The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were received from Councillor D Blanksby, W Cross, J Fox and R Payne.

To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 27 September 2022 and to receive an update on actions agreed in the minutes of the previous meeting.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meetings held on 27 September 2022.

It was moved by Councillor E Baines and seconded by Councillor A MacCartney that the minutes of the 27 September meeting be approved.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meetings held on 27 September 2022 be APPROVED.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 93 and 94.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes of the total time of 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions deputations or questions had been received.

To consider any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 95.

No questions with notice from Members had been received.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted under Procedure Rule 97.

No notices of motion had been received.

To receive a verbal update from the Strategic Director for Resources and the Council’s External Auditors.

Saverio Della Rocca, Strategic Director of Resources, introduced Paul Harvey of Grant Thornton, the Council’s External Auditors. Mr Harvey then provided a verbal update of their work on the Council’s accounts for 2021-22.

He explained to members that there was a national issue around infrastructure assets which he hoped would be resolved on 25^th December when the strategy instrument was published.

He informed Members that he intended to bring the final audit findings report to the next meeting in February.

To receive a verbal update from the Strategic Director of Resources.

The committee received a verbal update from Saverio Della Rocca, Strategic Director of Resources, confirming that here had been no use of the RIPA provisions since the last update to the Committee.

To receive Report No.192/2022 from the Chief Internal Auditor.

Report No. 192/2022 was introduced by Rachel Ashley-Caunt, Chief Internal Auditor, the report updated the Committee on the progress made in delivering the 2022/23 Annual Audit Plan and outcomes from those audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting.

There was one amendment to the Audit Plan proposed.  Following the decision in October 2022 to defer the re-procurement of the waste contracts to enable consideration of waste infra-structure requirements, this audit work was no longer relevant at this time.  As such, it was proposed that the remaining audit days be applied to an audit of Business Continuity Management, given this featured as an amber residual risk on the Council’s Strategic Risk Register.

It was also pointed out to Members the first of the Councils rolling risk reviews which was introduced this year which gave assurance around risk management, and it was set out in Appendix B to the report.

Members welcomed the amendment to postpone the audit of the waste contract procurement.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)    NOTED the Internal Audit update report (Appendix A).

APPROVED the amendment to the Internal Audit Plan 2022/23 to postpone the audit of the waste contract procurement and to allocate the remaining audit days to an audit of Business Continuity Management.

To receive Report No.193/2022 from the Chief Internal Auditor.

Report No. 193/2022 was introduced by Rachel Ashley-Caunt, Chief Internal Auditor, the report informed the Committee on the process to be followed in developing the Internal Audit Plan for 2023/24.  It also invited the Committee to highlight any areas where assurance was required from the Internal Audit team during the next financial year.

The draft Audit Plan would be presented to the Audit and Risk Committee inMarch 2023 for final refinement and formal approval.

It was pointed out to Members that planning was an area that was looked at in terms of the internal audit plan coverage. The processes around the handling of minor and major applications, an audit on planning appeals and how communication was dealt with around them. The Chief Internal Auditor was happy to look at other areas in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning function.

It was suggested by the Strategic Director of Resources that when an audit plan came back, would it be possible to see what audits the Council would likely do in Q1 of next year as he felt some flexibility should be given for a potential new Audit Committee from May to shape the remainder of the plan for the year. The Chief Internal Auditor did confirm that she would have a good idea of timings to what audits to lead with for Q1.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)    NOTED the process to be followed to develop the risk based Audit Plan for 2023/24.

HIGHLIGHTED areas for consideration for the 2023/24 for the Audit Plan to the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Chief Internal Auditor.

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

There were no items of urgent business.

Monday, 13^th February 2023

Monday, 13^th February 2023