Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present a self-assessment of Audit Committee arrangements, following the review of Audit Committee arrangements undertaken during 2019/20, undertaken with reference to the good practice recommended by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). 

The report, introduced by the Acting Chief Internal Auditor, presented a self-assessment of Audit Committee arrangements following the review of Audit Committee arrangements undertaken during 2019/20, undertaken with reference to the good practice recommended by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).  The amendments to the Terms of Reference had now been done and were incorporated within the Constitution.

Discussion took place regarding item 2 on Annex A, where it had stated that Audit Committee always reported directly to Council and that this had been fully met.  It was questioned if this should be partly as not all items discussed at Audit Committee this year had been reported to Full Council, as some recent recommendations had been reported to Cabinet and a Scrutiny Committee.   The Acting Chief Internal Auditor advised that he was of the understanding that all minutes of the Audit Committee were reported to Full Council.  Members requested clarification on whether the Audit Committee was a function of Council as had been stated as some recommendations from the Audit Committee had been reported to Cabinet and had then been changed before being reported to Council.

The Director of Corporate Assurance advised that the Audit Committee was a Committee of Full Council and guidance around Local Authority Audits set out that was the case.  She did however advise that some matters were so unwieldly to debate that it was considered that smaller groups of dedicated Members would be more able to look at in depth and give matters the attention they deserved.  In the guidance it was recommended that there was an Annual Report from the Audit Committee or its Chair to a suitable forum, which could be Council or Cabinet and the Acting Chief Internal Auditor would be helping to prepare such a report.  In relation to recommendations from the Committee, this would depend on the forum the decision was to be made, if Audit Committee wanted to bring matters to the attention of the decision maker when they were making a decision, then the Audit Committee needed to be able to make a choice of where it reported.   Some issues might be more appropriate to Cabinet and others to Council.  Audit Committee was a Committee of Full Council and this process of making recommendations could be explored further by the Committee in the future.

In respect of points 15 and 16 it was questioned whether there was a structured approach to training the Committee as there was a variety of levels of experience and skills.  Members were advised that when the review was undertaken this plan was formed however with the Pandemic some meetings did not take place and this would be resurrected moving through the year providing training and briefings dependent on the subjects on the agenda.   It was commented that this would be easier to do via Zoom. 

The Chair asked that clarification be sought in respect of where the Audit Committee sat in relation to reporting to Full Council and what the role of it was and where it was answerable to.  The Acting Chief Internal Auditor advised that work would be undertaken with the Committee in order to make this clearer.  The Audit Committee was a committee of Full Council and reported back to Full Council and if this needed to be strengthened then this could be done either through the Constitution or through work on the Annual Report.  The Audit Committee was answerable to Full Council however it could make recommendations to other forums.

In relation to training in general, the Chair stated that this could always be improved upon and attendance could be helped with the accessibility of Zoom.  Following the election she questioned if it would be possible for Group Leaders to be sent a brief on the functions of the Audit Committee to assist when appointing Councillors to the Committee.  The Director of Corporate Assurance stated that Members of the Audit Committee should have an enquiring mind but did not require experience in any particular disciplines however it might be possible to provide the Group Leaders with a list of 6 to 7 good characteristics and she would work with the Chair on this if required.  She continued by stating that Members of the Audit Committee must be apolitical and be able to look at issues in an impassionate way and also highlighted that this Committee had demonstrated excellent work over the last few years to which all Members had contributed.   The Chair commented that there was a good skills set within the Audit Committee and the addition of the two independent Members with their technical expertise had helped fill any gaps. 

The Chair asked for the Committee’s agreement to the rewording of point 2 in light of recent events and what had happened with Cabinet and the attempts at Call-In in that the Committee reported to Full Council only and it should be moved to partly completed, this was agreed and would be undertaken by the Acting Chief Internal Auditor.  The Chair then read out the recommendations as outlined in the report with the amendment to point 2.  Following a show of hands it was

RESOLVED that:

1.    The latest self-assessment of the Audit Committee arrangements against the good practice guidance recommended by CIPFA, attached as Annex A and amended above be endorsed;

2.    The actions taken since the previous review of Audit Committee arrangements during 2019/20 to help ensure that all aspects of CIPFA’s good practice can be reflected be noted; and

3.    That the self-assessment undertaken will form the basis of an annual report from Audit Committee, which will be prepared for presentation to Cabinet, demonstrating how Audit Committee meets its Terms of Reference and providing a summary of the work of the Committee during the year be agreed.