Agenda for General Purposes Committee on Wednesday, 26th July, 2023, 7.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. View directions

Contact: Democracy 020 8132 1558 Email: Democracy@enfield.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

No apologies were received.

 

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members of the committee are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevent to the items on the agenda.

Minutes:

Councillor Mike Rye declared a non-pecuniary interest as at the time the audit took place he was a Governor at St Andrews school.

3.

Invoice Payments - Controls in Place pdf icon PDF 257 KB

The Committee are recommended to note the controls in place. 

Minutes:

JeanneEdeam (ExchequerMgr Accounts)introduced thereport. Thereport was broughtto committeeas requestedby CllrAli tolook intothe controlsin place for invoice payments. The controls from the audit recommendation have beenfully implemented.

 

Officers explained that training is offered on procedures for invoices and there is resources on the intranet including user guides. The teamalso offer a drop- in session once a month.

 

Members hadqueries onwhy someinvoices wereprocessed outsideof Neptune. Officersexplained thatthe systemallows invoicesto bepaid but refundsare doneoutside ofthe system.Non invoicedpayments alsoare paid outside of Neptune.

 

Following aquestion fromMembers onchecks donefor invoicing,Officers explained thata checklist hasbeen madefor theteam whichis usedon a

daily basis.

 

4.

AUDIT & RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICE PROGRESS REPORT pdf icon PDF 575 KB

To note the progress made on the 2023-24 Internal Audit Plan.

Minutes:

Gemma Young presented this item explaining that one audit report has

already been finalised this year.

 

No changes were made to the 2023-24 Internal AuditPlan between the last meeting of the Committee and 31 May 2023. There have been no audits in this time with a No or Limited assurance opinion issued.

 

NOTED the report.



5.

2022-23 Annual Internal Audit Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To note the work completed by the Internal Audit team during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 and the key themes and outcomes arising from this work.

Minutes:

Gemma Young presented this item highlighting the key points from the report explaining that we are in a similar position to last year. There has been only one outstanding high-risk action at year end.

 

Members raised questions on the household support fund and holiday and food grant. Officers explained that this was in addition to the audit plan.

 

Overall, it was found that there was a lackof documentation to support expected design, operation andcontrols. There was also noopportunity for anyone applyingfor the grant todeclare an interest. Officers explained that thiswas administered duringcovid which meant that design controls were limited.Grants areno longer being administered inthe same way.

 

ACTION: Gemma Young to provide timeline for audit of the Household support fund and holiday food grant

 

Following a query from Members on the business rates process Officers explained that the high-risk findings were based on how we were billing

people which has now been resolved.






6.

2022-23 Annual Schools Internal Audit Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To note the contents on the Annual School Audit Report 2022-23. The report will be shared with Headteachers and Governors at the start of the new academic year.

Minutes:

Gemma Young explained that due to an administrative error, the reportfor this item had not been published. The reportwill be made available to Members via email and will be formallybrought to the committee at the next

meeting of the General Purposes Committee.






7.

General Purposes Committee Annual Report and Future Work Programme 23/24 pdf icon PDF 260 KB

The Committtee are reccommended to note the report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

NOTED the report and future work programme.

 

Members commented that last year Councillor Bedekova was a fantastic Chair and that the work done by the Committee has contributed to the Council being a better place.




8.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

To note the next meeting of the General Purposes Committee is scheduled to

take place at 7pm on Wednesday 25 October 2023.

Minutes:

 

 

NOTED the dates of the future meetings.