Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Mr John Raine.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair sought any verbal declarations of interest pertaining to items on the agenda.

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted there were none.

Monday 25 June 2018

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE Minutes of 25 June 2018 were approved subject to the deletion of Mr D Davidson and the addition of Mr M Dickson under those who were present at the meeting.

Action Tracker

No matters were raised.

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted that all items on the action tracker were complete.

Mrs Gillian Woolman highlighted the letter of representation which would be signed by Mr David Robertson as Section 95 Officer (IJB’s Interim Chief Financial Officer) and provided an overview of the Annual Audit Report which was now presented in a new format giving more prominence to providing assurance.  She encouraged Members to share the key messages with other members of the IJB and officers.  No material adjustments were required to the IJB’s Annual Report and Statutory Accounts 2017/18 but some of the recommendations for improvement echoed requests made the previous year.  It was noted that the issue of there being no Chief Financial Officer had now been resolved with the appointment of Mr Mike Porteous, who was present at the meeting.

Mr Malcolm Dickson expressed disappointment that 7 recommendations had been carried over from the previous year and hoped that they would be addressed by the new Chief Financial Officer and Chief Officer and resolved before the next report.  Mrs Jill Stacey advised that financial planning was a known issue and had been discussed at the IJB full Board meeting that morning and an action plan put in place.

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE noted the report.

Mrs Suzy Douglas presented the Audited Annual Accounts for 2017/18.  These would be signed off by Mr David Robertson as Section 95 Officer (IJB’s Interim Chief Financial Officer) the following day.  Mrs Douglas advised that it had been a challenging year for both the Council and NHS and was pleased to welcome the new IJB CFO.  The Auditors’ recommendations were fully accepted and these would all be put in place.  Mrs Stacey confirmed that the Auditors Statement had been included in the statutory accounts.

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE approved the accounts for 2017/18.

Mrs Stacey advised that the use of self-assessment against best practice toolkits in the Appendices to the Report allowed improvements in performance to be identified.  The Chairman advised that it had been a steep learning curve but both he and Councillors Greenwell received regular briefings from Mrs Stacey and would both be attending a CIPFA course on effective Audit Committees in October 2018.  Mrs Woolman offered the services of one of her team to take Members through finance from an audit committee perspective.  In response to a question from Mr Dickson, Mrs Stacey provided an update on the process underway for recruitment of an external member of the IJB Audit Committee.

The SCOTTISH BORDERS HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD AUDIT COMMITTEE agreed:-

(a)     to approve the IJB Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18 which incorporated its self-assessments using the CIPFA Audit Committee Guidance; and

(b)     that the IJB Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18 should be presented to the IJB.

There was none.

Monday 17 December 2018 at 10.00am in Committee Room 2, Scottish Borders Council

The Chair confirmed that the next meeting of the Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board Audit Committee would be held on Monday 17 December 2018 at 10.00am in Committee Room 2, Scottish Borders Council.