Audit and Risk Committee

Open Agenda

 

Meeting Date:

Thursday 19 July 2018

Time:

1.00pm

Venue:

Council Chamber
Hawke's Bay Regional Council
159 Dalton Street
Napier

 

 

Committee Members

John Palairet (In the Chair), Mayor Bill Dalton, Geoff Foster, Councillor Claire Hague and Councillor Kirsten Wise

Officer Responsible

Director Corporate Services

Administration

Governance Team

 

Next Audit and Risk Committee Meeting

Thursday 13 September 2018

 

 


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Apologies

Nil

Conflicts of interest

Public forum

Nil

Announcements by the Mayor

Announcements by the Chairperson

Announcements by the management

Confirmation of minutes

That the Minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee meeting held on Thursday, 15 March 2018 be taken as a true and accurate record of the meeting...................................................................................... 34

Agenda items

1      Review of Charter........................................................................................................... 3

2      External Audit - Audit NZ Management Report Consultation document 2018-28 ............ 9

3      External Audit - Audit NZ Interim Management Report ................................................. 21

4      External Audit - Audit NZ Management Report Long Term Plan 2018-28...................... 22

5      Risk Management - Risk Management Report ............................................................. 24

6      Risk Management - Insurance Update.......................................................................... 29  

Public excluded ............................................................................................................. 32


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 1

Agenda Items

 

1.    Review of Charter

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

522046

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Adele Henderson, Director Corporate Services

 

1.1   Purpose of Report

As set out in the Audit and Risk Committee Charter, the Committee will review this Charter in consultation with the Council at least once a year. Any substantive changes to the Charter will be recommended by the Committee, and formally approved by the Council. The last review of the Charter was undertaken December 2016

 

Officer’s Recommendation

The Audit and Risk Committee:

a.     Review the Audit and Risk Committee Charter

b.     Provide any recommended changes for Council approval

 

 

 

Chairperson’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

 

1.2   Attachments

a     Audit and Risk Committee Charter   


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Attachments

 

Item 1

Attachments a

 


 


 


 


 


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 2

2.    External Audit - Audit NZ Management Report Consultation document 2018-28

Type of Report:

Legal and Operational

Legal Reference:

Local Government Act 2002

Document ID:

519643

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Adele Henderson, Director Corporate Services

 

2.1   Purpose of Report

To receive the Audit New Zealand management report for the Consultation Document for the Long Term Plan 2018-28

 

Officer’s Recommendation

The Audit and Risk Committee:

a.     Receive the Audit New Zealand management report for the Consultation Document for the Long Term Plan 2018-28.

 

 

Chairperson’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

2.2   Background Summary

The Long Term Plan is audited in a two stage process, including the Consultation Document and the Long Term Plan.  The consultation document must contain a report from the Auditor-General under Section 93C 4 (a) and (b).

The Auditor-General has provided the attached management report in addition to Section 93C and is part of their normal audit process.

2.3   Issues

No significant issues identified in the report

 

2.4   Attachments

a     Consultation Document Audit Managment Report   


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Attachments

 

Item 2

Attachments a

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 3

3.    External Audit - Audit NZ Interim Management Report

Type of Report:

Legal and Operational

Legal Reference:

Local Government Act 2002

Document ID:

453613

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

3.1   Purpose of Report

To advise the committee that Audit NZ did not find any new issues while carrying out the interim audit for 2017/18 and therefore no management report has been issued.

 

Officer’s Recommendation

That the Committee:

 

a.     Note that Audit New Zealand did not find any new issues from the interim audit for 2017/18 and therefore no management report has been issued.

 

 

Committee’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

 

3.2   Attachments

Nil


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 4

4.    External Audit - Audit NZ Management Report Long Term Plan 2018-28

Type of Report:

Legal and Operational

Legal Reference:

Local Government Act 2002

Document ID:

525799

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

4.1   Purpose of Report

To receive the Audit New Zealand management report for the Long Term Plan 2018-28.

 

 

Officer’s Recommendation

The Audit and Risk Committee:

a.     Receive the Audit New Zealand management report for the Long Term Plan 2018-28.

b.     Receive the recommendations and approve the management comments.

