Minutes

Minutes of the Audit Panel of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 19 June 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)

Also in attendance: Jon Hayes (Audit Manager, Audit Commission) and Paul Grady (Audit Manager, Audit Commission).

Part 1

28. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

No apologies for absence were submitted.

29. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

30. Minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2003

(Agenda item 3)

Members considered the minutes of the Panel meeting held on 27 March 2003.

It was agreed that the third paragraph of minute 22 be amended to reflect the fact the Director of Resources had also participated in the consideration of this part of the report. It was also agreed that in the first line of minute 25 the word “that” should be replaced with “on”.

Resolved – That subject to the above amendments the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 27 March 2003 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

31. Chair’s and Members update

(Agenda item 4)

No reports were given.

32. Audit Panel Annual Report

(Agenda item 5)

A report was submitted which summarised the work of the Audit Panel for the year 2002/3.

Para 12 replace the phrase “MPS managers” with “members of the MPS Management Board”

Para 14. Amend the second sentence so that it reads “Key developments for the Panel will be:”

Resolved – That the report as amended be authorised for submission to the meeting of the Authority on 24 July 2003.

33. Internal Audit Annual Report 2002/03

(Agenda item 6)

The draft annual report on the work of internal audit in 2003/03 was submitted.

An updated version of paragraph 45 and 46 was tabled.

In introducing the report the Director of Internal Audit stressed that there were several areas in the report where information had still to be supplied. He also apologised for the fact that some technical problems, which had been encountered in the production of the report, meant that there were some spelling errors which remained to be corrected. The final version would include colour graphics.

During its consideration of the draft report the Panel requested that the following points be addressed in the final version:

Covering report by the Treasurer

Para 7 - a clear definition should be provided of the distinction between the acceptance and implementation of recommendations in audit reports.

Para 13 - the final sentence in paragraph 13 to be re-drafted.

Draft Annual Report

Para 3 – the merit of including the second quoted example of additional work to be re-examined, and if it is to remain in the report the forum involved to be given its correct title – i.e. community and police consultative group.

Para 5 – to be made clearer how much of the £3.8M is made up of the saving of £3.6 M. referred to in paragraph 4. (see also comment under paragraph 24)

Para 6 – to include a reference to the ethnic composition of the department.

Paras 10 and 14 - the Panel felt that there needed to be more information on what was implied by the 57% assurance rate and their should be a fuller description of the scoring system.

Para 11 – to include a reference to the outcome of the matter.

Para 17 – Firearms Registration – wording of the final sentence to be expanded to make the reference to expert medical support clearer.

Para 24 - wording to be amended to remove the duplication with that in paragraph 5. Panel felt it might be useful to quote a couple of specific examples of cases which had arisen as a result of “Right Line” calls

Para 40 – figure for the previous year to be included.

Para 42 – consideration to be given to an explanation of where the underspend has been allocated.

Para 46 - to include a comment on whether the figures for 2002 shown in table 3 include recommendations relating to the previous year.

Para 47 - text to be amended to reflect fact that the accompanying graphic shows a three (not four) percent reduction.

Paras 59 and 60 – to be transposed

Annex 1 report of Internal Audit activities 2002/03

Several corrections to be made to spelling e.g. in the final sentence of the section on the Firearms Registration report and in the heading of the section on the warehouse report

The Panel requested that the management comments shown in the annexes should not include the name of the post holder. It was also felt that a management response should be included in the case of the more important outstanding recommendations in the follow-up audits.

Civil staff overtime

Wording of senior line management comment to be examined for ambiguity.

Resolved – That following approval by the Chair and other members of the Audit Panel the final version of the report be submitted to all MPA members prior to the 24 July meeting of the Authority.

34. Internal Audit 2003/04 – progress report

(Agenda item 7)

Members considered a report that outlined the progress made in the first quarter of the year in achieving the 2003/2004 Internal Audit Plan.

Resolved – That the progress made in the first quarter of the year in achieving the 2003/04 internal audit plan be noted.

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

Note: the discussion on item 35 was held whilst the press and public were able to be present. The report itself remains exempt.

36. Exempt minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2003

(Agenda item 12)

Resolved- That the exempt minute of the meeting held on 27 March 2003 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

The meeting closed at 11.10 a.m.

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