Agenda

To note that Councillor M. Murphy has replaced Councillor S. Dickinson on the Audit Committee for the ensuing Council year.

Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 7 October 2021, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required to disclose any personal interest (which includes any disclosable pecuniary interest) they may have in any of the items included on the agenda for the meeting in accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 4 July 2012, and are reminded that if they have any personal interests of a prejudicial nature (as defined under paragraph 17 of the Code Conduct) they must not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room. NB Any member needing clarification must contact Legal Services by email at monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk  Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

To seek Council approval to opt-in to the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) Limited arrangements from 1 April 2023 for the five financial years commencing 2023-24 to 2027-28. 

This report provides a mid-year review of the activities of the Treasury Management function for the period 1 April to 30 September 2021, and performance against the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) 2021-22 - as approved by the County Council on 24 February 2021.  The report provides a review of borrowing and investment performance for the period set in the context of the general economic conditions prevailing so far during the year.  It also reviews specific Treasury Management prudential indicators defined by the (CIPFA) Treasury Management Code of Practice and CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities, (the Prudential Code), and approved by Council in the TMSS.

KEY OUTCOMES FROM INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS (ISSUED JULY 2021 – NOVEMBER 2021)

The purpose of this report is to advise Audit Committee of key outcomes from Internal Audit reports issued between July 2021 and November 2021 (Appendix 1).

AUDIT PROGRESS UPDATE

This report provides the Audit Committee with an update on progress in delivering our responsibilities as your external auditors and also includes, at Section 2, for your information, a summary of recent national reports and publications.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 26 January 2022 at 10:15 am.

It is expected that matters included in this part of the Agenda will be dealt with in private.  Reports referred to are enclosed for members and officers only, coloured pink and marked "Not for Publication".

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)     That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)     That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Items            Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

11                                 Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A

Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information).

  Disclosure could adversely affect the business reputation or confidence in the person/organisation, and could adversely affect commercial revenue.

The purpose of this report is to update Group Audit Committee on the 2021-2022 Internal Audit Plan covering Advance Northumberland Group of Companies (Advance) for the period covering October 2021 to March 2022. The Internal Audit Plan for 2021/22 originally consisted of two elements:

·                Coverage from April to September 2021; and

·                Potential / indicative coverage from October 2021 to March 2022.

The purpose of this report is to provide Audit Committee with an update on progress with the development, implementation and embedding of risk management within the County Council; and to inform Audit Committee of the latest position of the corporate risks as agreed by Executive Team and considered by Cabinet portfolio holders in October 2021.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Audit Committee with an interim (half yearly) monitoring statement in respect of the Strategic Audit Plan for 2021/22 (this document is attached as Appendix 1).