Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Accrington Town Hall
Contact: Rachael Calvert Democratic Services (01254) 380136
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Apologies for Absence, Declarations of Interest, Dispensations and Substitutions Minutes: Apologies were noted for Councillor Kath Pratt.
Councillor Danny Cassidy substituted for Councillor Kath Pratt.
Councillor Vanessa Alexander declared an interest as a previous employee of Hyndburn Borough Council and worked as Principal Accountant up until the 2023 accounts. |
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Minutes of the Last Meeting The Minutes of the last Audit Committee held on the 25th March 2024 were submitted for approval as a correct record.
Recommended – That the minutes be received and approved as a correct record. Minutes: The Minutes from the 25th March 2024 were not submitted and will be carried over to the next meeting. |
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Risk Management Monitoring Report To inform Audit Committee of the outcome of the Strategic, Generic and Operational Risk Registers review.
Recommended – That the report be noted for informational purposes. Minutes: Mr Stuart Sambrook, Policy Manager presented the reported to the Committee.
He informed the Committee of the outcome of the Strategic, Generic and Operational Risk Registers review.
The Risk Management process was discussed to the new Audit Committee Members.
The Corporate Risk Register outlines the key strategic risks facing the Council and the controls currently in place to respond to these risks.
There is 17 Generic risks, 67 Operational risks and 20 Strategic risks.
There has been 2 major changes and 1 minor change to the Strategic Risk Register since November 2023.
New Red Flag Risk – Huncoat Garden Village (Financial/Reputation) New Risk – Whinney Hill tip (Financial) New Risk – Corporate Strategy (Reputation)
Further information is all outlined in appendix 1.
There had been 1 minor change in the Generic Risk Register outlined in appendix 2.
There had been 2 major changes in the Operational Risk Register and 21 minor changes outlined in appendix 3.
Councillor Alexander queried the Huncoat Garden Village risk and the details around the financial impact and legal implications. Mr Sambrook responded that the risk owner completed this on due diligence terms and an update will be brought back on the next Risk report.
Action – Risk Management training slides to be sent out to the Committee.
Resolved – That the Audit Committee noted the contents of the report and the changes made to the Risk Registers.
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Annual Internal Audit Report and Audit Opinion 2023/24 To inform and update Audit Committee on the Annual Internal Audit Report and Audit Opinion for 2023/24 and to give details on the performance of the Internal Audit Team and final outturn position for 2023/24.
Recommended – That the report be noted for informational purposes.
Additional documents: Minutes: Ms Angela Kelly presented the report to Committee to inform and update on the Annual Internal Audit Report and Audit Opinion for 2023/24. Details on the performance were given on the Internal Audit Team and final outturn position for 2023/24.
Ms Kelly referred to appendix 1 of the report and discussed the key issues as follows:
· A positive opinion was issued on the systems of Internal Control based on the work carried out in 2023/24 as detailed below. The opinion score slightly decreased from 1.39 in 2022/23 to 1.68 in 2023/24. The number of recommendations increased from 14 in 2022/23 to 28 in 2023/24.
· Internal Audit did not identify any issues in 2023/24 during the course of their audit work that would have a material effect on the Council’s Financial Statements.
· Internal Audit achieved audit plan coverage of 91.85% in 2023/24. This was 6.15% below the annual target of 98%.
· Production and publication of this report is a requirement of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. The report satisfies the requirements for those charged with governance and forms a supplementary piece of evidence to the Annual Governance Statement.
Each Audit Report is given an audit assurance opinion based on the issues identified and reported by Internal Audit. Comprehensive Assurance – 8 issued Substantial Assurance – 13 issued Limited Assurance – 1 issued No Assurance – 0 issued
There is a requirement around strengthening the income and overall monitoring of s106 agreements therefore this was given limited assurance.
The satisfaction and quality questionnaire completed by the auditee’s stated that there is an overall strong positive perception of the Team and its work based on the responses – 95% at strong agree category.
Internal Audit performance measures were discussed and 95.45% achieved for 2023/24.
Councillor Alexander thanked the team for all their hard work.
Resolved – That the Audit Committee noted the report for information. |
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Audit Plan Progress Report To inform members of the Audit Reports issued during the period April 2024 May 2024 and bring to the attention of the Committee what the key issues were.
Recommended – That the report be noted for informational purposes.
Minutes: Ms Angela Kelly presented the report to inform Members of the Audit reports issued during the period April 2024 – May 2024 and to bring to the key issues to their attention.
