Meeting documents

Dr Louis Lee, Chairman of the Joint Independent Audit Committee will attend to present his report.

Members received the Annual Assurance Report from the Chairman of the Joint Independent Audit Committee, Dr Louis Lee. The JIAC is a key component of the PCC and Chief Constable’s arrangements for corporate governance and provides an independent and high level focus on the audit, assurance and reporting arrangements that underpin good governance and financial standards. This is the Committee’s third Annual Report.

Dr Louis Lee presented the report which highlighted the following:-

·         The JIAC has to date been operating since its formation in March 2013 with only three Members, the minimum requirement under legislation. The size of the Committee was increased to five Members in January 2016 to ensure the meeting is quorate should any one Member be unable to attend.

·         The external auditor gave an unqualified audit opinion and value for money conclusion for both the PCC and Chief Constable. TVP were the first local policing body in 2014/15 to have their accounts formally closed and signed off. Members were satisfied that the OPCC and TVP had the necessary capability and capacity to ensure the proper administration of their financial affairs.

·         The Corporate Governance Framework within Thames Valley is operating efficiently and effectively

·         Complaints, Integrity and Ethics Panel – Members of the JIAC can now attend this meeting as observers and are satisfied that the new oversight arrangements are operating effectively in practice.

·         Corporate Risk Management – Members have regular quarterly updates on this area. Some concerns were raised regarding ICT issues and providing information in written reports which have been resolved but Members will continue to retain a close scrutiny of the transformation of ICT systems which are recognised as being business critical.

·         Business continuity management processes are operating efficiently.

·         Internal audit – resources were reallocated to provide assurance on the Shared Infrastructure Platform programme. The Committee has 10 audit days to draw upon for its own specific use. Of the completed 20 audits one has received full assurance, 18 majority assurance and 4 limited assurance.

·         Health and Safety – Compared with other Forces TVP performance was better than average which is good but leaves room for improvement.

·         Equality and Diversity – TVP provides a policing service to diverse communities and efforts are being made to change the composition of the workforce to more accurately reflect the communities that it serves through recruitment and retention initiatives.

·         Inspection and Review – HMIC reports are considered by the PCC at his regular meetings. No reports have been specifically referred to the Audit Committee on assurance on the internal control environment or governance issues.

During discussion the following points were noted:-

·         Cllr Pitts asked whether the Chairman of the JIAC was regularly briefed and how the Work Programme was set. The Chairman is regularly briefed by the Chief Constable and the PCC on the full range of activities and is invited to internal Force meetings and informed about legislative, policy or operational initiatives that are relevant to the Committee’s remit. He also has private meetings with the internal auditor. The Work Programme covers the areas listed above and focuses on financial and risk management and delivery of the Police and Crime Plan.

·         Cllr Webb asked with transformation and increasing collaboration how the Committee assured themselves that they had full oversight of significant activity. The Chairman reported that the PCC and Chief Constable kept him fully briefed on these areas and this was included in the risk register.

·         Cllr Birchley asked the Chairman about the Audit Committee relationship with the Police and Crime Panel. He responded by saying he was clear about their respective roles and he received regular information about the operation of the Panel. The Audit Committee had a different focus in terms of receiving reports from the auditors and looking at formal governance issues.

·         Cllr McCracken asked about the Audit Plan. The Chairman reported that they had looked at the structure of the Plan and put forward a revised model. The Audit Committee takes risk management very seriously. As a result of concerns raised in March 2015 additional reports were requested for June 2015 and officers were asked to make improvements in the quality of future written reports. Members were now happy with this area.

·         Cllr Sinclair referred to Equality and Diversity and that it was difficult to change the composition of the TVP workforce to reflect new and emerging communities, particularly in urban areas.

The Chairman of the Panel thanked Dr Louis Lee for his report and welcomed this on an annual basis.