Minutes

Notes of the inquorate meeting of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 19 June 2006 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• David Riddle (Deputy Chief Executive and Deputy Clerk)
• Peter Ticker (Director, Internal Audit)
• John Crompton (Committee Section)

MPS officers

• Sharon Burd (Director of Finance)
• Nick Chown (Director of Risk Management)
• Alan Croney (Director, Property Services) (item 7)
• Paul Daly (Director of Exchequer Services)
• Shabir Hussein (Commander, Traffic and Transport) (item 6)
• Stephen Rimmer (Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance)
• Nick Kettle, Acting Head of Safety and Health Risk Management
• Tony Baden (Acting Head of Strategic Finance, Finance Services)

Co-opted member

• Richard Stephenson (Director, Group Health, Safety and Environment, Transport for London)

Also in attendance: Michael Haworth–Maden (District Auditor, Audit Commission).

51. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

An apology was submitted on behalf of Jennette Arnold

52. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were received.

53. Minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee - 16 March 2006

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee considered and agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2006.

Recommended – That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 March be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

54. Chair and members update

(Agenda item 4)

No updates were provided.

55. Update on MPS health and safety performance

(Agenda item 5)

A report was submitted which provided an update on the health and safety performance of the MPS.

Recommended – That the update on MPS health and safety performance be noted.

56. Safer Driver Two

(Agenda item 6)

This report outlined police collision data, the Safer Driver Two initiative, the use of Incident Data Recorders in police vehicles and how police drivers were managed. It compared the changes between the planning years 04/05 and 05/06 and the six month period before and after the introduction of Safer Driving 2 in October 2005.

Commander Hussain explained that Appendix 2 related to the action points on a piece of research which the RAC had been commissioned to carry out.

Recommended – That the report be noted.

57. Property maintenance and capital renewals – tactical approach to strategic cost constraints

(Agenda item 7)

Members received a report on the issues relating to a risk assessment of property maintenance.

Recommended – That

1. it be noted that a detailed risk assessment, across the entire estate, was not feasible within the commissioning time frame and was not considered appropriate for the reasons stated in the report; and
2. it also be noted that estate ‘compliance’ was not the sole responsibility of the Property Services Department and Property Services would continue to work closely with Corporate Risk Management Group and HR Health & Safety as well as business groups.

58. Internal Audit annual report 2005/6

(Agenda item 8)

The work of Internal Audit for the year 2005/06 was provided together with the opinion of the Director of Internal Audit on the adequacy and effectiveness of control within the MPS and the MPA.

Michael Haworth–Maden confirmed that the annual report had already been discussed with the Director of Internal Audit. The Director of Internal Audit advised that there were a number of drafting changes that would be incorporated into the final version of the report. These included the following:

• Paragraph 20 – delete the phrase “adequacy of”
• Paragraph 26 after the word “cases” add “commenced in earlier years”

In summing up a discussion on the outstanding recommendations, the Chair said that the MPS was aware of the concerns of the Director of Internal Audit and there had been progress in dealing with the outstanding recommendations. He suggested that the focus should be on the most important residual cases.

Recommended – That

1. a revised version of the annual report be circulated to all members of the MPA; and
2. a further report be submitted to the next meeting.

59. Statement of internal control

(Agenda item 9)

This report provided details of the statement of internal control to be included in the statement of accounts for 2005/06, and details of the MPS’s statement of internal control.

Recommended – That

1. the latest draft of the MPS Statement of Internal Control for 2005/06 be noted; and
2. it be agreed that the MPA Statement of Internal Control be included in the statement of accounts for 2005/06.

60. Draft MPA accounts for year end 31 March 2006

(Agenda item 10)

A report was received presenting the Authority’ draft set of accounts for 2005-06 which is subject to audit. The Treasurer reported that the Finance Committee had at its meeting on 15 June agreed that the underspend of £7.5m be transferred to reserves and to the establishment of a new emergency contingencies fund to be used in the event of an emergency such as a terrorist outrage.