 

 

Chairperson’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

4.2   Background Summary

The Long Term Plan is audited in a two stage process. This involves an audit of the Consultation Document and the Long Term Plan proper. Under Section 94 of the Local Government Act 2002 the Long Term Plan document must contain a report from the Auditor-General on whether the plan gives effect to the purpose set out in section 93(6) and also the quality of the information and assumptions underlying the forecast information provided in the plan.

Audit NZ completed the audit of the LTP for 2018-28 and issued an unmodified opinion on 29 June 2018. The Audit NZ management report for the Long Term Plan 2018-28 will be tabled at the meeting.

4.3   Issues

The tight turnaround between Council deliberations together with the implementation of a new LTP budget module resulted in some delays in providing information to audit. With the LTP module now fully bedded in officers are confident the quality assurance process over documents submitted to audit will be improved in the future.

Audit NZ have recommended a legal review of the rate setting process. This is endorsed by management and a review is planned for July/August 2018.

Management agree with audit’s recommendation to assess the robustness of the sources for the satisfaction ratings with a view to having a system in place to enable reporting against satisfaction targets for the 2018/19 Annual Report.

It was also noted by audit that the Public Toilets AMP needed to be updated to reflect the change in budgets. Officers will address this as soon as possible.

The misstatement schedule in appendix 1 of the management report contains an error relating to the double counting of the income from targeted rates. The income from targeted rates for water metered supply is not double counted and is included in ‘other revenue’ and not rates revenue. This will be corrected for the Annual Report and all budgets going forward.

Audit NZ are satisfied that the Council’s LTP meets the statutory purpose and found the underlying information and assumptions used to prepare the LTP provided a reasonable and supportable basis for the preparation of the LTP.

4.4   Significance and Engagement

N/A

4.5   Implications

Financial

N/A

Social & Policy

N/A

Risk

N/A

 

4.6   Attachments

a     Audit NZ Management Report Long Term Plan 2018-28 (to be tabled) (Under Separate Cover)   


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 5

5.    Risk Management - Risk Management Report

Type of Report:

Information

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

453619

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Rachael Horton, Manager Business Excellence & Transformation

 

5.1   Purpose of Report

To provide the Audit and Risk Committee (Committee) with an update on progress with risk management work and to report on the highest rated risks.

 

Officer’s Recommendation

The Audit and Risk Committee:

a.     Note the risk management work being undertaken by the NCC Risk Committee.

b.     Receive the report titled: Highest rated risks report 9 July 2018.

 

 

Committee’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

5.2   Background Summary

Napier City Council (NCC) has a programme of work to develop and mature its enterprise risk capability. A risk maturity roadmap has been developed to guide this work.

The Committee supports this work by acting in a monitoring and advisory role. This report provides an update to the Committee on progress against the roadmap and reports the highest rated risks to ensure they are being actively managed.

5.3   Progress update

Since our last report to the Committee progress has been made in the following areas:

·     Further development of the Sycle Projects module

·     Commencement of a Business Continuity Management programme of work

·     Review of the risk register

 

Sycle Projects Module

NCC’s risk register is maintained within the Risk module of Sycle.  There are three categories of risk that make up the risk register: strategic risks, operational risks, and project risks.  Currently the register holds strategic and operational risks.  Project risks come from the Projects module in Sycle which is yet to be fully implemented. 

Once implemented, all small and large projects undertaken by NCC will be maintained in the Projects module and the risks for each project will be entered against the project.  These risks roll up into the Risk module to make up the project risk component of the risk register.

Full implementation of the Projects module is expected to be achieved by the end of September.  Some small projects and their associated risks are starting to be entered now.  There are four small projects with 13 associated projects risks on the risk register.

 

Business Continuity Management

We have commenced Business Continuity Management work.  The aim of BCM is to achieve a framework for resilience and response capability in order to safeguard people and operations as well as to uphold confidence in NCC. Drafting of a BCM policy and procedure is underway as the first part of the framework.

The BCM framework responds to the strategic risk SR5 – ‘Event causing disruption or destruction of critical business functions and/or production and delivery of council services’.

 

Review of the Risk Register

As set out in the risk roadmap, regular review of risk, risk controls and risk treatments are critical to effective risk management.  Sycle allows us to set review dates for each of these risk components. 

All overdue reviews have been reported to the Senior Leadership Team and risk owners are undertaking overdue reviews.  The overdue report will be provided to the Senior Leadership Team on a quarterly basis to ensure risks are being actively managed.

Once this practice is established it will move NCC along the risk maturity scale in the roadmap.

