Agenda item

The Council noted a report of the Chair of the Audit Committee which informed the Council of the work of the Audit Committee during the period September 2019 to August 2020 and how the Committee continued to provide good governance across the Council (for copy see file of Minutes).

Councillor E Bell, Chair of the Audit Committee provided an update on the work of the Committee during the period outlined in the report.  Through careful consideration and challenge of a wide range of officer reports the Committee had fulfilled its role in gaining assurances as to the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s governance arrangements including the effectiveness of the Risk Management framework and associated control environment.

In relation to financial reporting of the Council’s Statement of Accounts the Committee had ensured that any issues arising from the process of compiling, auditing, and certifying the accounts were dealt with properly.  This had been achieved during extremely challenging circumstances following the onset and continuous impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Three key areas were drawn to the Council’s attention:

·        The role and work of Internal Audit.  The Audit Committee continued to promote and champion the work of Internal Audit across the organisation.  As such the Committee agreed the Internal Audit Strategy and Charter and the Internal Audit Plan proposed by the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager.  The Committee had challenged and supported the work which was proposed and agreed the work programme for the year.  The work completed by Internal Audit continued to provide assurance to the Committee that the Council’s control environment, governance arrangements and management of its risks was sound.  Internal Audit continued to update the Committee on a quarterly basis and the Committee provided appropriate challenge.

·        The outcome of the Council’s External Audit of the Statement of Accounts.  In June the Committee received a report from the Corporate Director of Resources which presented a draft unaudited Statement of Accounts of the Council for the year ending 31 March 2020.  The draft accounts were certified and provided to External Audit within the statutory deadline which, due to the impact of COVID on local authorities, was extended from 31 May to 31 August.  The deadline for publication of the final audited accounts was also moved from 31 July to 30 November.  The accounts were approved by the Committee at its September meeting, which was a substantial achievement.

·         The continuing good work of the Council’s Corporate Fraud Team.  The Interim Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager continued to update the Committee on the excellent work being completed in terms of proactive counter-fraud work.  The report demonstrated the work which had been completed in order to deter fraud from occurring at the outset.  To give some context the Corporate Fraud Team in 2019/20 completed 721 investigations over a wide range of areas including Blue Badge abuse, Council Tax claims, bogus insurance claims and housing tenancy.  Over the year the Team had recovered £3.5m of public money from fraud.  As a result, the team had an excellent local and national profile for their work and had developed strong, partnerships with other public sector organisations which had continued to enhance the reputation of the Council.

In closing, the Chair congratulated the team for their work and highlighted that the effectiveness of the Audit Committee was excellent.