Issue - meetings

The Chair of the Audit and Standards Committee presented the Audit and Standards Committee Annual Report 2021/22.

This was the second annual report of the Audit and Standards Committee and regrettably, the Assembly were advised that the 2019/20 audit was still outstanding.  This was an ongoing concern for the Committee with many factors contributing to the late report, including a national auditor recruitment crisis and the Financial Reporting Council sanctioning a public sector auditor for not properly considering the accounting for components of assets within its audit strategy in relation to Plant, Property and Equipment (PPE), which also held up audits across the country.  Furthermore, the Council’s Auditor, BDO, had staff sickness issues and a backlog of work following the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Despite these challenges, lessons learned from the 2018/19 Audit were implemented. A schedule to implement the outstanding actions had been drawn up with clear lines of responsibility in terms of ownership.

The Committee began its oversight of internal auditing by reviewing the final report of internal auditing for the previous municipal year 2020/21.  The Committee agreed, in the previous municipal year, to an internal audit plan of 50 audits.  The Head of Assurance (HoA) as the Council’s Chief audit executive, was required to give an overall opinion on the Council’s internal control systems. The HoA’s assessment was that the Council’s internal audit systems were generally satisfactory with some improvements required.  The Committee, therefore, focused on issues rated “partial assurance’ and ‘no assurance probing the basis of the ratings and reviewed the implementation of improvements.

The Committee also reviewed the Internal Audit plan for 2021/22.  It was noted that the audit remained on-going and the outcomes would be included in the next annual report.

The Chair took the opportunity to thank the Committee’s Members, the Independent Advisor, Stephen Warren, the officers that had supported the Committee and others who had attended and assisted the Committee in its role or been subject to its scrutiny.

The Chair spoke briefly about the current municipal year, with Assembly noting that the 2019/20 audit was still outstanding and its completion remained the Committee’s priority. The continuing issues in local authority audits, and possible adverse effects, meant that the Committee would continue to closely monitor the actions of officers and external auditors going forward.

The Assembly resolved to note the report.