There were no issues arising from the following 3 Audits that have been completed; - Housing Benefit & Council Tax Reduction Scheme - Capital Programme - Council Tax
Resolved – That the Audit Committee noted the report for information.
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Follow Ups Progress Report To inform members of the outcome of routine follow-ups following the previously agreed action plans for completed audit reports. The follow-ups detailed within this report are those carried out during the period April 2024 to June 2024.
Recommended – That the report be noted for informational purposes.
Minutes: Ms Angela Kelly informed Members of the outcome of the routine follow-ups following the previously agreed action plans for the completed Audit reports. The follow-ups detailed within the report had been carried out during April 2024 to June 2024.
The first report covered Empty Properties; all 3 agreed actions had been implemented and covered within appendix 1.
The second report covered Contracts and Health & Safety, the 2 agreed actions had been implemented and covered within appendix 1.
Resolved – That the Audit Committee noted the report for information.
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Public Sector Internal Audit Standards - Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme To inform members of the current position with the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) which sets out how we manage any of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that are not compliant, thus ensuring conformance with the PSIAs overall.
Recommended – That the report be noted for informational purposes.
Additional documents: Minutes: Ms Angela Kelly informed Members of the current position with the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) which sets out how we manage any of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that are not compliant, thus ensuring conformance with the PSIAs overall.
Ms Kelly talked through appendix 1 of the report and the elements of standards that are compliant or still open for further work to be carried out.
Resolved – That the Audit Committee noted the report for information.
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Process for Appointing Independent Persons to Audit Committee At the Council AGM meeting held on 23rd May 2024 it was agreed to receive a report at a future meeting regarding possible appointment of two independent persons that would then be co-opted members of Audit Committee.
Recommended – To appoint 2 independent persons to the Audit Committee subject to the decision being taken by Full Council.
To agree the methodology that will be used for the appointment of 2 independent persons to Audit Committee as detailed in section 3 of the report together with the appendices to this report. The agreed methodology will be shared with Full Council to support their decision. Minutes: Ms Angela Kelly discussed the report following the agreement at the Council meeting held on the 23rd May 2024 that the Audit Committee would receive a report to determine the appointment of 2 independent persons that would then be co-opted members of Audit Committee.
The Audit Committee were asked to determine the methodology and process that would be used, prior to the decision being taken by Council at a future meeting.
Martin Dyson, Executive Director, highlighted it would be good practice to have non- voting Members here and having an advisory role.
The Committee had a discussion on how to take this forward.
Resolved – 1. The committee agreed to recruit 2 independent persons to the Audit Committee subject to the decision being taken by Council. 2. Members to discuss the methodology at their next group meeting on how to take forward and to report back to Audit Committee. |
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Progress Update on Annual Statement of Accounts To update on the Councils’ status on the production of their annual statement of accounts, the external audit progress and the national position regarding the backlog of external audit work.
Recommendation - To note the updates provided on the 2021/2022, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 Statement of Accounts and external audits.
To update on the national position of the external audits and the work being undertaken by the relevant bodies to find a solution(s) to the backlog.
To change of name of the Councils external auditors.
Minutes: Martin Dyson, Executive Director (Resources), updated on the position of the Statement of Accounts. The Government are due to announce that secondary legislation will be laid in Parliament to set a statutory backstop for the publication of audited accounts for all financial years up to and including 2022/23 in a bid to tackle the local government audit backlog. The 2021/22 accounts is part way through an Audit, expected to finish July 24 but may slip further back. The 2022/23 accounts have been published late due to issues in the 2021/22 Audit and staffing. The 2023/24 accounts weren’t published on the 31st May due to a new financial system being implemented however they would be published and on the website by the end of June. To note, only 1 Lancashire authority achieved the May deadline. The Council’s external auditors formerly known as Mazars have been rebranded as Forvis Mazars with effect from 1st June 2024. There will be no change to the services provided to the Council. Daniel Watson of Forvis Mazars gave a verbal update on the backstop and completed work. They will continue to work on the new account years, Value for Money work still to be completed, hopefully by September. Resolved – 1. That the Audit Committee notes the updates provided on the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 Statement of Accounts and External Audits. 2. That the Audit Committee notes the update on the national position of the External Audit and the work being undertaken by the relevant bodies to find a solution(s) to the backlog. 3. That the Audit Committee notes the change of name of the Council’s External Auditors.
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