currently being reviewed **

Exempt Report of Chief Executive

The Chief Executive in introducing the report outlined that due to the nature of the report officer attendance had been restricted to herself as Head of Paid Service and James Doble as Deputy Monitoring Officer.

John Cornett (KPMG) gave a detailed presentation of the draft report of KPMG into the overpayment of NNDR to the government. It was confirmed that the findings and timeline only had been sent to all those interviewed for comment. During the course of the presentation members asked many questions on the report and provided comment on the draft. Clarification was provided including the role played by individual officers and the finance team. During the course of debate it was expressed by some members that the incident had given them cause for concern and adversely affected their confidence. It was agreed that clarification would be sought on when senior officers first became aware of the issue.

Members thanked John Cornett for the clarity of his presentation.

Resolved

(1)          That the report be provisionally accepted.

(2)          That the Chief Executive be requested to circulate the full provisional report to all those that were interviewed, External Auditor (EY) and Internal Auditor (PWC) on a confidential basis for their comment and response to the committee at its 20 January 2016 meeting.

(3)          That the Chief Executive be requested to produce a management response to the recommendations and action plan for consideration by the Committee on 20 January 2016.

(4)          That the meeting of the Accounts, Audit and Risk Committee on 20 January 2016 consider the adoption of the final report, management response and action plan.