 

5.4   Highest rated risks

There are currently 194 strategic, operational and project risks in the risk register.

There are five risks to report to the Committee as the highest rated risks; two are operational risks rated Extreme (OR67 and OR76) and three are strategic risks rated High (SR2, SR3 and SR5).

These risks are reported in the attached spreadsheet (Attachment A).

All five risks have treatment actions to further manage the causes or consequences of each risk.

Extreme Risks

The Extreme risks in the operational risk register are:

·     OR67 Pandora Pond – customer drowning

This risk was previously reported to you on 15 March and has not changed.  The facility is currently closed for the winter season.

·     OR76 Bluff Hill – fall from cliff top

This is a new risk identified during a business unit review of risks.  Work is underway to assess the suitability of the fence around the cliff top.

 

 

High Risks

The three high risks in the strategic register are:

·     SR2 Removal of three waters delivery and management

·     SR3 Increased number and/or severity of major/natural disaster events

These risks were previously reported to you on 15 March and have not changed.  The risks are outside the control of NCC.  The risks treatments listed against these risks are ongoing.

·     SR5 Event causing disruption or destruction of critical business functions and/or production and delivery of council services.

This is a new risk arising from development of a Business Continuity Framework for NCC.  The BCM framework, once developed, will form the controls and treatment actions for this risk.

5.4   Significance and Consultation

There are no external consultation requirements for this report.

 

5.5   Attachments

a     Highest rated risks report 9 July 2018   


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Attachments

 

Item 5

Attachments a

 



Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda                                                                                                                                         Item 6

6.    Risk Management - Insurance Update

Type of Report:

Information

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

525768

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Bryan Faulknor, Manager Property  

 

6.1   Purpose of Report

To advise the committee of the insurance arrangements for the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

 

Officer’s Recommendation

The Audit and Risk Committee:

a.     Resolve that the report on the 2018/19 insurance arrangements be received.

 

 

Chairperson’s Recommendation

That the Committee resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

6.2   Background Summary

At the Audit and Risk Committee meeting of 15 March 2018 a presentation was made by Jardine Lloyd Thomson Limited (JLT) outlining the Napier City Council’s insurance programme for 2017/18.

 

Napier City Council is part of the Hawke’s Bay Councils Collective Insurance Group. A number of policies have shared limits. Major policies outside of the Collective are Public Liability and Professional Indemnity, and Underground Infrastructure.

Officers need to place insurance arrangements by 1 July each year. Terms have now been arranged in conjunction with advice from Council’s Insurance advisors JLT and discussions within the collective group of Council’s.

 

No major changes have been made to the cover existing for 2017/18. The indemnity period for additional expenses under the Business Interruption policy has however been extended from 24 months to 36 months.

 

Summary of confirmed Insurance 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019:

Material Damage

Covering Buildings, Contents, Plant & Machinery and other property as listed in the Insurance Property Schedule.

Sum Insured $385.9m.

Excess – Perils $10,000 per claim. Earthquake 2.5% site sum insured and where pre 1936 or earthquake prone 10% of site sum insured.

 

 

 

 

Material Damage – Residential

Covering Residential Dwellings and Community Housing as listed $63.1m. Excess as above.

 

Business Interruption

Policy linked to Material Damage.

Loss of Revenue- $12.9m covering - Halls, Pools, Aquarium, Par2, Conference Centre, Municipal Theatre, I-site, Kennedy Park, MTG.

Additional expenses- $20m (shared limit with other Councils).

Indemnity period – Additional expenses 36 months, Loss of revenue 24 months.

 

Motor Vehicle & Third Party

All vehicles, other mobile plant and equipment. Excess $1,000 per claim.

 

Crime Insurance

Insures loss of money and property resulting from fraud or dishonesty of Employees. Limit of Indemnity $1m, Excess $25,000.

 

Employers Liability

Indemnity in respect of claims made by employees against employer for personal injury falling outside any Workers Compensation legislation. Limit of indemnity $1m.

 

Statutory Liability Insurance

Indemnity for Defence costs and fines as a result of an alleged breach of any Act of parliament other than “Excluded Acts’. Limit of Indemnity $4m (shared). Excess $10,000.

 

Overseas Travel

Covering employees and elected members for overseas travel

 

Marine Hull

National Aquarium of NZ Boat

 

Hall Hirers Insurance

Public Liability Insurance for uninsured users of Council facilities.

