The report of the Head of Policy and Governance is attached.

Contact: Barry Hanson 07990 086409

The Committee received the report of the Head of Policy and Governance - copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided Members with a summary of work undertaken by Internal Audit for 2022/23.

The Head of Policy and Governance explained that the plan had provided for a total of 1429 days, any revisions throughout the year were reported to the Committee, with the plan being revised to 1569 days.  He explained the matters that he had taken into account when arriving at his opinion, as set out in paragraphs 8.17 and 8.18 and also Appendix A, tables 2 and 3.

The Head of Policy and Governance informed the meeting that there had been 26 good and reasonable assurances made in the year, accounting for 59% of the overall opinions delivered which was a 5% decrease on the previous year which was offset by a 5% increase in limited and unsatisfactory opinions.  There had been 5 unsatisfactory and 13 limited assurance opinions issued.  On this basis, and based on the management responses received, the Head of Policy and Governance was only able to offer limited assurance on the 2022/23 financial year on the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and internal control.

The Head of Policy and Governance reported that despite some significant changes in terms of senior management within the team over the year, the feedback from customers has remained positive.

In relation to the chart set out at paragraph 8.6 (Trend in Internal Audit Recommendations), the Chairman commented that he was pleased to see that the number of unsatisfactory audit opinions, which had increased during the covid years (2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22), seemed to have dropped back down again.

In response to a query in relation to the direction of travel of the number of audit days delivered, the Internal Audit Manager explained that in 2021/22 they had planned for 1708 days and had delivered 1655, in 2022/23 there were 1569 planned and 1470 delivered and in 2023/24 there were 1794 planned however there would be some changes reported to the September Committee due to changes in staffing levels.  Members were encouraged by this.

The Chairman referred to the highlighted text set out in paragraph 8.20 of the report.  He expressed support for that statement and noted that only limited assurance could be offered and, although not the highest level of assurance, it was important that the Committee strongly endorse it.

RESOLVED:

a)    to note the performance of Internal Audit against the 2022/23 Audit Plan.

b)    to note that Internal Audit have evaluated the effectiveness of the Council’s risk management, control and governance processes, considering public sector internal auditing standards or guidance, the results of which can be used when considering the internal control environment and the Annual Governance Statement for 2022/23.

c)    to strongly support the Chief Audit Executive’s Limited assurance, year-end opinion, that the Council’s framework for governance, risk management and internal control is sound and working effectively for 2022/23 based on the work undertaken and management responses received.