Agenda item

Consider report by Chief Officer Audit and Risk.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by Chief Officer Audit and Risk that provided members of the Audit Committee with details of the recent work carried out by Internal Audit and the recommended audit actions agreed by Management to improve internal controls and governance arrangements.  The work Internal Audit had carried out in the period from 28 October to 31 December 2023 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023-24 was detailed in the report.  A total of 6 final Internal Audit reports had been issued.  There were 8 recommendations made associated with 4 of the reports (0 High-rated; 1 Medium-rated; 7 Low-rated).  An Executive Summary of the final Internal Audit assurance reports issued, including audit objective, findings, good practice, recommendations (where appropriate) and the Chief Officer Audit and Risk’s independent and objective opinion on the adequacy of the control environment and governance arrangements within each audit area, was shown in Appendix 1 of the report.  The SBC Internal Audit function conformed to the professional standards as set out in Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) (2017) including the production of the report to communicate the results of the reviews. The Chief Officer Audit and Risk advised that the financial governance assurance audit on ‘VAT’ was proposed to be rescheduled to the Internal Audit plan for 2024-25.  The Chief Officer Audit and Risk summarised the report and answered Members’ questions and advised that discussions with SBC Management was taking place on cybersecurity as part of audit planning for 2024-25.  A number of different works were taking place in SBC on cybersecurity and there was recognition of its importance.  On VAT, the Chief Executive advised Members that there was an experienced team working on VAT returns which was also subject to HMRC audit.  SBC minimised risk by using accountancy firms with specialised tax advice including for VAT.  With regard to school attendances, while schools were able to put in place their own processes, there were inconsistencies in compliance with corporate policy.  Some issues remained around clarity of roles and responsibilities between schools and business support staff.  A Quality and Recruitment Manager was revising the attendance policy as there was an opportunity to provide greater clarity and guidance, and this report was due to be submitted for approval in due course.  Members agreed that this part of the report should be drawn to the attention of the Education Sub-Committee.

DECISION

(a)       AGREED

(i)        to approve the minor amendments to the Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023/24, as set out in paragraph 4.8;

(ii)       to draw to the attention of the Education Sub-Committee the report on revised attendance policy;

(b)       NOTED:

(i)        the Executive Summaries of the final Internal Audit assurance reports relating to with work Internal Audit has carried out in the period from 28 October to 31 December 2023 (Appendix 1 of the report) associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023-24;

(ii)       the Internal Audit Consultancy and Other Work carried out in accordance with the approved Internal Audit Charter; and,

(iii)      the assurance provided on internal controls and governance arrangements in place for the areas covered by this Internal Audit work.