 

Fine Arts Collection Insurance

HB Museums Trust Collection $38.8m. Excess $2,500.

 

Trustee Liability

HB Museums Trust, $5m any one claim and in the aggregate during policy period. Excess $5,000.

 

Public Liability and Professional Indemnity

$300m any one claim and in the aggregate during the policy period. (Excludes claims against Council in relation to weather tightness issues). Excess $10,000 PI and $5,000 PL

 

Underground Infrastructure

For 2018/19 Council has taken out cover as per the 2016/17 year. The Probable Maximum Loss (PML) is $120m based on a total replacement value of underground infrastructure of $587.8m. Actual insurance cover is based on the assumption that Central Government assistance will be available in a major disaster and will provide for 60% of the eligible costs. Council therefore has insurance cover for $40% of $120m with a $10m excess

 

6.3   Issues

There are no issues.

6.4   Significance and Engagement

N/A

6.5   Implications

Financial

Insurance premiums are anticipated to be within budget.

Social & Policy

N/A

Risk

Insurance is an important aspect of managing Council’s risk.

6.6   Options

The options available to Council are as follows:

a.     To receive the report

b.     To receive the report and suggest changes to the insurance renewal programme.

6.7   Development of Preferred Option

N/A

 

6.8   Attachments

Nil      


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda

PUBLIC EXCLUDED ITEMS

 

That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting, namely:

AGENDA ITEMS

1.         Risk Management - Health and Safety Reports to 30 June 2018

2.         Internal Audit - Cash Handling Review

3.         Composition and Tenure

 

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public was excluded, the reasons for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under Section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution were as follows:

General subject of each matter to be considered.

 

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter.

 

Ground(s) under section 48(1) to the passing of this resolution.

 

1.  Risk Management - Health and Safety Reports to 30 June 2018

7(2)(c)(i) Protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any person has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information or information from the same source and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied

48(1)A That the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist:
(i) Where the local authority is named or specified in Schedule 1 of this Act, under Section 6 or 7  (except 7(2)(f)(i)) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

2.  Internal Audit - Cash Handling Review

6(a) Prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences and the right to a fair trial

48(1)A That the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist:
(i) Where the local authority is named or specified in Schedule 1 of this Act, under Section 6 or 7  (except 7(2)(f)(i)) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

3.  Composition and Tenure

7(2)(a) Protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of a deceased person

48(1)A That the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist:
(i) Where the local authority is named or specified in Schedule 1 of this Act, under Section 6 or 7  (except 7(2)(f)(i)) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

 

 


Audit and Risk Committee - 19 July 2018 - Open Agenda

 

 

Audit and Risk Committee

Open Minutes

 

Meeting Date:

Thursday 15 March 2018

Time:

1.00pm

Venue

Council Chamber
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
159 Dalton Street
Napier

 

 

Present

John Palairet (In the Chair), Mayor Bill Dalton, Geoff Foster, Councillor Claire Hague, and Councillor Kirsten Wise

In Attendance

Chief Executive, Director Corporate Services, Chief Financial Officer [from 1.35pm], Manager Business Excellence and Transformation, Manager People and Capability, Manager Property [to 1.31pm]

 

Mr Matthew Meacham – Account Manager, JLT Insurance [to 1.31pm]

Administration

Governance Team

 


 

 

Apologies

Nil

Conflicts of interest

Nil

Public forum

Nil

Announcements by the Mayor

Birthday wishes were noted for the Chief Executive

Announcements by the Chairperson

Item 9 on the agenda has been withdrawn; the remaining agenda will proceed as advised.

Announcements by the management

Nil

Confirmation of minutes

Councillors Wise / Hague

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2017 were taken as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

 

Carried

 

Notification and justification of matters of extraordinary business

(Strictly for information and/or referral purposes only).


 

 

Agenda Items

1.    Insurance Arrangements

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

433370

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

1.1   Purpose of Report

To receive an update from JLT our insurance brokers on the key issues to the Local Government Sector and to consider insurance requirements for Napier City Council for the upcoming financial year 2018/19

 

At the Meeting

Mr Matthew Meacham of JLT insurance provided an overview of the current insurances held by Council; the presentation can be found at Appendix One.