The statement of accounts was scrutinised and a number of specific points were discussed. It was agreed that changes should be made on the following points in the version of the accounts to be considered at the Authority meeting:

• Page 17, the depreciation time shown for reprographic equipment to be amended
• page 26, related party transactions – amend the references to Toby Harris in the narrative
• page 35, table will be amended to reflect the changes necessary as a consequence of creating the emergency contingencies fund
• page 36, amend the statement relating to the MPA to read “The reserve will be used to support the projects that the Metropolitan Police Authority expects to undertake in 2006-07”. Also, an explanation to be given on the newly established emergency contingencies fund.

The Committee suggested that confirmation be obtained shown in the table on page 17 was correct

Recommended – That the draft statement of accounts for 2005-06 as amended be submitted to the full Authority at its meeting on 29 June 2006.

61. External audit plan 2006/2007

(Agenda item 11)

The final external audit plan for 2006/07 was submitted.

Recommended - That

1. the Audit Plan be received; and
2. the audit fees for 2006/07 be approved.

62. Audit Commission report on Information and Systems strategy - policy integration and benefits.

(Agenda item 12)

As part of the 2005-06 audit, the Audit Commission has submitted a detailed performance report on Information and Systems Strategy – Policy Integration and Benefits. This was a co-ordinated review with MPA Internal Audit who had produced a linked report. Members stated that this report had been considered at the recent meeting of the IS/IT group and that all issues had been fully discussed at that meeting.

Recommended – That the report be noted.

63. Business risk management team update

(Agenda item 13)

A report was received setting out the progress made by the MPS in the areas of corporate governance, business risk management and insurance management.

Recommended – That

1. the progress to end April 2006 on corporate governance, business risk management, and insurance management as set out in Appendix 1 be noted; and
2. progress as captured by the Audit Commission/ALARM risk management Key Performance Indicator be noted.

64. Supply chain management

(Agenda item 14)

A report was received which set out the process undertaken to put in place a supply chain management system of the critical goods and services delivered by suppliers and contractors.

The Director of Risk Management referred to the request that had been made at a previous meeting for information of the supply chain and displayed a visual aid which had been produced to map out the process. He said that as was clear from the sheer size of the document that this was a very complex and detailed process.

Recommended – That

1. the actions taken by CO3 (London Resilience) in plotting the full breadth of the critical supply chain map be noted; and
2. the developing co-working of CO3 (London Resilience) and Procurement Services in robustly pursuing the business continuity plans of the suppliers and contractors delivering critical services, especially the outsourced providers and utility companies, to ensure the necessary resilience of supply in all eventualities be endorsed.

65. High-risk audit recommendations

(Agenda item 15)

A report was received which confirmed the status of outstanding high-risk recommendations made by Internal Audit and gave details of ongoing work to enhance the process by which the MPS responds to audit recommendations.

The Director of Internal Audit advised that the information in the report and appendix reflected the position at the end of May. He was pleased to report that since then there had been good progress.

Recommended – That

1. the status of outstanding high-risk recommendations made in relation to MPS control systems by MPA Internal Audit be noted; and
2. it be noted that the MPS Inspection Liaison & Analysis Unit (ILAU) had assumed responsibility for audit recommendation tracking and reporting.

66. Annual report of the Corporate Governance Committee

(Agenda item 16)

The annual report summarising the work of the Committee for the year 2005/06 was submitted.

Recommended – That the report be agreed as representing the Committee’s work over the last year for submission to the Authority,

67. Exclusion of Press and Public

(Agenda item 17)

Recommended – That the press and public be asked to leave the meeting during discussion of the remaining item of business because exempt information as defined in of Part 1 Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) is likely to be made known

68. Minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee - 16 March 2006

(Agenda item 18)

The minutes were agreed as a correct record

69. High-risk audit recommendations

(Agenda item 19)

A schedule of progress on high risk recommendations was received. It was noted that there had been good progress on some of the recommendations and a further update would be provided.

Resolved – That the report be noted

70. Sports and social clubs - responsibilities for health and safety

(Agenda item 20)

The Deputy Chief Executive said that there were no significant matters to report.

The meeting closed at 1.20 p.m.

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