agenda item 8.3 audit mins 5.9.03

Nikki

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Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority Audit and Risk Management Committee thMinutes of Meeting 5 September 2003 Present: Martin Harker (Chair) Penny Bennett Steve West Caroline Kay In attendance: Vicky Landell-Mills Kevin Henderson - Audit Commission Steve Malyn - Peter Gorin - CW Audit Consortium Jenny McCall - Avon Audit Consortium Paul Nicholls Paul Dodd Colin McInnes (items 1 to 3) 1. Apologies Action Robin Nicholl Gordon Shurmer th2. Minutes of Meeting held on 4 July These were noted. 3. Matters Arising Minute 1 - Whistleblowing Policy: Paul Dodd reported that work was commencing to prepare a single policy, integrating three drafts that had arisen from separate sources. A draft policy had been issued to staff in the interim. Minute 2.1 – Final Accounts 2002/03: The DoH had made £17m available to AGW to help with the costs of meeting successful continuing health care claims. It was reported that PCTs had included provisions of £11.6m in their 2002/03 accounts in respect of continuing care. Further guidance is awaited from the DoH on how this will be handled in 2003/04. Minute 2.2 – Outstanding Report, Avon HA: It was agreed not to pursue the outstanding report from PricewaterhouseCoopers on the use of management consultants. AGW NHS Trusts: Audit Reports Paul Nicholls reported that he had obtained a list of audits ...

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• Publié par: Ninol
• Nombre de lectures: 46
• Langue: English

Extrait

Audit Committee Minutes Page 1 of 5

Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire

Strategic Health Authority Audit and Risk

Management Committee

Minutes of Meeting

5

t

h

September

2

0

0

3

Present:

Martin Harker (Chair)

Penny Bennett

Steve West

Caroline Kay

In attendance:

Vicky Landell-Mills

Kevin Henderson

- Audit Commission

Steve Malyn

- Audit Commission

Peter Gorin

- CW Audit Consortium

Jenny McCall

- Avon Audit Consortium

Paul Nicholls

Paul Dodd

Colin McInnes

(items 1 to 3)

1.

Apologies

Action

Robin Nicholl

Gordon Shurmer

2.

Minutes of Meeting held on 4

th

July

These were noted.

3.

Matters Arising

Minute 1 - Whistleblowing Policy:

Paul Dodd reported that work

was commencing to prepare a single policy, integrating three

drafts that had arisen from separate sources.

A draft policy had

been issued to staff in the interim.

Minute 2.1 – Final Accounts 2002/03:

The DoH had made

£17m available to AGW to help with the costs of meeting

successful continuing health care claims.

It was reported that

PCTs had included provisions of £11.6m in their 2002/03

accounts in respect of continuing care.

Further guidance is

awaited from the DoH on how this will be handled in 2003/04.

Minute 2.2 – Outstanding Report, Avon HA:

It was agreed not

to pursue the outstanding report from PricewaterhouseCoopers

on the use of management consultants.

AGW NHS Trusts:

Audit Reports

Paul Nicholls reported that he had obtained a list of audits

undertaken in UBHT, North Bristol and RUH Trusts (copies

attached)

Audit Committee Minutes Page 2 of 5

Members should contact Paul Nicholls should they wish to

see any of the reports

Non Execs

4

Minutes of meeting held 8

th

August 2003 and Matter Arising

These were noted

With respect to the SHAs’ increased under spend it was

confirmed that as this was identified after month 12, it

would be

carried forward and returned to the SHA in 2004/05

It was agreed that:

a) the 2002/03 Annual Report should include a note

explaining how the total under spend for the SHA/WDC had

arisen.

b) this note should be tabled at the next public Board

meeting

Paul Dodd

Ross

Weatherburn

Colin McInnes asked if the wording at the top of page 2 could be

revised.

It was agreed that this was possible but any revision

would have to be agreed with Paul Nicholls and circulated to

members for their agreement.

Colin McInnes to discuss wording with Paul Nicholls

Colin McInnes

5

SHA and WDC Committee Amalgamation

The paper prepared by Ross Weatherburn was considered.

It

was noted that there would be a continuing need to consider

WDC business separate to SHA Board meetings.

There was

general support for joint audit committees but agendas would

need to be appropriately structured.

It was agreed:

(a) to merge SHA and WDC Audit and Risk Management

Committees as soon as possible

(b) Caroline Kay to take forward the issue of ensuring

that appropriate committee arrangements were put

in place to consider WDC business

(c) Ross Weatherburn to co-ordinate agendas, with

input from PN and CMcInnes to include a section for

WDC, corporate SHA (internal) and SHA wider

agenda (external)

Caroline Kay

Ross

Weatherburn

Peter Gorin noted that many (larger) organisations have two

committees covering audit and risk separately, and some also

have a Governance Committee.

This enables certain issues to

be considered in more detail.

