Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Chair will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

No interests were declared.  

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2022 (Minute Nos. 209 – 218) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 July 2022 (Minutes Nos. 209 – 218) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Reports added Tuesday, 8 November 2022

The Interim Head of Finance and Procurement introduced the report which outlined the Council’s Annual Financial Report for 2021/2022 and included the external Auditor’s Audit Findings report for the Committees consideration. The Interim Head of Finance and Procurement thanked the Council’s Finance team and the external Auditors, Grant Thornton, for their hard work to get the Annual Financial Report ready for the Committee.

The Chair invited Darren Wells, Grant Thornton, to speak. Mr Wells said that it was Grant Thornton’s view that the accounts were good quality, there were small suggested changes which were shown in appendix B of the report and the Council had no risks or weaknesses that were evident in the Audit Findings.

Councillor Angela Harrison proposed the recommendation as set out in the report and this was seconded by Councillor Simon Clark.  

Resolved:

(1)      That the external auditor’s Audit Findings Report (Appendix I to the report) be noted.

(2)      That the Letter of Representation (Appendix II of the report) be approved on behalf of the Council.

(3)      That the Annual Financial Report for the year ended 31 March 2022 (Appendix III of the report), including adjustments set out in the Audit Findings Report be approved.

(4)      That the Chair of the Audit Committee signs and dates the Annual Financial Report for the year ended 31 March 2022.

The Interim Head of Finance and Procurement introduced the report which set out the Treasury Management Half Year Report 2022/2023. He clarified with members that the recent increases in interest rates had resulted in the Council’s investment income increasing but also potentially had an effect on the Council’s future borrowing costs. He said that any assumptions made previously regarding interest costs would need to be revisited ahead of entering into any new borrowing arrangements. The Interim Head of Finance and Procurement assured the Committee that all key performance indicators had been met and complied with.

Councillor Simon Clark proposed the recommendation as set out in the report and this was seconded by Councillor Pete Neal.

Resolved:

(1)       That the performance information in the report be noted.

(2)       That the prudential and treasury management indicators within the report be noted.

The Audit Manager introduced the report which set out the information and progress made by the Audit team up to 31 October 2022 and provided an update on the resource changes within Mid-Kent Audit Partnership team. She informed the Committee that the new Head of Audit would be starting in early December 2022 and it was hoped that the Audit Plan could be finalised early 2023.

A member asked a question on page 26 of the Audit Plan which referred to the Audit of the Elections team to commence in December 2022. They were concerned that the Elections team would be working hard on organising voters’ ID for the Borough elections and would not be able to appropriately assist the auditors. In response, the Director of Resources said that the planning process for the Elections audit had started but the delivery of the election would take priority and the audit could be delayed if there were any issues.

A member requested that heads of service attend future committee meetings to report on high priority outstanding audit actions that had not been resolved by the agreed deadlines.

Councillor Ann Hampshire proposed the recommendations as set out in the report and this was seconded by Councillor Pete Neal.

Resolved:

(1)      That the work completed so far on the 2022/23 Audit & Assurance Plan be noted.