Agenda item

Draft 2009/10 Annual Governance Statement.

The Head of Finance, HR and Business Support reminded Members that the Annual Governance Statement would need to be considered / approved at the same time as the Statement of Accounts were reported to the Joint Committee in June.  It was noted that the Annual Governance Statement had been prepared in line with Charted Institute of Charted Accountants / Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (CIPFA / SOLACE) guidance, incorporating specific issues relating to the Crematorium such as processes and controls, constitution, regulations, performance and budgetary control arrangements.  The Joint Committee heard that the draft Statement also contained a review of the effectiveness of these arrangements in the year and members’ attention was drawn to comments included within the Statement which highlighted any improvements made over the previous 12 months such as responses to Audit Commission recommendations raised last year; any findings from the Internal Audit Review and the strengthened arrangements in terms of risk management. 

The Head of Finance, HR and Business Support explained that an element of the Annual Governance Statement was to identify any significant governance issues / risks and the four areas that had been identified were set out within the draft Statement relating to: the recording of transactions; numbering of receipts; stock control and treasury management. 

Members noted that in order to allow an opportunity to feed into the process of preparing the Annual Governance Statement, the draft version had been dispatched with the agenda papers prior to this meeting of the Joint Committee, so that comments could be reflected in the final version to be considered at the next meeting. This was a change from previous practice and was welcomed by Members as it afforded more opportunity to consider the content of the Statement.

The Audit Manager, Resources, Peter Jackson noted that issues relating to receipts had been addressed by the Superintendent and Registrar and that in his opinion this was not a significant governance issue. Members agreed and asked that this be removed from the “final” version.  The Chair noted that there had obviously been a lot of good work done in a relatively short time that successfully addressed several governance issues and commended Officers for the progress they had made.

The Accountant, Spennymoor Town Council asked if the “treasury management” issue identified included how Durham County Council managed the earmarked reserves, specifically how such money was invested.  The Head of Finance, HR and Business Support confirmed that the Joint Committee funds fell under the Durham County Council Treasury Management Policy / Practices.

The loan from the Joint Committee to Durham County Council was invested by Durham County Council in accordance with that Policy and the interest paid to the Joint Committee was based on the average interest rate earned by Durham County Council on its external investments. 

The Treasury Management arrangements between the Joint Committee and Durham County Council was an area that needed to be better documented and this was being addressed in accordance with the Audit Commission recommendations from the 2008/09 external audit.  Members were also asked to note that improvements for the 2010/11 Annual Governance Statement would be to consider issues regarding to prudential indicators and for a treasury code of practise, in line with the Durham County Council’s Constitution.

The Chair asked whether the Treasurer (Stuart Crowe, Corporate Director Resources) would be present to sign the Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement at the June meeting.  The Head of Finance, HR and Business Support noted that this was the intention and that his understanding was that the existing Treasurer did not retire until after the June meeting. There would be a need appoint a new Treasurer (the nominated s151 Officer of DCC) following the retirement of the existing Treasurer to deal with the September sign off following completion of the External Audit.

The Audit Manager, Resources added that the Annual Governance Statement was a “live” document and if any significant governance issues arose prior to the June meeting of the Joint Committee, these could be incorporated as appropriate.

Resolved:

That the content of the draft Annual Governance Statement 2009/10, subject to the deletion discussed be approved for inclusion within the Durham Crematorium Statement of Accounts 2009/10.