To elect a Chairman of the Committee.

RESOLVED:            That Councillor R.J. Phillips be elected Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing Council year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors G.V. Hyde and T.M. James.

To receive details any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes made.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on this agenda

There were no declarations of interest made.

To approve the Council's Accounts for 2004/05 as presented in the Statement of Accounts.

The County Treasurer presented the Council's Statement of Accounts for 2004/05 for examination, consideration and approval.  He explained that it was a statutory requirement that the Statement of Accounts be formally approved by 31st July, 2005.

He drew the Committee's attention to a number of changes in the Statement of Accounts compared to last year, and stated that the Statement was taking an increasing amount of time and effort to produce each year to comply with the tighter timescale and high standard required. 

He highlighted a number of points including the significant variations in the debtor and creditor accounts, with the level of the Council's long and short term debtors falling and the level of creditors rising over the previous year.  He explained that the Council's fixed assets, such as road and bridges, showed an increase on last year's figures, but this figure was based on a technical valuation and did not necessarily reflect the open market value.  The increase in reserves was highlighted, which, in part, was due to the delay in the Waste PFI contract and the increase in school balances in hand, including devolved budgets which can only be spent on capital projects. 

In response to a linked question about budgets for the new Children's Service the Chief Executive advised that, a significant proportion of the budget continued to be ring-fenced to Education.  The Treasurer confirmed that each school would be expected to keep a prudent reserve relative to the size of its budget.  The Assistant County Treasurer (Accountancy and Exchequer Services) confirmed that Primary Schools held a greater proportion of the reserves due to the large number of small schools in the County some of which held significant proportions of their budgets as reserves.  Only one high school was in deficit. 

The County Treasurer advised that a new provision of £108,000 was being set up to provide for a likely repayment of European Social Fund grant to the Learning and Skills Council in respect of project work with disaffected secondary school pupils.

He advised that the Statement of Internal Control would be considered by Cabinet for formal approval at its meeting on 14th July, 2005.  As part of this process, Heads of Service would be required to sign a Statement of Assurance.  The Head of Internal Audit explained the role and nature of the Statement of Internal Control.

He advised the Committee that, although fraud was not a particular issue for the Council complacency must be avoided. Therefore Group Leaders had been asked to ensure that Members were aware of the criteria and reminded of their role in identifying and reporting any incidents of suspected fraud.  Staff would be advised of their responsibility on a regular basis.

The Committee noted that the Statement of Accounts would be advertised in the local press as well as being displayed at Info Centres and libraries and on the intranet and internet.  A summary of the findings would appear in Herefordshire Matters.  All notices would contain contact details for those  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.