Agenda item

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item. Public forum items must be about

matters that fall within the remit of the Audit Committee.

Any member of the public or councillor may participate in public forum. Public

forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

Please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:

Questions - Written questions must be submitted by 5.00 pm on Thursday 24 May

2018 at latest.

Petitions and statements - Petitions / written statements must be submitted by

12.00 noon on Wednesday 30 May 2018 at latest.

Questions:

The committee received 2 questions as follows (the questions and written replies are set out below):

1. Questions from Cllr Paula O’Rourke re: agenda item 17 – draft Statement of Accounts 2017-18

On the draft accounts for 17/18, I see on page 56 that Anna Klonowski received £160,116 salary, fees and allowances for the months April 2017 to Sept 2017 plus £36,000 in pension payments. 

Q1.   Could you confirm please how much of this was payment of her regular salary from April 1st 2017 up until she left on 30th Sept 2017 please? I can therefore assume the remainder was her payment on leaving?

Q2. If my assumption in Q1 is wrong, what, please, was her final payment on leaving and include the pension too?

REPLY:

“The contractual payments made to Anna Klonowski in relation to salary, fees, allowances and pension contribution for the period of her employment totalled £196,118. As stated in the draft Statement of Accounts no compensation payment was included in leaving the employment of the Council.”

In a supplementary question, Cllr O’Rourke noted that the above reply stated that no compensation payment was included when Anna Klonowski left the Council’s employment; yet published figures indicated she had received an extra 6 months’ pay, for work not done, and this point had not been explained.  In response, the Acting Executive Director – Resources advised that the figure quoted in the written reply was the total sum paid under the contractual arrangements, taking into account, as stated, salary, fees, allowances and pension contribution.   The contractual arrangements were appropriately the responsibility of the Human Resources Committee.

2. Question from Alderman Brian Price re: agenda item 14 – Annual Governance Statement

Do you feel you have done enough to see that the systems and processes have been in place for the citizens of Bristol to scrutinise the workings of the Council’s directorates including call-ins and reviews?

REPLY:

“The system of internal control is a significant part of the governance framework and is designed to manage risk to a reasonable level. It cannot eliminate or identify all risk of failure in systems and processes and therefore at best can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance of effectiveness. In addition the Council appoints Statutory Officers who have the skills, resources and support necessary to ensure the Council’s statutory and regulatory requirements are complied with. The approach adopted for the AGS review is set out in detail in this report; it included all directorates in terms of both self-assessments and areas of assurance reviews / audit during the course of the year and the findings and agreed actions are reflected in the associated reports.

The procedure for Call-In is outlined within the Council’s Constitution (OSR 17) and during 2017/18 no key decisions were called in. The Constitution has been subject to a full review and following member engagement the changes proposed were considered at the full Council Meeting on 22 May 2018.”

As a supplementary point, Alderman Price suggested that, in his view, there was a role for the Audit Committee in assessing the risk of scrutiny (e.g. of Council departments) not being fully effective or resourced.

Statements:

4 statements were received, all of which related to Agenda item 18 – Councillor referral to Audit Committee, as follows:

·         Statement 1 from Cllr Gary Hopkins

·         Statement 2 from Cllr Paula O’Rourke

·         Statement 3 from Graham Donald

·         Statement 4 from Cllr Richard Eddy