Agenda and minutes

Harvey Patterson – Corporate and Regulatory Services Manager

Sarah Martin – Financial Services Manager & Deputy s151 Officer

Harpal Singh – Team Leader - Audit Commission

No apologies were received.

To receive any declarations of interest.  Members are advised to consider the extract from the Standard Board Code of Conduct for Members, which forms part of the Declaration of Interest Form at the back of this Agenda.  If a Member declares an interest, they should complete that Form and hand it to the Officer clerking the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members, if possible please have any questions for officers prepared. The Final Accounts guidance gives an indication of the sort of questions Members should be asking. (This can be found in the Guidance Pack previously circulated).

This report presents the Statement of Accounts 2010/11 as presented to the auditors for Members of the Governance and Audit Committee to scrutinise and note.

Previously Members were required to approve the accounts by 30 June, prior to the audit. This has now been moved to 30 September so that Members can be made aware of the findings of the audit and make a better informed decision. A provisional set of accounts were presented to Members in June 2011 so that Members could have early sight of the draft outturn position. At that meeting it was agreed that a further meeting would be held so that Members could scrutinise the accounts and raise any concerns or questions arising from that scrutiny.

The Financial Services Manager and Deputy s151 officer, Sarah Martin, asked Members to note a couple of errors in the accounts regarding Net Cost of Service. These were noted and the following questions were asked:-

1.  Regarding the LOBO loan from Dexia: Dexia can increase the rate every 6 months (must be a clause defining this – Libor + x%??)?

-  Is there a cap on the rise for any period / overall and

-  Is there a borrower’s option or repay clause.

These structures are not usually one-sided.

Answer:

The Council has the option to pull out and can choose to repay without penalties.

2.  Is the list of acceptable institutions (for short-term deposits) subject to very regular scrutiny?

  Answer:

  Yes. Officers receive daily updates from Sector (our treasury advisors)   of any potential rating changes. Regular reviews of relevant websites   and literature are also undertaken to keep aware of market   movements.

3.  Page 95 of the draft accounts regarding criteria for investment counterparties states ‘UK institutions with support from the UK Government’. Is that a random definition or does it include for example Northern Rock?

  Answer:

  This includes those eligible institutions which received Government support (e.g.Lloyds TSB).

4.  Page 97 of the draft accounts regarding credit for trade debtors, please   advise what the following means: £5,995m of the £3985m balance…?

  Answer:

  This was a mistype and the figure of £5,995m has now been corrected   to £2901m.

5.  Note 21 (Creditors) on page 61 of the draft accounts: who are these entities and individuals? The amount is £600k higher than last year.

  Answer:

  This includes all the Council’s sundry creditors including monies owed to suppliers and additional monies regarding contracts.

6.  How does the Council decide what rates to borrow at?

  Answer:

  The Council decides what rates to borrow at by asking our Treasury consultants, who are specialist, for advice on when the best time to borrow is. Once the need to borrow is established, both officers within TDC and Sector look for the lowest rates that are expected and a decision is made to borrow once we are satisfied that the rate is as low as we think is likely in the necessary time frame.

7.  How is this considered and what choice do we  ...  view the full minutes text for item 173.