Minutes

Minutes of the Audit Panel of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 19 March 2002 at Romney House, Westminster, London SW1P 3PY.

Present

Members

• Sir John Quinton (Chair)
• Jennette Arnold
• R. David Muir

MPA officers

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

MPS officers

• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Bob Alexander (Head of Finance)

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

7. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

An apology was received from Elizabeth Howlett.

8. Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Panel held on 13 December 2001

(Agenda item 2)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Panel meeting held on 13 December 2001 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

9. Chair’s and Members update

(Agenda item 3)

Jennette Arnold and R David Muir reported on a recent visit to the Internal Audit department which they had found extremely helpful.

10. Follow up to external audit annual letter for 2000/01

(Agenda item 4)

The Panel considered a report which provided an update to the external audit annual letter which was submitted to the last meeting of the Panel.

Kash Pandya confirmed that the appendix set out a valid position statement on the points of concern raised in the audit letter. He noted that many areas were being addressed and it was also accepted that it was unlikely that the pensions liabilities issue could be resolved in the current year.

The Panel said it would be helpful if target dates could be included in the schedule of follow up actions. The Treasurer pointed out that the first six actions in the schedule had already been initiated and that action would be taken on the other points during the course of the year.

Resolved –That the report be noted.

11. External Audit progress report

(Agenda item 5)

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

Jon Hayes reported that since the report was written work had been completed on the reviews of estate management and early retirement on medical grounds.

The Panel noted that for each completed piece of work there would be a named MPS Management Board member who was responsible for carrying the work forward and each one would be allocated to a MPA forum.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

12. Review of 2000/01 External Audit fees

(Agenda item 6)

A report was considered which sought authorisation to release a retention of £40,000 held pending consideration of the 2000/01 audit.

Resolved - That the £40,000 retention held pending consideration of the costs of the 2000/01 audit be released.

13. External audit - audit plan 2001/02

(Agenda item 7)

In reply to a question on the relationship between KPMG and the District Auditor the Panel was advised that KPMG had been involved in the audit of the MPS for many years. At the formation of the MPA the Audit Commission had decided that for the first few years KPMG would assist District Audit in order that their expertise was not lost. Kash Pandya stressed that it was a joint audit and KPMG did not act as consultants.

In reply to questions about the devolution of budgets within the MPS, Kash Pandya said that it would not have been appropriate to carry out an audit of this new initiative during the coming year. The Treasurer referred to the fact that devolved financial management was included in the schedule of proposed systems audits for Internal Audit and said that this could form the basis of a specific report back to the Panel.

Resolved - That the external audit plan for 2001/02 and the fees of £520,000 be approved.

14. Internal Audit progress report - 2001/02

(Agenda item 8)

A report was considered which summarised progress against the 2000/01 internal audit plan.

The Director of Internal Audit updated the Panel on the recent recruitment campaign referred to in paragraph 14. The standard of applicant had been high and offers had been made to several candidates.

With regard to paragraph 13 the Chair indicated that it was not satisfactory for so many high risk recommendations to remain outstanding. He requested that a system be put in place whereby details of outstanding recommendations be sent to him so that he could write to the appropriate Management Board member.

Resolved- That

1. the progress against the 2001/02 audit plan be noted.
2. any high risk recommendations referred to at paragraph 13 which are still outstanding at the end of April be referred to the Chair for further action.

15. Internal Audit plan for April 2002 To March 2003

(Agenda item 9)

The proposed plan for internal audit for the period April 2002 to March 2003 was submitted for approval. The plan is based on an updated audit needs assessment and risk analysis for the next five years.

With regard to paragraph 5 the Director of Resources confirmed that members of the Management Board had audits allocated against their individual areas of responsibility.

Resolved- That-

1. the proposed use of audit resources be approved and the summary calculation of audit need and comparison to planned work set out in appendix 1 and 2 be noted.

2. the systems audit programme of internal audit work as set out in appendix 3 be approved.

16. External Audit review of Internal Audit

(Agenda item 10)

The external auditor’s review of internal audit was submitted.

Resolved - That

1. the external auditor’s report and the proposed actions in response to the recommendations be noted.
2. a follow up report by the Director of Internal Audit be submitted to the Panel at its next meeting or the following meeting.

The meeting ended at 4.00 p.m.

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