Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sucha Baines, Keith Chambers, Steve Clark and John Fisher.

No declarations of interest were made in relation to matters under consideration at the meeting.

Noted.

Agreed.

(a)  Health & Safety Reporting

(b)  Whistleblowing

(c)  Wolverhampton Interchange Overspend – Lessons Learned

(1)  The Governance Services Officer agreed to produce an action plan to enable members to track and monitor outstanding items of business.

(2)  The Chair asked that officers ensured in future that the action points from previous meetings were responded to in the agenda or under matters arising.

(3)  The Head of Governance agreed to present a governance map to enable members to identify the relationship and liaison with other Authority committees to the next meeting.

(4)  The Head of Governance agreed to circulate an organisational chart and brief summary for each Leadership Team post holder to members of the committee for information.

(5)  The Interim Head of Organisational Development was to present a written report on the capability and vacancy risks in respect of aspiration versus capability at the next meeting of the committee.  The Chair had agreed to delay this by one meeting because of an unexpected leave of absence.

(6)  The committee was to receive an update from the Head of Governance about how the West Midlands Fire Authority engaged with fire authorities in Non-Constituent areas.

(7)  A lessons learned report on the Wolverhampton Interchange Project would be considered by the WMCA Investment Board in the first instance, and then shared with the WMCA Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee.

Noted.

The report was noted.

(1)  The report was noted.

(2)  The Finance Director agreed to circulate a funding statement in respect of assets and liabilities to members of the committee for their information.

(1) The contents of the latest Internal Audit report was noted.

(2)A detailed report of the audits was to be presented to the next meeting together with a proposed audit plan for 2018/19.  There was an expectation that the proposed audit plan for the following year would be presented at future January meetings.

(3)The Chair was expected to be briefed and consulted on the Internal Audit priorities before these were presented to ARAC and agreed within the CA.

The contents of the Strategic Risk Register was noted.  Officers were asked to now propose changes to the ARAC forward plan based on this Strategic Risk Register.

The checklist that was to be used to seek confidence in assurance arrangements for arm's length companies related to the West Midlands Combined Authority was agreed at the meeting, subject to regular review, it being used in the setting up of the arm’s length body and annual, signed submission with the AGS from the arm’s length body.

The verbal report was noted.

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it involves information relating to an action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.

Approved.

(1)  The Cyber Security Specialist agreed to provide a written update on the recent penetration testing exercise undertaken on WMCA systems.

(2)  The Head of ICT agreed to provide an update in respect of the completion dates identified within the report which seemed too long in to the future to be giving confidence that the risk was a priority.

(3)  Cyber security would continue to be a priority area of ARAC interest and an update paper in May would be expected.

The date and time of the next meeting was noted.