This report presents the annual assurance report of the Chief Auditor required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations and the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

Paul Harrington, Chief Auditor, submitted a report setting out at Appendix 1 the Internal Audit Annual Assurance Report of the Chief Auditor, as required by the Accounts and Audit regulations and the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.  The report gave the Chief Auditor’s opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation’s governance arrangements, risk management and internal control environment, drawing attention to any issues particularly relevant to the preparation of the Annual Governance Statement.  It also set out key themes arising from the work of the Audit Team during the 2020/2021 financial year, and compared the audit work undertaken with that planned, summarising the performance of the Internal Audit function against its performance measures and targets.

The report explained that, on the basis of work completed during the course of the year, the Chief Auditor had concluded, that whilst no assurance could ever be absolute, he could only give limited assurance that arrangements to secure governance, risk management and internal control were in place in 2020/21.  The basis for the assurance opinion was set out in section 2 of the report and the key areas for improvement identified during the audit work were set out in section 4.

Despite the opinion being similar to last year, the Chief Auditor stated it should be noted there were positive signs of improvement.  The Finance Improvement Programme (see Minute 4 below) was driving progress and since being introduced the tracking process of historic audit recommendations was paying dividends.  Clearly, the encouraging improvement trajectory needed to be sustained in 2021/22 to enhance assurance that the effectiveness of control, risk and governance arrangements would continue to improve across the Council.

Resolved:     That the assurance opinion given by the Chief Auditor and the issues raised in the annual report be noted.