Minutes

Minutes of the Audit Panel of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 16 Sep 2002 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0NY.

Present:

Members:

• Sir John Quinton (Chair)
• Eric Ollerenshaw (Deputy Chair)
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA Officers:

• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• Peter Tickner (Director, Internal Audit)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS Officers:

• Mike Jennings (Director of Finance)

Also in attendance: Jon Hayes (District Audit Manager)

1. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies were received from Jennette Arnold, Cindy Butts, Kash Pandya (District Auditor) and Kevin Murphy (KPMG).

2. Declarations of interest

No declarations were made.

3. Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2002

(Agenda item 3)

The Panel considered the minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2002.

It was noted that as agreed at the meeting the Chair had written to the Commissioner on 11 July 2002 on concerns which had been expressed on delays in obtaining responses to a number of draft audit reports. A reply dated12 September had been received shortly before the meeting. Copies were tabled. The Panel considered that the reply did not fully address the issues raised In this connection the Director of Internal Audit advised that he and the Deputy Director were undertaking a round of discussions with MPS managers. It was agreed that the Chair would write further to the Commissioner seeking a further assurance concerning the recommendations in audit reports.

Further to minute 21 it was noted that the audit report on Employment Tribunals would be submitted to the Human Resources Committee at its meeting on 3 October.

Resolved – That

1. the minutes of the meeting of the meeting be confirmed and signed as a correct record; and
2. the Chair of the Audit Panel should write to the Commissioner further concerning the implementation of recommendations in audit reports.

4. Chair’s and Members update

(Agenda item 4)

No reports submitted.

5. Draft final accounts 2001/02

(Agenda item 5)

The draft set of MPA accounts for 2001/02 were submitted for scrutiny prior to being submitted to the Authority. These are subject to audit. Page 5 of the accounts was tabled.

In introducing the report the Treasurer stressed that it was a draft and changes to the text would be made prior to its submission to the Authority.

The Panel requested that several drafting changes be made to the draft accounts before they were submitted to the Authority meeting on 26 September. These included using the phrase “civil staff” in preference to “civilian staff”

Resolved -

The accounts be submitted to the Authority at its meeting on 26 September for onward submission to the District Auditor.

6. External audit review of MPS consultancy group

(Agenda item 6)

A report by the District Auditor on the MPS Consultancy Group and an action plan were submitted.

Resolved that the report be noted.

7. Internal Audit – progress report

(Agenda item 7)

The Director of Internal Audit provided a brief oral update on the progress of the internal audit programme. It was anticipated that the work programme for the year would be completed but it should be noted that following a recent recruitment round a number of vacancies remained to be filled.

The meeting ended at 11. 33.

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