The following clarifications were provided in response to questions:

·         The location of Council’s IT storage is an important part of the business continuity planning underway; should Council elect to transition to the Cloud, it was advised that a particular insurance extension would be required in recognition of the third party supplier. In general the Cloud is considered to have good protections from an insurance perspective.

·         The last maximum probable loss review was undertaken three years ago and JLT recommend that this be updated. Although there are some costs associated with this process the Committee considered that this would be a valuable investment. It was noted that work is already underway to update the asset information held by Council which will form a good foundation to any review.

·         The excess in case of natural disaster was discussed briefly, with the implications for earthquake prone buildings. At this point there have not been any specific implications for the lower east coast of the North Island from the Kaikoura quakes, although it lies on the same fault line. It is believed that it would take a major event involving Wellington to impact on insurance capital.

·         It was noted that central government continues to review the current 60:40 split between central and local government for natural disaster insurances.

·         Three locations have currently been identified and assessed for suitability for storage of the Hawke’s Bay museum collection ; should other sites be identified, an assessment (i.e. including earthquake prone status, fire safety and so on) would need to be provided to JLT so that an insurance quote could be prepared.

·         Environmental Impairment insurance recognises that it is generally the owner of a site that is expected to address contamination that may have occurred; this insurance tends to cover gradual contamination issues as an acute event would more likely be covered by public liability or professional indemnity policies. The airport company elected to change the fire retardant foam used on site when it was identified that there may adverse environmental impacts from the previous option; it is not believed that there are other specific risk areas linked to this policy currently. 

Mr Meacham left the meeting as this item concluded, at 1.31pm.

Committee’s Recommendation

Councillors Wise / Hague

a.     That the presentation by JLT be received.

b.     That the Committee make recommendations on changes (if any) regarding the appropriateness of the proposed cover for 2018/19.

 

Carried

 

2.    Reappointment of Chair and Independent Member

Type of Report:

Information

Legal Reference:

Enter Legal Reference

Document ID:

434449

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Adele Henderson, Director Corporate Services

 

2.1   Purpose of Report

To advise the reappointment of John Palairet, Chair and Geoff Foster, Independent Member to the Audit and Risk Committee from January 2018 until February 2019.

 

At the Meeting

There was no discussion on this item.

committee’s recommendation

Mayor Dalton / Councillor Wise

a.     The reappointment of John Palairet, Chair and Geoff Foster, Independent Member to the Audit and Risk Committee be received.

 

Carried

 


 

3.    Draft Long Term Plan 2018-28 Underlying Documents

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

Local Government Act 2002

Document ID:

433361

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

3.1   Purpose of Report

That the Committee review and provide feedback to Council on the Long Term Plan 2018-28 underlying documents prior to the final adoption of the reports.

 

At the Meeting

It was noted that while a large amount of reading has been provided to the Committee and to elected members as underlying documentation to the draft Long Term Plan, that this is a good indication of the high level of professionalism of staff, who were commended on the work that has been undertaken to date.

Comments were made in discussion on the various supporting documents as follows:

Significance and Engagement  Policy

·         An updated policy was adopted by Council in December 2017; it contains a much clearer outline of consultation considerations and processes that will be undertaken in a variety of engagement scenarios.

 

Significant Planning assumptions

·         Napier is currently experiencing medium to high level of growth and considering the appropriate levels of infrastructure to service the population has been an important part of the Long Term Planning process.

·         The document notes the risk that construction costs will be higher than the current forecast inflation adjustment of 2.2%.

o    The Committee recommended that this risk be made extremely clear, and also be included in the Financial Strategy and the Infrastructure Strategy.

o    The Committee suggested that it maybe useful to move to using the Construction Index, especially given the size of the Capital Plan (currently the Local Government Cost Index is used), but agreed to hold the current assumption and note the risk.

o    It was noted that there may be a need to adjust the scope of projects to meet the funding available.

 

Capital Plan

·         The Committee noted the size of the Capital Plan and previous challenges that Council has experienced in being able to resource the work.

·         It was also discussed that there may be some delivery risk with the volume of projects for the region over the next 10 years.

·         It was noted that a review of internal delivery capacity has been undertaken and approval given to expand resourcing particularly in the areas of project management, design and drafting, and design QA.

·         It was also noted that for the three major capital projects, external project management and specialist management accounting expertise may be drawn on as required. There may also be existing experience in the construction market in the types of work proposed, which could be leveraged to bring any risk levels down. These projects represent a significant investment in the community and their skilful management is considered of paramount importance.

