Apologies were received from Councillors R Powell and S Lambert. Councillor H Edwards attended the meeting as the representative for Councillor S Lambert.

To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 21^st March 2023 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 21 March 2023.

It was moved by Councillor K Payne and seconded that the minutes of the 21 March meeting be approved.

RESOLVED

a)    That the minutes of the meetings held on 21 March 2023 be APPROVED.

To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year

Nominations were invited for the position of Vice Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Municipal Year 2023-24.

Councillor L Stephenson proposed and this was seconded that Councillor R Ramsay to be Vice-Chairman to the Audit and Risk Committee, there were no other nominations. Upon being put to the vote this was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Councillor R Ramsay be APPOINTED Vice-Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee for the municipal year 2023-24

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 Report No.92/2023 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No.92/2023 was introduced by Andrew Merry, Head of Finance.

The report updated the committee on the latest position on the statutory Statement of Accounts (SoA) 2021/22 following the delays in finalising the external audit. It confirmed the position of the Councils draft Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 and the next steps required to take this from a draft document to finalising and finally it outlined the process for the Annual Governance Statement which forms part of the Statement of Accounts documents once considered and approved by this Committee.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)    NOTED the process for the draft 2022/23 Statement of Accounts and external audit.

b)    NOTED the progress update on the 2021/22 Audit Accounts.

c)     NOTED the timescales for the Annual Governance Statement

To receive Report No.91/2023 from the Chief Internal Auditor.

Report No.91/2023 was introduced by Rachel Ashley-Caunt, Chief Internal Auditor.

The report included copy of the Annual Report which included the detailed Opinion on the Council’s control framework for 2022/23 and the basis for this opinion.

The report also included details of the delivery of the Internal Audit Plan for 2022/23 and achievement of the service’s performance indicators.  The team had delivered 100% of the agreed assignments from the Internal Audit Plan for the year and performed well against expected standards and customer feedback.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)    NOTED the Annual Internal Audit Report and Opinion for 2022/23.

To receive Report No.90/2023 from the Chief Internal Auditor.

Report No.90/2023 was introduced by Rachel Ashley-Caunt, Chief Internal Auditor.

The report provided the Committee with a copy of the 2023/24 annual Internal Audit plan and provided an update on the progress made in delivering the 2023/24 planned assignments.

It was requested by the Chair and agreed by officers that an update on the assurances and governance framework of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) would come to the next meeting.

It was moved by Councillor A MacCartney and seconded that the recommendations be approved. Upon being put to the vote, the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

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

b)    APPROVED the proposed amendment to the 2023/24 Internal Audit plan to postpone the audit of Adult Social Care Data Quality and reallocate the 12 audit days to a follow up audit of Home to School Transport.

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

Kirsty Nutton, Strategic Director for Resources, verbally confirmed to the Committee that there had been no use of the provisions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act since the last update.

To receive Report No.89/2023 from the Strategic Director of Resources.

Report No.89/2023 was introduced by Kirsty Nutton, Strategic Director for Resources.

The Risk Register had been reviewed and updated as at June 2023.  The dashboard at Appendix A summarised the key movements since it was last presented at Audit and Risk in September 2022.  The full register was included in Appendix B to the report.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)    NOTED the content of the updated Strategic Risk Register (Appendices A and B) and the actions underway to address the risks.

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

There were no items of urgent business.

Tuesday, 26^th September 2023.

Tuesday, 26^th September 2023.