Minutes

Minutes of the Audit Panel of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 13 December 2001 at Romney House, Westminster, London SW1.

Present

Members

• Sir John Quinton (Chair)
• Eric Ollerenshaw (Deputy Chair)
• Elizabeth Howlett
• R. David Muir

MPA officers

• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• Peter Tickner (Director of Internal Audit)
• John Crompton (Secretariat)

MPS officers

• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)

Also attended: Kash Pandya (District Auditor, Jon Hayes (District Audit Manager) and Kevin Murphy (KPMG)

1. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

An apology was received from Jennette Arnold.

2. Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Panel held on 19 September 2001

(Agenda item 2)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Panel meeting held on 19 September 2001 be agreed as a correct record.

3. Membership and Chairs and Members update

(Agenda item 3)

No reports were given.

4. Annual audit letter for 2000/01

(Agenda item 4)

The Panel considered the annual audit letter for 2000/01.

In introducing his letter Kash Pandya said that it was a commendable achievement for the Authority to have submitted its first set of accounts on time given the fact that this was the first occasion on which the figures were required to be produced on an accruals basis. Following further work on the figures a final version of the letter would be submitted to the Authority for distribution to all members of the Authority.

The Panel noted that the accounts would be signed off by the District Auditor when the accounts for the previous year had been signed off by the National Audit Office.

The Chair said the Panel, and indeed the whole Authority, fully supported the comments from the District Auditor on the need to move the culture of the organisation towards one which places greater emphasis on financial and budgetary management and control. In this connection the Director of Resources advised that the new resource and finance managers had been appointed in recent weeks. To be fully effective their work would need to be integrated further with the operational side.

The Panel commented on sections of the letter as follows:

Areas of qualification

The Treasurer pointed out that the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee had considered reports on both of the areas highlighted in the letter. Some corrective action had already been put in place on risk management and insurances were now in place. The position regarding the provision for pensions was more complex and was primarily an issue of finding resources to increase the reserves. In this connection it was noted that the figure shown in the final bullet point in the section headed "Accounts" on page 5 of the letter should read £44m. and not £55m. as shown.

Financial standing

With regard to the comment about funding for post 11 September policing the Panel was advised by the Treasurer that adequate funding had been secured.

Legality of financial transactions

It was noted that the Clerk to the Authority is the Monitoring Officer and the Treasurer undertook to discuss the points raised with a view to a report being submitted to the next meeting.

Resolved – That the letter be noted and the foregoing comments be submitted to the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee at its meeting on 17 January 2002.

(note: The Treasurer submitted a schedule of follow-up actions to the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee and a copy is attached as an appendix to agenda item 4 at the meeting of the Audit Panel held on 19 March 2002).)

5. Internal Audit Progress Report

(Agenda item 5)

A report was considered which summarised the current position regarding progress against the 2001/02 audit plan.

With regard to paragraph 8 the Director of Internal Audit advised that the decision to forego the budget increase to fund the full year effect of the recent salary review meant that it would not be possible to recruit as many auditors as had been planned. He was pleased to report that there had been an encouraging response to a recent recruitment campaign due to the revised salary levels and the forthcoming move from Jubilee House.

Implementation of high risk recommendations

The Director of Internal Audit reported that he had received only one response from the Management Board. The Director of Resources undertook to raise this issue at the next meeting of the Board.

The Director of Internal Audit advised that the work programme for 2002/03 would be submitted for approval to the next meeting.

Resolved –.

1. it be noted that there will be a significant shortfall in planned internal audit work for this financial year which will impact on the ability of the Director of Internal Audit to provide a robust opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of controls in the MPS in 2001/02.
2. approval be given to postponing the audits listed in appendix 1.

6. External Audit Progress Report

(Agenda item 6)

A report by the District Auditor was considered which set out progress on the external audit activities

Jon Hayes advised that action plans would be drawn up for all the reports.

The Panel considered that so that it could discharge its role it was important for there to be a composite record showing which MPA Committee or Unit at the MPS had responsibility for implementing a particular review.

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted.
2. a report be submitted to the next meeting showing where responsibility within the MPA and MPS rests for each of the reviews.

The meeting ended at 4.15 p.m.

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