Venue: Gartree Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. P. Hitchings (Tel. 0116 305 6038) Email: peter.hitchings@leics.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2012, having
previously been circulated, were agreed as a correct record and signed. |
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Urgent Items. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of interest. Minutes: The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any
interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting. No declarations were made. |
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Change to the Order of Business. Minutes: The Chairman sought and obtained the consent of the Subcommittee
to vary the order of business from that set out in the agenda. |
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Exclusion of the Public. Minutes: RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(iv) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting on the grounds that it will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information during consideration of the following item of business entitled: ‘Forecast Outturn 2012/13 and Draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2013/14 - 2016/17’ (Paper 'E') as defined in paragraphs 3 and 10 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and, in all circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. |
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Forecast Outturn 2012/13 and Draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2013/14 - 2016/17. (Joint
report of the Consortium Treasurer and Director) (Exempt
under paragraphs 3 and 10 of Schedule 12(A)) Minutes: The Subcommittee received an exempt joint report of
the Consortium Treasurer and Director which presented the Forecast Outturn 2012/13 and
Draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2013/14 - 2016/17. A copy of the exempt report, marked ‘E’, is filed
with these minutes. The exempt report was not for publication by virtue of
paragraphs, 3 and 10 of Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. Arising from discussion the following points were
noted: (i)
The Subcommittee indicated its satisfaction at the
level of information provided in the report and in particular the detailed
scenario analysis which had been prepared; (ii)
The Subcommittee was pleased to note the projected
performance summarised within
the forecast outturn 2012/13; (iii)
Building knowledge and awareness of the market
was a key part of the role of ESPO’s Director.
He had made recent visits to each of the Consortium Authorities with the
exception of Leicester City Council and Lincolnshire County Council, but would
be visiting these Consortium Authorities shortly; (iv)
Competition would be a key challenge for ESPO
over the coming years and there was a need for the Organisation to develop its
approach in this regard; (v)
In the future ESPO would need to develop its
marketing practices, and would undertake reviews of its category management to
ensure that customer requirements continued to be met; (vi)
It was intended for provision to be made for
ESPO to react more quickly to customer requests, e.g. utilizing e-communications. This was to support ESPO’s growing number of
customers; (vii)
The Indigo warehouse project had been put on
hold because further training on the new system for staff was required. Adjustments to the software to improve its
accessibility by users were also being discussed with the developer. Re-implementation of the Indigo system was
expected prior to the end of the current financial year, at an appropriate time
at which demand for ESPO services was at a lull; (viii)
The Servicing Authority’s Internal Audit
Service, as part of its remit, would review ESPO’s existing warehouse
processes; (ix)
In respect of consulting services offered by
ESPO a more robust time capture cost recovery system needed to be
developed. It was suggested that it was
important for client contracts to clearly state all charging arrangements. RESOLVED: (a) That the forecast outturn for 2012/13, and draft four year medium term financial strategy2013/14-2016/17, be noted; (b) That the Management Committee be recommended to note the forecast outturn and approve the draft MTFS 2013/14-2016/17, on 7 March 2013. |
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External Audit Plan 2012/13 - Mitigation of Risk of Fraud. PDF 59 KB (Report
of the Consortium Treasurer) Additional documents: Minutes: The Subcommittee received a report of the Consortium Treasurer
in respect of the External Audit Plan 2012/13 and the mitigation of risk of
fraud. A copy of the report marked ‘B’
is filed with these minutes. Arising from discussion the following points were made: (i)
ESPO worked within the fraud risk mitigation procedures
of the Servicing Authority; (ii)
It was suggested that whistleblowing occurrences
ought to be brought to members’ attention at the earliest opportunity. The Subcommittee was advised that, should
whistleblowing cases arise, their outcome would be reported to the Subcommittee
within the Consortium Treasurer’s regular reports on the progress of the
Internal Audit Service. RESOLVED: (a)
That the contents of the report be noted; (b)
That officers be
requested to report further on ESPO’s framework for the mitigation of fraud
risk to the next meeting of the Subcommittee. |
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Effectiveness of the System of Internal Audit. PDF 63 KB (Report
of the Consortium Treasurer) Additional documents: Minutes: The Subcommittee received a report of the Consortium
Treasurer the purpose of which was to provide an assessment of the system of
internal audit for ESPO. A copy of the
report marked ‘C’ is filed with these minutes. RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
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Progress against the Internal Audit Annual Plan. PDF 64 KB (Report
of the Consortium Treasurer) Additional documents:
Minutes: The Subcommittee received a report of the Consortium
Treasurer giving a summary of progress against the Audit Plan 2012-13. A copy of the report marked ‘D’ is filed with
these minutes. Arising from discussion the following points were made:
(i)
The Subcommittee was pleased to note the
progress by ESPO to improve the monitoring
of rebates and verification of suppliers; (ii)
Market intelligence was considered to be of high
importance to ESPO; (iii)
The cost of the Internal Audit Service was
incorporated within the cost
charged to ESPO by the Administering Authority. RESOLVED: That the report be noted. |
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Project Controls. (Presentation
of the Director) Minutes: The Subcommittee received a presentation of the Director providing a summary of ESPO’s approach to
controlling projects. A copy of
the presentation is filed with these minutes. Arising from discussion the following points were noted: (i)
There was a need for ESPO’s performance
management processes to become more robust and transparent. ESPO was developing this through a pipeline management process to
ensure that this was addressed; (ii)
The Subcommittee was assured that projects would
continue to be reviewed and that where they did not represent value for money
or address members’ broader procurement challenges, that they would be
discontinued. RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted. |