The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2024 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Questions on the following matters were submitted by Councillors:

(The full text of the question and response was made available on the Reading Borough Council website)

This report provides an update on key findings emanating from Internal Audit reports issued since the last quarterly progress report.

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the key findings emanating from the Internal Audit reports issued for the period 1 April to 30 September 2024 (Quarter 2).

The report summarised the findings, recommendations and management actions that had been put forward for each audit review and stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

This report sets out a summary of those high and medium risk Internal Audit recommendations which remain outstanding together with an updated management response.

The Committee considered a report setting out a summary of Internal Audit recommendations and updated management responses, which focused on those recommendations where there had been either a ‘limited’ or ‘no assurance’ opinion.  A summary of Internal Audit recommendations and updated management responses since the last Committee was attached to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

This report provides the latest update on the Strategic Risk Register 2024/25.

The Committee considered a report outlining the updates to the Strategic Risk Register (SRR), in line with the requirements of the Council’s Risk Management Strategy. A copy of the SRR was attached to the report at Appendix 1.  The Risk Register covered the actions completed by the Council for April  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

This report updates Members on the activity of the Treasury Management function.

The Committee considered a report on the activity of the Treasury Management function during the first quarter of the year for the period 1^st April 2024 to 30^th June 2024.  The report stated that the CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management 2021 recommended that the Committee should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

This report provides an update on the actions in progress to improve the Council’s policies, systems and processes around Information Governance.

The Committee considered a report outlining the action underway to improve the Council’s policies, systems and processes for Information Governance following several limited assurance reports in this area.

The report provided an update on: the action being taken to address the backlog of Subject Access Requests; the on-time responses to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

This report provides an update on the process for concluding the Council’s 2020/21 and 2021/22 Statements of Accounts and recommends to Council that the final arrangements for approval be delegated to the Director of Finance.

The Committee received a report on the process for concluding the Council’s 2020/21 and 2021/22 Statements of Accountsand sought to recommend that Council delegated the final arrangements for their approval to the Director of Finance.  In doing so it should be noted that the accounts for these years would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To report that the draft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts has been published on the Councils website and the formal public inspection period can begin when a draft of the accompanying Annual Governance Statement has been completed.

The Committee received a report on thedraft 2023/24 Statement of Accounts, which were appended to the report, and had been published on the Council’s website within six months of the previous year end for the first time in many years.  The formal public inspection period would begin when a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

A representative from KPMG will provide an update on the 2023/24 audit and planned Value for Money assurance work.

The Committee received a covering report on behalf of the Council’s External Auditor, KPMG, which had attached the draft 2023/24 Value for Money Risk Assessment.  Jonathan Brown and Edward Mills from KPMG were present at the meeting and provided an update on the 2023/24 audit and planned Value for Money  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.