HA296 Annual Audit and Inspection Letter Final

R-Murphy

Sujets

• management
• risk management
• managers

Informations

• Publié par: Upru
• Nombre de lectures: 63
• Langue: English

Extrait

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audit 2003/2004
Annual Audit and Inspection
Letter
Hart District Council
INSIDE THIS LETTER
PAGES 2 – 10
Executive summary
Key messages
Council performance
Accounts and governance
Other work
Looking forwards
Closing remarks
PAGES 11 – 14
Appendices
Appendix 1 – Audit and inspection reports
issued
Appendix 2 – Scope of audit and inspection x 3 – Audit and inspection fees
Reference: HA296 Annual Audit and Inspection Letter
(Final)
Date: December 2004 audit 2003/2004 ANNUAL AUDIT AND INSPECTION LETTER
The next 12 months will therefore be a critical
period for the council as it will need to
Executive summary demonstrate that its investment in capacity
building, its learning from others and its
re-invigorated partnership approach results in
The purpose of this letter real improvements for the community.
This is our first joint audit and inspection ‘Annual
Letter’ for members which incorporates the The accounts
Annual Audit Letter for 2003/04, and is
We issued an unqualified audit opinion on the
presented by the Council’s Relationship Manager
council’s 2003/04 financial statements on the
and Appointed Auditor. The letter summarises
30 November 2004.
the conclusions and significant issues arising
In line with the revised Accounts and Audit from our recent audit and inspections of the
Regulations the council will need to accelerate council.
its processes for producing the drafting
We have issued separate reports during the
accounts. This will require the council to produce
year. These reports are listed at Appendix 1 for
and approve its accounts by 31 July for the
information.
2004/05 financial statements, and for 2005/06
Appendix 2 sets out the scope of audit and onwards to meet a 30 June approval deadline.
inspection. This will entail some realignment of priorities
within the council to ensure that appropriate Appendix 3 provides information about the fees
resources are earmarked for this task. charged.
Financial position
For 2003/04 the council spent £499k below its Key messages
budget for the year. This included a £250k rent
rebate and other windfall amounts that were not
budgeted for. This balance was transferred into Council performance
the council’s general fund reserves, which now
The way Hart District Council is run and the
stand at £1.9 million.
delivery of its services was assessed by the
As in previous years the financial outlook is Audit Commission in January 2004 as fair
finely balanced. With planned council tax (on the scale of excellent/good/fair/weak/poor).
increases limited to inflation, in year spending
The council has since identified its improvement
needs to be tightly controlled to ensure that
priorities and is investing to build capacity to
significant drawing upon reserves are not
improve the way it is run. The managerial
required.
restructuring is substantially complete and there
The current Medium Term Financial Strategy is a clear enthusiasm and commitment from the
indicates that reserves are at the minimum level management team and leading members to
required to support future spending and secure continuous improvement. The council is
contingencies, and this position should be also investing time and resource in re-engaging
carefully monitored to ensure that reserves are with the LSP as well as building new
maintained at this level. partnerships.
Some services are already improving but much
remains to be done to achieve this in all areas
and to ensure that improvements already
achieved are sustained. The future prospects for
improving the housing service remain
particularly uncertain and refuse remains a
poorly performing service. Public satisfaction
with services remains below the southeast
average.
Annual Audit and Inspection Letter – Audit 2003/2004 Hart District Council – Page 2x
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audit 2003/2004 ANNUAL AUDIT AND INSPECTION LETTER
ensure that there is sufficient capacity to Other accounts and governance
meet the earlier deadlines for approving the
issues
2004/5 financial statements;
We are also required to review the financial to address its areas of outstanding
aspects of the council’s corporate governance compliance with the Race Relations and
arrangements, as they relate to: Freedom of Information Acts;
the legality of transactions that might have a to continue and enhance the development of
significant financial consequence; Risk Management across the council, most
systems of internal financial control; and importantly to underpin the internal control
system; and standards of financial conduct, and the
prevention and detection of fraud and to maintain and build additional momentum
corruption. in the E-government implementation
programme in order to meet the 2005 During the year we reported that your overall
implementation deadline. corporate governance arrangements are broadly
satisfactory in all key areas, including your core
financial systems. We comment later in this
report on specific areas requiring attention.
Council performance
Action needed by the Council The council has identified its improvement
priorities and is investing to build capacity to In order to maintain its recent momentum and
improve the way it is run. Some services are focus on improvement the council should ensure
improving but much remains to be done to that:
ensure that this is achieved in all areas. The
its various plans are fully aligned;
council needs to maintain this early momentum
future strategies are affordable and aligned and ensure that all plans are aligned, that future
with resources; strategies are affordable and that staff have the
capacity and skills to deliver them. Furthermore its priorities are clear particularly given the
being a relatively small council (particularly with policy of inflation only council tax increases;
the focus following Gershon being on efficiency
staff have the capacity and skills to deliver
savings) scope for partnering with neighbouring
the council’s ambitions;
councils will also need to be examined.
it is clear about the outcomes it expects
from its improvement priorities and
CPA and improvement
mechanisms are in place to monitor progress
in these areas; In January 2004 the council was assessed as
Fair under the Comprehensive Performance the housing service improvement plan is
Assessment (CPA) framework. Initially prepared and approved early 2005; and
improvement planning got off to a slow start.
scope for partnering with neighbouring
However, since the Chief Executive’s return from
councils is examined (particularly with the
maternity leave, the appointment of new
focus following Gershon being on efficiency
corporate directors and the introduction of the
savings).
new political leadership following the June
The main issues arising from our corporate elections there has been significant momentum.
governance work that require Member attention The council has now identified its improvement
are: priorities in the light of the CPA findings and
these were approved by members onto keep the overall financial position of the
2 September 2004. council under review and to consider the
robustness and sustainability of the financial Whilst we have not completed a formal
outlook on an ongoing basis; assessment of progress this year, in this section
of the letter we comment on the progress the
council has made so far.
Annual Audit and Inspection Letter – Audit 2003/2004 Hart District Council – Page 3audit 2003/2004 ANNUAL AUDIT AND INSPECTION LETTER
Being a relatively small council the initial focus These are all encouraging developments and
following CPA has understandably been on help demonstrate that the council does have a
creating capacity to improve the way in which focus on improvement. However, this is clearly
the council is run. New corporate directors have the start of the journey and there is a significant
been recruited and heads of service are now in way to go.
place. The council has also invested time and It is therefore essential for the council to
resource in re-engaging with the local strategic maintain this early momentum and to continue
partnership and is generally becoming much its focus on securing improvement. To do this
more external facing with new partnerships effectively the council will need to be clear about
being established. As a result the council is its ambition and its role in delivering the
actively participating in community planning and community plan and ensure that there is a clear
a draft community plan is currently being and consistent thread running between the
consulted upon. community plan, corporate plan, service plans
Political structures are also adapting and there and individual targets. It will also need to be
has been a shift to greater inclusivity. An clear about its priorities especially in the context
independent member has been appointed to the of an inflation only council tax increase. And, it