This idea was considered by

members, as was the possibility of a sub-committee.

It was

noted that the 2002/03 statement of internal control stated that

Audit Committee Minutes Page 3 of 5

the committee structure would be reviewed during 2003/04.

It was agreed that the present Audit & Risk Management

Committee should be retained, merged for SHA and WDC,

and that the November meeting would focus on Controls

Assurance (including Assurance Framework) and major

risks with limited time on audit.

Ross

Weatherburn

6

Director of Finance Update on Financial Position

Paul Nicholls referred to the report on financial performance to

the July Board meeting which explained the 2003/04 plan

position and risks.

A full report updating on the month 5 position

will be provided to the September Board meeting.

The content

and format of future Board reports was being enhanced to

provide more detail.

The month 4 position was an overspend of £12.7m for all

organisations with AGW.

The forecast year-end deficit was

£7.5m, mainly attributable to the RUH, Bath NHS Trust.

Outstanding risks have reduced from £107m at plan but

remained high at £40m.

Organisations were being pressured to

ensure they deliver savings plans.

Geoff Scaife had met with a

Chief Executive Group and the Group were developing

contingency plans to manage £20m of risks.

Paul Nicholls stressed that it was important to look at the in-year

position of individual organisations in more detail but this was

difficult as the Finance Team remains under-resourced.

The

current restructuring prevents recruiting to permanent posts so

arrangements were being considered for temporary support.

Members were concerned that the substantial savings may

affect services and asked for information on how the savings

are being found.

A full report on the Month 5 position, including an analysis

of savings, will be provided to the September Board

meeting.

Paul Nicholls

Paul Nicholls reported that the 2002/03 audited outturn position

was a deficit of £64.7m for all organisations within AGW,

compared to a forecast deficit of £76.4m at Month 12.

This

improvement was largely due to unused resources received for

continuing care provisions.

It was noted that the external report commissioned on the North

Bristol NHS Trust financial position had been finalised and it

was anticipated it would be published at the end of September.

7

Internal Audit Progress Report

Peter Gorin reported that internal audit work to date had

focussed on Controls Assurance and a review of Drugs and

Alcohol Treatment funding that was commissioned by the SHA.

Work on the core audit programme will commence in October.

Peter Gorin explained the dual role of the SHA in relation to the

Audit Committee Minutes Page 4 of 5

Assurance Framework i.e. for the SHA itself and for

PCTs/Trusts, and stressed the need to progress work urgently

to ensure arrangements were in place by the end of 2003/04.

8

Interim External Audit Report

Kevin Henderson introduced this report and took members

through the Action Plan.

It was agreed that a table of outstanding actions would be

presented to future meetings

Paul Dodd

9.

External Audit Progress Report

Kevin Henderson Introduced this item.

The report was noted.

10

External Audit Report on SHA Fitness For Purpose

Kevin Henderson noted this was now the final report, including

SHA comments.

The report recognised that the SHA was

continually changing.

A key element of the report was the

survey of PCTs/Trusts.

The report was a one-off but could be

re-run to check progress.

Kevin drew member’s attention to appendix 1 which

summarises the responses/scores of the PCT/Trust survey.

AGW scored below the national average in all areas except

clinical governance.

Members noted the recommendations of the report.

It was also

noted that the report had gone to Geoff Scaife.

It was agreed that :

(a) it would be useful to compare AGW scores against other

challenged SHAs and the ‘best’ SHA

(b) the report should be repeated annually to check

progress.

(c) the report should go to the Board with a request that the

Action Plan comes back to the Audit Committee .

Kevin

Henderson

Steve Malyn

Ross

Weatherburn

11

Controls Assurance and Statements on Internal Control

(SIC)

Paul Nicholls introduced this item, explaining the SHA had a

dual role i.e. to produce it

s

own SIC and to performance

manage PCTs/Trusts with respect to their SICs.

He explained

there was a long way to go to ensure full compliance by the end

of 2003/04.

Peter Gorin and Jenny McCall explained the Controls

Assurance process and the methodology for arriving at scores

and Action Plans.

There are 21 standards but not all are

relevant to SHAs.

The focus is on three core standards of Risk

Management, Governance and Financial Management.

A score

Audit Committee Minutes Page 5 of 5

of 75 is generally considered as acceptable but the aim is for

continued improvement.

Action Plans have been developed for

this purpose.

Members were concerned at the level and extent of detail

involved and how best to manage this to ensure the Audit

Committee has assurance that progress is being made.

Members noted the report and agreed:

(a) the Audit Committee should concentrate on the

SHA’s own position and consider an overview of the

position of PCTs/Trusts

(b) the detailed position should be considered by a sub-

group and a progress needs to be established to

manage/review progress and provide reports to the

Audit Committee.

Paul Nicholls

12

Date of Next Meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting be held on 6

th

November at

9.30 am.

Ross

Weatherburn