Minutes

Minutes of the Audit Panel of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 27 March 2003 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:

• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Sharon Burd (Director of Finance)
• Assistant Commissioner Hogan-Howe
• Alastair Thompson (Director of Commercial Services) attended in connection with agenda item 7

Also in attendance: Kash Pandya (District Auditor) and Jon Hayes (District Audit Manager).

Part 1

29. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Jennette Arnold.

30. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

31. Minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2002

(Agenda item 3)

Members considered the minutes of the Panel meeting held on 16 December 2002.

It was agreed that the following corrections be made:

Minute 25 final paragraph - in the fourth line change “excepted” to “expected”
Minute 26 second paragraph in the second line change “as far as practical” to “an opinion”
Minute 28 final paragraph in the second line change “animosity” to “anonymity”

Resolved – That subject to the above amendments the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 16 December 2002 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

32. Chair’s and Members update

(Agenda item 4)

No reports were given.

33. Date of Audit Panel in June 2003

(Agenda item 5)

It has been found necessary to change the date of the next meeting of the Panel. A report was submitted which suggested alternative dates.

Resolved – That the next meeting of the Audit Panel be held on Thursday 19 June at 10.00 a.m.

34. District Auditor’s report on corporate governance

(Agenda item 6)

The Audit Commission’s Code of Audit Practice require the external auditor to review and where appropriate report on the Authority’s corporate governance arrangements. As part of the 2001/02 audit, a high level review of the Authority’s overall corporate governance arrangements was made as well as a number of individual risk areas. The Panel received the summary report and action plan.

In reply to a question regarding the comments on delays in the internal audit process (page 4 of the summary report), the Director of Internal Audit explained that there were many reasons why the audit work might take longer than expected but there was a three week target from the completion of the field work to the production of the first draft of the report. Currently 75% of the first drafts were issued within three weeks.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

35. Internal Audit 2002/03 – progress report

(Agenda item 7)

Members considered a report that outlined the progress made in the final quarter of the year in achieving the 2002/2003 Internal Audit Plan. The report also summarised the results of significant internal audit work to date and the adequacy and effectiveness of control in MPS systems where Internal Audit has issued formal reports since 1 April 2002.

The Director of Internal Auditor clarified the statement in paragraph 4 on the average score of the high-risk audits by explaining that the figure of 3.8 represented a level of control that was significantly below the expected standard and therefore offered a lower degree of assurance about the adequacy of control in high-risk MPS systems.

The Director of Resoruces, Assistant Commissioner Hogan Howe and Alastair Thomson attended for the consideration of the part of this report dealing with the implementation of high risk recommendations.

Assistant Commissioner Hogan Howe spoke about the outstanding matters relating to the gifts and hospitality reports. He apologised for the fact that these outstanding points had arisen and has discussed the matter in detail with the appropriate manager. The position was that the outstanding matters had largely been addressed or would be addressed as from April.

The Director of Resources and the Director of Commercial Services spoke about the outstanding recommendations relating to Forensic Medical Examiners. They explained that in addition to the Internal Audit report, there had been a number of other reviews into this section and there had therefore been a large number of recommendations to be followed up. The management of the FME section had recently been strengthened and other action taken.

The Director of Internal Audit said that the information supplied did not appear to specifically cover all the outstanding recommendations.

Resolved - That

1. the progress made in the last quarter of the year in achieving the 2002/03 internal audit plan be noted;
2. the current Internal Audit evaluation of the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control in the MPS be noted; and
3. the position with regard to the outstanding recommendations in the gifts and hospitality and forensic medical examiners reports be noted.

36. Annual audit letter 2001/02 – action plan

(Agenda item 8)

The Panel received a report that set out a proposed action plan in response to the external auditor’s annual letter for 2001/02.

Resolved – That the action plan be noted.

37. External Audit plan 2002/04

(Agenda item 9)

The Panel received the audit plan for 2002/04. The audit year is being amended to match the Authority’s financial year and there will be transitional arrangements for the audit for 2003/04.

Jon Hayes explained that there was liaison with HMIC on the work programme to reduce the overlap of investigations.

Resolved – That the audit plan be noted.

38. Internal Audit plan for April 2003 to March 2004

(Agenda item 10)

The Panel received a report on the proposed plan for the use of internal audit resources from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.

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 appendices 1 and 2 be noted; and
2. the programme of Internal Audit work, set out in appendices 3 to 5 be approved.

39. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 11)

Resolved: - That under section 100 A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved disclosure of exempt information as detailed in paragraphs 7 and 8 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Part 2

Summary of decisions made on exempt item

Minute 40 agenda item 12- External audit appointment – letter from Audit Commission
Agreed a response to be made to the Commission.

The meeting closed at 3.55 p.m.

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