and refused to provide me and other members of the council with a copy of the internal audit
report waved at us by the acting clerk at a council meeting over two months ago.
Looking at the date of the report it is clear the council received it 3 months before that meeting.
The council are aware and take no notice of Grant Thornton the external auditors comments
regarding the delay in considering and auctioning reports
I am pleased to say I and all members have received a copy. It won't be online for sometime because as a town council we cant sort out getting a required website.
If any resident would like a copy of the full report please email and I will send you
a copy via email.
martinbrookes@politician.com
I have now asked for copies of the missing bank statements which the chairman said have
been made confidential due to data protection issues.
Oakham Town Council does not want the public to know who they paid a total of £18,000
of public money to. If they fail to provide the bank statements to all members, I will be
objecting to the payments at the next external audit.
Examples of the The internal auditor recommendations to the council many of these
recommendations were withheld from the council by the acting clerk Malcolm Plumb
and before he starts complaining and accusing me of lying I suggest he watches the video
of the meeting. my comments in blue.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Council considers presenting its key governance documents for review and re-adoption at the Annual Meeting. These documents would usually include Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, Risk Assessment and the Statement of Internal Control.
After all the years this council has existed you would think this would be normal practice.
The introduction of an Equal Opportunities policy is to be considered by the Council.
remind me, this is 2016?
It is unclear if terms of reference exist for the committees and if not, consideration should be given to introducing these.
This has been an issue for such a long time and this also often applies to working groups
back in March I brought a agenda item to try and sort the mess of the cemetery working
group. Unfortunately Cllr Stubbs said at that meeting I am not doing as he tells me
missing the fact I was making suggestions to be agreed by all Council members which they
did and the cemetery working group then went away and ignored the instructions. Meaning they
are no closer to being anywhere near taking over the cemetery from Rutland County Council
We have been provided with very poor quality report produced by Michael Haley since
March. the last entry simply states a meeting has been arranged with Rutland County Council
in November. As a Cllr who receives questions from residents about the cemetery, I think we need
more in a report that covers a period of eight months than just we are organising another meeting
with Rutland County Council.
The Council’s staging date for pension’s auto-enrolment was March 2016 and the Council has enrolled staff into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), as applicable.
It is understood that prior to enrolment into the LGPS, the Clerk was contractually entitled to receive an annual salary enhancement of £6,000 in lieu of a pension contribution by the Council.
RECOMMENDATION:
The
Council should review the contractual position regarding the £6,000
salary enhancement to the Clerk, to clarify:
- if it is to continue to be paid
- if not, has any overpayment been made and if so is this recoverable.
I believe this recommendation is why the council did not want me to see the report
more than once I had raised a concern about this extra payment being made to the
former clerk. I was attacked for questioning why it was still being paid and suggested
we should look into reclaiming part of the payments, because the Clerk had arranged that
he would receive payments into the new scheme backdated. I don't know if this actually happened. Why should I know I am only a Oakham Town Councillor who is expected to
look after taxpayers money. The Clerk has of course been paid to resign. For a person who held public office to receive £6000 a year since 2004 in lieu of a pension is most extraordinary.
Ex Mayor Alf Dewis said we could not stop paying but if it was up to him he would not
have agreed the contract. It should have been torn up years ago.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the HSBC mandate is updated and forwarded to the bank as soon as possible. Ideally there should be at least 4 nominated signatories (as per the previously approved mandate) to ensure an adequate rotation of cheque signatories. See section 10.1 below
RECOMMENDATION:
That the 3 new accounts signatories are agreed and duly notified to the Cambridge Building Society. See section 10.1 below
If, when agreeing to undertake this internal audit for 2016/17, I was looking for a challenge, then I have not been disappointed. Of the many local council internal audit assignments I have worked on over the past 15 years, this particular one has been one of the most demanding. The reasons for this are the ramifications of the external assurance review, the unfortunate long term sickness of the Clerk to the Council and other internal pressures which have been well documented. That said, I have adopted the same approach to the internal audit of Oakham Town Council as I have to all my other local council clients, namely based my observations, opinions and recommendations on the data and other evidence presented to me. This I strongly believe is the best means of achieving the independent objectivity required of an internal auditor.
This internal audit assignment has comprised thee separate reviews with full separate reports provided:
An interim internal audit
A detailed procurement review
This final internal audit
When undertaking an initial internal audit review, I fully expect to make a number of recommendations and you will see from reports of the three reviews undertaken, that Oakham Town Council is no exception to this. However all the recommendations made are related to either procedural, administrative or contractual matters, rather than financial and are all considered to be ‘Opportunities for Improvement ‘ (OFI’s), rather than non-conformance. Therefore, in my opinion, the overall internal audit assurance rating is: SATISFACTORY.
Finally, I wish to draw the Council’s attention to the final paragraph on page 1 of this report, which I trust clearly states what internal audit is and what it is not.
Richard Willcocks 15/06/2016
SATISFACTORY is not GOOD
