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/ Durham Police & Crime Commissioner/ Chief Constable
Minutes of Joint Audit Committee Meeting
Tuesday 18thFebruary 2014
11.00 am
Durham Room,
Police Headquarters
Aykley Heads
Durham /

Attendees

Mrs E M Davies in the chair

Members

Cllr E Bell, Mr R J Humphries, Ms J Flynn and Ms M Raine

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

PCC Ron Hogg, Mrs L A Davies and Mrs K Bambridge

Durham Constabulary

Mr G Ridleyand Mr P Garfoot

Auditors

Mr P Bradley, Mr M Barnes and Mr CWaddell

Agenda Item

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2013

The minutes of the meeting held on 21January 2014 were agreed as a correct record with the inclusion of apologies from Cllr E Bell.

Mrs Davies informed the committee that an appendix to the scheme of governance to highlight the checks and balances which have been introduced as part of the joint Chief Finance Officer role, will be brought to the next meeting.

The Chair confirmed that a training day would be held in place of the March meeting.

  1. Update from the Police and Crime Commissioner

Mr Ron Hogg, Police and Crime Commissioner attended the committee meeting to update members on the delivery of his priorities contained within his Police and Crime Plan.

  1. Quarterly Performance Management Report

The Committee considered the performance management report for both the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable (for copy see file of minutes).

Mr Humphries suggested that it would be useful for members to receive some more comparative data for other forces.

Following a question on the staff survey, Mr Ridley will check the figures for responses to exit monitoring.

  1. Quarterly Treasury Management Report

The Committee received a report of the Chief Finance Officer and Chief Constable on short term investments (for copy see file of minutes).

Mr Ridley gave an update on the transactions that have been made with UK clearing banks and major building societiesfor the period 1 April 2013 – 31st December 2013.

Mr Ridley highlighted he was working with the Chief Constable to see what extent the force can improve their investment return. An update on progress will be given at a future meeting.

  1. Quarterly Budget Monitoring – 2013/14

The Committee considered a report outlining the performance of the 2013/14 revenue and capital budgets as at 31st December 2013 and also the projected outturn as at 31st March 2014 (for copy see file of minutes).

Mr Ridley reported that the Police and Crime Panel considered the Precept Report of the Police and Crime Commissioner on 4th February 2013. Within that meeting, members considered that it would be useful to include details of future capital receipts to be included in the Budget Report and also commented upon the potential impact on tackling domestic abuse and hate crime as a result of austerity.

Mr Ridley highlighted the following;

  • Staff Pay. This is likely to be on budget. A staffing review has now been completed and this is expected to deliver savings in 2014/15.
  • Supplies. This overspend is due to the payment of legal fees.
  • The Community Safety Fund (shown under Joint & Other Authorities) is likely to be overspent in the year. This will be offset by underspends or a contribution from reserves (if needed).
  • Premises. This budget is expected to be under budget this year due to a reduction in maintenance on the existing HQ. Fewer repairs are being carried out given the limited lifespan of the HQ. This may change should an emergency/unexpected repair be necessary
  • Capital Financing. This budget is expected to be overspent due to additional capital expenditure at Chester le Street police station. This includes improvements to the car park, structural changes to the building and additional IT costs.
  1. Revenue and Capital Budgets 2014/15 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14

The Committee received a report to consider Revenue and Capital Budgets 2014/15 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14(for copy see file of minutes).

Mr Ridley highlighted the following;

  • The Medium Term Financial Plan in Appendix 3 shares a picture of our estimates for future years. Whilst a balanced budget for the financial year 2014/15 can be achieved there will be a tough challenge for 2015/16 with a revenue gap of £1.5million and 2016/17 with a revenue gap of £4.1m after taking account of agreed reductions in officer and staff numbers. Provisional financial settlement figures are not yet available for 2015/16 from the Treasury and until those indications are available it is estimated that income from central government will reduce by approximately £4.049m.
  • Whilst recognising the impact of any increase in Council Tax on the finances of households in County Durham and Darlington, in view of the future budgetary challenges referred to above, it is the view of officers that it is more important than ever, so far as is possible, to protect the base budget by increasing the Council Tax.
  • It should be noted that PCC’s will receive funding equivalent to a 1% increase in council tax if they freeze the household charge in 2014/15 and 2015/16. When these grants cease to be paid by Government, further permanent reductions to the base budget, equivalent to the level of grant received, will need to be made to balance the budget.
  • Online consultation has been undertaken on the proposed precept increase and in addition face to face meetings were held with the public across the Force area in January 2014,Whilst the majority of the online consultees felt that Council Tax levels should remain the same or be reduced, the overall consensus was that from attendees at the meetingswas that a 2% increase in precept for 2014/15 would be acceptable.
  1. Annual Governance Statement

The committee received a report on the Annual Governance Statement (for copy see file of minutes)

The Chair requested a presentation to update members on Collaboration at a future meeting.

  1. Internal Audit Progress Report

The Committee considered the Internal Audit Progress Report (for copy see file of minutes).

Mr Bradley gave a summary of the work undertaken by Internal Audit between July and December 2013 and referred to an agreed plan showing the status of each audit.

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