Agenda and minutes

To appoint a person to preside over the element of the meeting which will be held jointly with Statement of Accounts Committee.

It was RESOLVED that Councillor Maureen McKay be appointed to preside over the meeting which was held jointly with the Statement of Accounts.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Graham Lawrence CC, Baroness Taylor and Tom Wren.  Councillor Forhad Chowdhury was substituting for Baroness Taylor.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee is requested to receive a presentation from the Strategic Director (CF) on the External Auditor’s Annual Report for consideration and approval and the audited 2020/21 Financial Report including the Statement of Accounts.

Following the presentation, Members will be invited to ask questions of clarification.

After questions the Statement of Accounts Committee will adjourn to allow the Audit Committee to consider the report and to agree any recommendations.

[REPORT TO FOLLOW]

The Audit Committee and Statement of Accounts Committee meeting jointly received a presentation from Assistant Director (Finance) on the Statement of Accounts 2020/21.

The presentation from the Assistant Director (Finance) included the following information:

·         the changes since the draft and final Statement of Accounts, which mainly related to the SBC Pensions liability, the Local Enterprise Partnership soft (interest free) loan and fixed asset corrections;

·         a chart showing the closing General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Balances;

·         the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SBC finances, including on Business Rates income;

·         an explanation of the £12.843Million movement on the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account budgets;

·         the position with regard to earmarked and unusable reserves;

·         a summary of the balance sheet, which showed 2020/21 net assets of £595Million, a variance of £20.8Million compared to 2019/20; and

·         details of the Council’s assets and liabilities;

The Assistant Director (Finance) stated that a report on a proposed “backstop” to the outstanding annual audits (2021/22 and 2022/23) would be submitted to the March 2024 Audit Committee meeting.  It would be likely that only the 2021/22 and 2022/23 Value for Money audits would need to be completed by Ernst & Young, rather than full audits.  The 2023/24 audit was due to be completed by Azets.

In response to Members’ questions, the Assistant Director (Finance) advised:

·         the Council had to provide a return to the Government on each of the Covid Grants administered and paid out during the year; and

·         the £600Million valuation of Council properties was based on a Government formula, and was 35% less than market value due to the fact that the properties were classified as social housing.

Debbie Hanson (Ernst & Young) introduced the Audit Results Report (ISA 260) for 2020/21, and made the following points during her presentation:

·         the audit was substantially complete, with outstanding issues relating to Going concern work and Property, plant and equipment valuations;

·         the level of audit differences had reduced compared to the 2019/20 audit;

·         the Committee was being requested to agree the draft letter or representation set out in the report, which would be finalised and signed once the audit was completed; and

·         the delay to completion of the Audit was partly due to the Covid pandemic and resource / capacity issues.

Karen Cunanan (Ernst & Young) then went through the Executive Summary Section of the 2020/21 Audit Results Report, and made the following points:

·         audit materiality had been set at a level of £2.04Million, with performance materiality at £1.02Million;

·         in terms of the outstanding going concern issue, this related to a review of an updated assessment confirming the amount of cash and investment balances as at February 2024;

·         the Property, plant and equipment valuations issue was related to the valuation of the parking area associated with the Cavendish Road Depot asset;

·         the six unadjusted audit differences above £102,000 set out in the report were not material to the financial statements, but were required to be reported; and

·         attention was drawn to the significant and higher inherent audit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To consider any Part I business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

None.

To consider the following motions –

1.           That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in Paragraphs 1 – 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2.           That Members consider the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determine whether or not maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Not required.

To consider any Part II business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

None.