Komiti Tātari me te Mātai Raru Tūpono /

Audit and Risk Committee

 

OPEN MINUTES

 

 

 

Minutes of an extraordinary meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee held remotely on Tuesday, 14 April 2020 at 2.02pm.

 

present

 

Chairperson

Sue Sheldon, CNZM

 

Deputy Chairperson

Cr Daniel Newman, JP

 

Members

Deputy Mayor Cr Bill Cashmore

 

 

Paul Conder

 

 

Cr Shane Henderson

 

 

Bruce Robertson

 

 

 

 

Ex-officio

Mayor Hon Phil Goff, CNZM, JP

 

 

IMSB Chair David Taipari

 

 

 

 

 

ALSO PRESENT

 

 

Cr Cathy Casey

 

 

 

Cr Fa’anana Efeso Collins

 

 

 

Cr Pippa Coom

 

 

 

Cr Linda Cooper

 

 

 

Cr Christine Fletcher

 

 

 

Cr Richard Hills

 

 

 

Cr Tracy Mulholland

 

 

 

Cr Greg Sayers

 

 

 

Cr Desley Simpson

 

 

 

Cr Sharon Stewart

 

 

 

Cr Wayne Walker

 

 

 

Cr John Watson

 

 

 

IN ATTENDANCE

 

 

Greg Schollum, Deputy Auditor-General

 

 

Athol Graham, Audit Director, Audit New Zealand

 

 

Andrea Reeves, Assistant Auditor-General, Local Government

 

 

Note: All members attended the meeting via electronic link.


Audit and Risk Committee

14 April 2020

 

 

 

 

1          Apologies

 

There were no apologies.

 

 

2          Declaration of Interest

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

3          Petitions

 

There were no petitions.

 

 

4          Public Input

 

There was no public input.

 

 

5          Local Board Input

 

There was no local board input.

 

 

6          Extraordinary Business

 

 

There was no extraordinary business.

 

 

7

COVID-19 briefing and Auckland Emergency Management status update

 

A briefing on the Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic planning and current status was received. The presentation covered the following:

·         Timeline of events and key decisions from late January 2020 when the risk of a pandemic was identified, through to when council’s planning and response commenced, and onto when the alert level 4 lockdown period commenced. 

·         Business continuity plan, council’s pandemic plan and Crisis Management Team all activated, as well as relevant operational measures e.g. working from home and the continuation of essential services applied across the council group

·         Auckland Emergency Management current key focus areas:

o   Welfare of Auckland community: including urgent food and basic supplies requests from Aucklanders, activation of the call centre to triage welfare requests, as well as deployment of staff to support the council’s response.

o   Repatriation, isolation and quarantine coordination of New Zealanders returning and foreign nationals departing New Zealand

o   Supporting vulnerable communities – including Māori and senior Aucklanders living alone. On the Māori response front, council activated Te Pou Whakarae (a Māori-focused function within Auckland Emergency Management)

o   Planning for recovery phase: moving to lower alert levels

 

Resolution number AUD/2020/16

MOVED by Deputy Chair Cr D Newman, seconded by Cr S Henderson:  

That the Audit and Risk Committee:

a)      thank Mace Ward, Group Controller, Auckland Emergency Management and Ian Maxwell, Director Executive Programmes/Deputy Group Controller for the briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Auckland Emergency Management status update.

CARRIED ON VOICES

 

 

8

Risk and Assurance Update - approach to risk management and assurance activities during COVID-19 lockdown and recovery

 

 

 

Resolution number AUD/2020/17

MOVED by Chairperson S Sheldon, seconded by Cr S Henderson:  

That the Audit and Risk Committee:

a)      note that there is a confidential report included in the agenda which contains information on the approach to risk management and assurance activities during COVID-19 lockdown and recovery.

CARRIED ON VOICES

 

 

9          Consideration of Extraordinary Items

 

There was no consideration of extraordinary items.   

