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 2021/2022 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 give ‘Reasonable Assurance’ that arrangements to secure governance, risk management and internal control were in place in 2021/22.  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.  Whilst this demonstrated progress on the previous two financial years and the direction of travel was one of improvement, there was still more work to be done.  The opinion did not imply that Internal Audit had reviewed all risks relating to the organisation and assurances should be taken from other sources, such as recommendations following the LGA Corporate Peer review.

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