·         The Committee commended officers for the thinking captured in the “confidence levels table”; it was noted that Audit NZ are also supportive of the approach.

·         It was noted that it will be important to manage and maintain the wellbeing and capacity of existing staff throughout the programme, and that any risks or impacts on the cultural shift underway in the organisation from higher numbers of external contractors should be carefully monitored.

·         The Committee confirmed that they were happy with the risk management actions underway but would continue active monitoring in this space.

 

Community Outcomes

·         The process of aligning the outcomes with Sycle (internal system software) is now underway.

 

Contribution to decision-making processes by Māori

·         Council’s desire to include and work with Māori in decision making has been clearly outlined.

 

Council controlled organisations

·         The Committee supported the decision to ‘shelve’ HB Lass in favour of a more contemporary collaborative model with lower overheads.

 

Draft Infrastructure Strategy

·         Work is already underway to build a better understanding of our assets’ condition and performance, and this will continue so that a good foundation of data is held to inform decisions.

·         The strategy indicates levels of priority for the short, medium and long term to ensure the right things are done at the right times for the right reasons.

·         Improved modelling is underway for the three waters and roading.

·         The Committee noted that it should be clearer that the work to be undertaken was necessary to maintain and improve current levels of service; that it was important that the public are aware that the infrastructure spend is required.

·         The Committee recognised with appreciation the large amount of asset monitoring and planning that has been undertaken by officers across Council.

 

Draft Financial Strategy

·         It was noted that while having external debt is a key difference in this Plan to any previous, it is to allow for important investment in infrastructure and the peak forecast debt remains well within levels considered prudent.

·         It was also noted that the balance sheet offers scope to address natural hazards vulnerability if required.

·         The Committee were very comfortable that taking on external debt was for good reason and the levels within a prudent range.

 

 

 

Financial documents

·         Improvements to the financial reporting system now provides for long term integrated reporting.

·         Rates demonstrate a relatively flat profile over the ten year period.

·         It is anticipated that external debt will peak in years 3 and 4 of the Plan, and repayment will be completed in year 8.

 

Committee’s Recommendation

Councillors Wise / Hague

That the Committee

a.     Receive the Long Term Plan 2018-28 underlying documents

·      Significance and Engagement  Policy

·      Significant Planning assumptions

·      Capital Plan

·      Community Outcomes

·      Contribution to decision-making processes by Māori

·      Council controlled organisations

·      Draft Infrastructure Strategy

·      Draft Financial Strategy

·      Statement of Accounting Policies

·      Prospective Financial Statements

·      Draft Funding Impact Statement

·      Financial Prudence benchmarks

·      Council Funding Policies

 

b.     Document feedback from the review of these documents to be provided to the next available Council meeting.

 

Carried

 

4.    Risk Management Report March 2018

Type of Report:

Information

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

433364

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Rachael Horton, Manager Business Excellence & Transformation

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

Adele Henderson, Director Corporate Services

 

4.1   Purpose of Report

To provide the Audit and Risk Committee (Committee) with an update on progress with risk management work and to report on the highest rated risks.

 

At the Meeting

The Manager Business Excellence and Transformation spoke to the report, noting the following:

·         An active Risk Committee and network of risk ‘champions’ is now in place.

·         It is anticipated that a ‘Sycle lead’ role will be recruited in the next few weeks; the role will be responsible for building engagement with an use of the Sycle internal system software over a 24 month contract.

·         One extreme risk has currently been identified, being Pandora Pond. The pond is now closed (as normally programmed for the year) and treatments are being applied with a view to re-opening as usual for the next season. It was noted that this is a good demonstration of active risk monitoring and management at play.

·         Following the Committee’s request at its last meeting for a way to track Council’s progress with risk management, a risk maturity roadmap has now been developed, assessing the organisations maturity level (using a four year scale) in seven key areas. Work will be undertaken to review Council’s current status in each area, and what actions would need to be undertaken to the next maturity level. The assessment criteria will be updated regularly to ensure they continue to meet risk management best practice.

The Committee were extremely positive about the risk maturity roadmap, noting that it was a ‘very elegant’ piece of work which allows for active monitoring of where Council is at in its risk management journey, and contributes to the continuing formalising and increased visibility of active risk management in the organisation’s culture.

