To consider the annual report, associated action plan, and detailed feedback on the Audit & Governance Committee’s performance and to endorse that the report represents a fair reflection of the year, prior to its submission to Council.

The Committee received a report on its first Annual Report on how it had: complied with the 2022 CIPFA Position Statement; and discharged its responsibilities.  The Annual Report also included a self-assessment of the Committee’s performance.  The Annual Report was appended to the report and set out:

·     The Committee’s remit and membership;

·     Areas covered and work of the committee during 2022/23;

·     Training undertaken by members during the year;

·     A summary of an assessment of committee effectiveness carried out by Committee members and key officers with more detailed analysis provided in Appendix 2 to the report;

·     An update on progress since the initial assessment against the CIPFA guidance was carried out; and

·     Possible areas identified for improvement.

Members of the Committee and key officers had been invited to complete a questionnaire reviewing the Committee over the last municipal year. The findings included:

• All respondents either agreed or somewhat agreed that they understood the role and purpose of the Committee;
• The majority of officers thought that the Committee escalated issues and concerns promptly to those in governance and leadership, and approximately two-thirds of Committee members agreed with this statement;
• All respondents indicated that the Committee had good working relations, access to, and visibility with Internal Audit and the Director of Finance, and the majority said the same of the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services (Monitoring Officer). However, respondents were less sure of the Committee’s links to the External Auditors with 50% of Committee members answering ‘partially’ to this question;
• There was consensus that useful training and useful and effective support had been provided to the Committee;
• Most Member respondents did not think that they had had an evaluation of their knowledge or skills since joining the Committee/in the last two years, with half detailing that they had not had an evaluation of their training needs; and
• All respondents thought that the Committee engaged with a wide range of leaders and managers.

The report stated that the Audit and Governance Committee’s terms of reference had been amended to ensure they reflected best practice, as detailed in CIPFA’s Position Statement and associated guidance. This included the removal of the Committee’s delegated authority to approve the Council’s annual Statement of Accounts and that the Committee would report to Council on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations on the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk and internal control frameworks, financial reporting arrangements, and internal and external audit functions, and on the committee’s performance.  Committee members and the Committee Chair had engaged in discussion and asked relevant questions on agenda items throughout the year and had requested various relevant officers attend Committee meetings to provide updates on areas of concern highlighted in recent internal audit reports.  Some areas for improvement had been identified and these were outlined in section 7 of Appendix 1 to the report.  Generally, the Audit and Governance Committee complied with the 2022 CIPFA Position Statement, although it did not have any independent members on the Committee.

Resolved:       That the Audit and Governance Committee’s Annual Report be endorsed as a fair reflection of its performance over the 2023/24 Municipal Year for consideration by Council at its meeting on 15 October 2024.