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 2021 to August 2022 and how the Committee continued to provide good governance across the Council (for copy see file of Minutes)

Councillor A Watson, Chair of the Audit Committee provided an update on the work of the Committee during the period outlined in the report.

The report covered the work of the Audit Committee during the period September 2021 to August 2022.

Through careful consideration and challenge of a wide range of officer reports presented, the Audit Committee had fulfilled its role in gaining assurances as to the adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s governance, risk management framework and internal control environment. 

The report set out details of the various meetings that had been held over the last twelve months and the issues that had been considered. There were three key areas of the Committee’s work during the period that Councillor Watson drew attention to:

The first area related to the 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, Charter and an internal audit plan proposed by the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager, Tracy Henderson, who had been in post since 1 February 2022.

Updates were provided to the committee on a quarterly basis.  Councillor Watson was satisfied that the committee provided the appropriate challenge to this process, with a number of officers attending the Committee to provide explanations and answer questions across the year.

The second area related to the External Audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts.  In July the Committee received a report from the Corporate Director of Resources which presented the draft un-audited Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 and the draft accounts were certified and provided to external audit within the statutory deadline.  A progress report on the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 was subsequently presented to Audit Committee in September 2022 and the final statement of accounts would be presented to Audit Committee at its November 2022 meeting for review/approval in accordance with the statutory reporting timescales for this year.

Finally, Councillor Watson drew the Council’s attention to the continuing good work of the Council’s Corporate Fraud Team.  The Protecting the Public Purse reports the Committee had considered clearly demonstrated, across the Council, the counter fraud activity that was being completed in order to acknowledge, prevent and pursue fraud under the Council’s Counter Fraud and Corruption Strategy. The Committee had acknowledged fraud as a strategic risk and that prevention was indeed better than cure.

To give some context, the Corporate Fraud Team in 2021/22 completed 572 investigations over a wide range of areas including the emerging Covid-19 fraud and scams, Blue Badge abuse and Council Tax claims to name a few.

In addition to investigating concerns, the Fraud Team also utilised a range of counter fraud initiatives to protect the Council and the Community, using its Fraud Communication Strategy and Awareness Campaign.

The Council had an excellent local and national profile for their work in this area. They had developed strong partnerships with other public sector organisations which continued to enhance the reputation that the Council had.

In summary, whilst the report was largely for information, Councillor Watson considered the effectiveness of the Audit Committee to be excellent.