 

committee’s recommendation

Mr Foster / Councillor Wise

That the Committee

a.     Note the risk management work being undertaken by the NCC Risk Committee

b.     Receive the reports titled: NCC Risk Maturity Roadmap and Highest rated risks report 2 March 2018.

 

Carried

 

 

5.    Health and Safety Report ending 28 February 2018

Type of Report:

Information

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

441796

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Sue Matkin, Manager People & Capability

 

5.1     Purpose of Report

To provide the Napier City Council Health & Safety report as at 28 February 2018 for the Committee’s review.

 

 

 

At the Meeting

The Committee noted the improvements in Health and Safety reporting and performance over the last year.

In response to a question from the Committee it was clarified that many of the near miss reports tend to come from Bayskate, as would be expected from such a physical arena.

 

committee’s recommendation

Councillors Wise / Hague

That the Committee:

a.     Receive the Napier City Council Health and Safety report as at 28 February 2018.

 

Carried

 

 

6.    Investment and Debt Report

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

433362

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

6.1   Purpose of Report

To consider the snapshot report on Napier City Council’s Investment and Debt as at 28 February 2018.  See Attachment A

 

At the Meeting

The Chief Financial Officer briefly spoke to the report but there was no discussion on this item.

 

committee’s recommendation

Mr Foster / Councillor Wise

That the Committee

a.     Receive the snapshot report on Napier City Council’s Investment and Debt as at 28 February 2018

 

Carried

 

7.    Sensitive Expenditure - Mayor and Chief Executive

Type of Report:

Operational and Procedural

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

450263

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Talia Foster, Corporate Accountant

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

7.1   Purpose of Report

To provide the information required for the Committee to review Sensitive Expenditure of the Mayor and Chief Executive for compliance with Council’s Sensitive Expenditure Policy.

 

At the Meeting

The Committee noted that the spend was very modest. The report is intended to be run monthly and will be provided at each meeting of the Committee.

There was some discussion about the current report setting, which is in line with the central government practice of individual line item declarations. The Committee indicated it would be comfortable with reporting against categories.

It was noted that the Policy is an extremely comprehensive one; along with other policies it is provided to staff via the employee hand book and its associated links. Monthly finance training is also provide to staff on a variety of topics including sensitive expenditure.

 

committee’s recommendation

Councillors Wise / Hague

That the committee

a.      Receive the report of Sensitive Expenditure for the Mayor and Chief Executive and review for compliance with the Sensitive Expenditure Policy.

 

Carried

 


 

8.    Audit Arrangements for Year Ending June 2018

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

Local Government Act 2002

Document ID:

433369

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

 

8.1   Purpose of Report

To outline the audit arrangements for the audit of the Napier City Council for the year ending 30 June 2018.

 

At the Meeting

The Audit Plan received from Audit New Zealand late on 14 March 2018, was tabled.

It was advised that auditors will be on site during April, May and August to undertake reviews. It was a significant advantage that they were now able to be in the same building, as it been difficult while their organisational policy prohibited entry into the designated earthquake-prone Civic Building.

It was agreed that a review of Council’s audit provision would be initiated through the Office of the Auditor-General who oversees this process.

A short discussion took place on fraud identification and management; policies, processes and data analytics are all in place to ensure the quick identification of any fraud would take place and any issues would be communicated to councillors as soon as reasonably practicable.

 

committee’s recommendation

Councillors Taylor / Wise

That the Committee

a.      Receive the audit arrangements for the year ending 30 June 2018 as set out in the audit arrangement letter from Audit New Zealand.

 

Carried

  


 

 

 PUBLIC EXCLUDED ITEMS

 

Councillors Wise / Hague

That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting, namely:

1.         Internal Audit Data Analytics - Management Actions

 

Carried

 

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public was excluded, the reasons for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under Section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution were as follows:

 

General subject of each matter to be considered.

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter.

Ground(s) under section 48(1) to the passing of this resolution.

1.  Internal Audit Data Analytics - Management Actions

7(2)(a) Protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of a deceased person

48(1)A That the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist:
(i) Where the local authority is named or specified in Schedule 1 of this Act, under Section 6 or 7  (except 7(2)(f)(i)) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

 

The meeting moved into Committee at 2.49pm

 

 

 

 

Approved and adopted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

 

 

Chairperson .............................................................................................................................

 

 

Date of approval ......................................................................................................................


 


Appendix One – JLT Insurance Presentation