Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Members to Committee.

Apologies were received from Councillor Liz Radford, (Councillor Gollop attended in substitute) and from Jon Roberts, Grant Thornton.

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

There were none received.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on 19 June 2020.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on 24 June 2020.

Members noted Public Forum received as follows:

      a.            Questions received from :

      b.            Statements were received from :

       c.            Helen Powell joined the meeting and asked a supplementary question in response to the answers provided to her submitted questions.

What degree of confidence do you have that the information provided to the auditors reflects the Council’s legal advice and the terms of the lease?

      d.            It was confirmed that the information would be sought and a response provided after the meeting.

      e.            Councillor Gollop sought clarification that the Bristol Energy Cabinet report had been made available to Audit Members and Grant Thornton before speaking to his statement. Democratic Services confirmed that the documents had been made available.

        f.            In discussion, a number of Members expressed a grave concern that they had not been granted sufficient access to the report in order to perform their role of audit.  A Member reminded Committee that the Bundred report had been critical of Committee in 15/16 and expressed that it was difficult to see how Committee could perform its role effectively without rights of access to information over and above other Councillors, including the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board Members. 

      g.            In response to clarification sought by the Chair, the Legal Officer confirmed that the Members of the Audit committee had the ‘right to inspect’ documents considered at a private session of the Cabinet meeting, once that meeting had taken place and this had been offered to Members via a visit to City Hall or electronically via a Zoom appointment with the opportunity to take notes, so that Members could have the information they had requested to be able to sign off the accounts.

      h.            The Legal Officer reminded Members that they were required to destroy any notes that they had taken during the inspection of the confidential papers.

        i.            The Chair noted Members concerns regarding the level of access to the exempt reports and commented that it was important that Members have the appropriate access to papers on the agenda, to be effective at Committee.

        j.            The Section 151 Officer advised Members that it would be important for Committee to hear from Grant Thornton to clarify whether the information presented in the Bristol Energy papers had any impact on Committees ability to sign off the 2018/2019 accounts.

That under s.100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) 3 (respectively) of Part 1 of schedule 12A of the Act.

Members RESOLVED:

That under s.100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) 3 (respectively) of Part 1 of schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee received an update report from Peter Beange, Executive Chairman

Bristol Holding Company Limited, and discussion followed.

The Committee received an update report from Grant Thornton, external auditors, and discussion followed.

The meeting resumed in open session.

In response to Members questions, the following points were raised:

      a.            A Member raised concern that the reference to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) judicial review set out on page 41 did not do justice to the case won by parents on substantial grounds and had not been referred to within the Significant Governance Issues section of the Annual Governance Statement.

      b.            It was noted that the Audit Committee had approved the Annual Governance Statement in July of the previous year, and approval of the draft accounts had been deferred pending a review by external auditors.

       c.            Grant Thornton confirmed that the auditor’s report referred to the entirety of the financial statements and supporting information contained within the Narrative Report, this included the Annual Governance Statement and the Significant Governance Issues. 

      d.            The Legal Officer advised that independent members had no right to vote on the approval of the accounts.

      e.            The Chair called for a vote on the recommendation in the report that Audit Committee approved the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019.

        f.            Before being put to the vote two Members sought an amendment to the wording at Note 5 of the Notes to the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019. 

      g.            Members proposed that the wording which states,

‘…the liability arising from the Council’s Parent Company Guarantees, is likely to be significantly impacted at the end of March 2020.’

Should be amended to say,

‘…the liability arising from the Council’s Parent Company Guarantees, is likely to be materially impacted at the end of March 2020.’

      h.            The Legal Officer advised Members that Audit Committee had no power to amend reports without notice.

        i.            The S151 Officer advised Members that the current wording had been recommended by Grant Thornton after undergoing its own internal quality assurance process.

        j.            The Chair noted Officers comments and proceeded to move to a vote.

On being put to a vote, Members RESOLVED (4 for, 2 against, 1 abstention):

That the wording at Note 5 of the Notes to the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019 be amended.

       k.            The Legal Officer confirmed that as Committee did not have the power to amend the accounts, they could not now vote on the accounts as amended. 

        l.            In discussion, Members confirmed that they were seeking to amend the report recommendation to approve the accounts, and that on this basis they had agreed to the Amendment. It was confirmed that the vote could proceed on this basis.

On being put to the vote Members RESOLVED (6 for, 1 abstention)

To approve the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019 as amended.

    m.            The Chair referred to the concerns raised by Members that there should be parity with Scrutiny with respect to access to exempt papers on Audit agendas.

On being put to the vote, Members unanimously AGREED

That Audit Committee is a key part of the Authority’s governance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.