 

 

10        Procedural motion to exclude the public

Resolution number AUD/2020/18

MOVED by Chairperson S Sheldon, seconded by Deputy Mayor Cr BC Cashmore:  

That the Audit and Risk Committee:

a)      exclude the public from the following part(s) of the proceedings of this meeting.

b)      agree that Greg Schollum, Deputy Auditor-General, Office of the Auditor-General, Athol Graham, Audit Director, Audit New Zealand and Andrea Reeves, Assistant Auditor-General, Local Government be permitted to remain for all of the Confidential items after the public has been excluded, because of their knowledge of matters which will help the Audit and Risk Committee in its decision-making.

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason 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 follows.

This resolution is made in reliance on section 48(1)(a) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and the particular interest or interests protected by section 6 or section 7 of that Act which would be prejudiced by the holding of the whole or relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting in public, as follows:

 

 

 

 

C1       Risk and Assurance Update - approach to risk management and assurance activities during COVID-19 lockdown and recovery

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter

Particular interest(s) protected (where applicable)

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

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

s7(2)(c)(i) - The withholding of the information is necessary to 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.

s7(2)(h) - The withholding of the information is necessary to enable the local authority to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities.

In particular, the report contains information provided in confidence from the Auckland council-controlled organisations and information concerning financial risks, cyber and information security risks.

s48(1)(a)

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

 

C2       Financial risk update - approach to identification and management of risks arising from COVID-19 pandemic

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter

Particular interest(s) protected (where applicable)

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

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

s7(2)(h) - The withholding of the information is necessary to enable the local authority to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities.

s7(2)(i) - The withholding of the information is necessary to enable the local authority to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations).

In particular, the report contains information around potential financial implications and emerging financial risks of COVID-19 in a highly uncertain environment. The release of this information could prejudice the position of the council and its council-controlled organisations in sensitive commercial arrangements and negotiations.

s48(1)(a)

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

 

The text of these resolutions is made available to the public who are present at the meeting and form part of the minutes of the meeting.

CARRIED ON VOICES

 

 

2.29pm            The public was excluded.

 

 

Resolutions in relation to the confidential items are recorded in the confidential section of these minutes and are not publicly available.

 

 

4.50pm            The public was re-admitted.

 

 

restatementS

 

It was resolved while the public was excluded:

 

 

C1

Risk and Assurance Update - approach to risk management and assurance activities during COVID-19 lockdown and recovery

 

Resolution number AUD/2020/19

MOVED by Chairperson S Sheldon, seconded by Deputy Mayor Cr BC Cashmore:  

That the Audit and Risk Committee:

a)         receive the briefing on risk themes and issues emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic risk event and the approach to risk management and control environment effectiveness assurance.

b)         note the key indicators of current control environment and their operation.

c)         endorse the approach to providing assurance that key COVID-19 risks are being appropriately managed and monitored.

d)         endorse the approach to providing assurance that key aspects of the control environment have continued to operate effectively during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown and recovery.

e)         agree that the Audit and Risk Committee maintain oversight of the risks and internal controls during the lockdown and until such time the committee decides it is not required; and

f)         refer all risk reporting related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the Emergency Committee and the Governing Body.

g)         agree that the decisions be restated in the open minutes but that the report and attachments remain confidential.

 

 

C2

Financial risk update - approach to identification and management of risks arising from COVID-19 pandemic

 

Resolution number AUD/2020/20

MOVED by Chairperson S Sheldon, seconded by Deputy Mayor Cr BC Cashmore:  

That the Audit and Risk Committee:

d)      confirm that there be no restatement of the confidential report or the resolutions at this time.

  

 

 

 

 

4.50pm                                               The Chairperson thanked Members for their attendance and attention to business and declared the meeting closed.

 

CONFIRMED AS A TRUE AND CORRECT RECORD AT A MEETING OF THE Audit and Risk Committee HELD ON

 

 

 

DATE:.........................................................................

 

 

 

CHAIRPERSON:........................................................