Agenda item

To report progress against the Internal Audit Plan 2022-23 for the period 01 April 2022 including planned work until 30 June 2022 and the resulting level of assurance.  To provide an update to members on the resourcing issues of the internal audit team.

Members considered the Internal Audit Plan 2022/23 Progress Report Q1 presented by Kathy Woodward, Internal Audit Manager.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·       Councillor Booth stated that he would like to get a better understanding of the discussions that have taken place for some time with regards to the Executive Summaries. He added that he can see that the report is now in a new format, but questioned whether that is the format that will be used going forward as he does not think it provides enough detail from his perspective of what the issues are around all the different recommendations and findings. Councillor Booth stated that he would still like an executive summary circulated to members of the committee so that there is an awareness of what the audit findings are. Kathy Woodward explained that is about finding a balance with regards to providing the committee with enough information without providing them with too much operational detail that is being dealt with by the Management Team and it is down to the committee to decide whether they have been provided with enough information or whether they require more detail. Councillor Booth stated that his concern is if the extent of the risk is not quantified, such as the agreement between Lincolnshire and the Cross Keys Marina, what are the potential liability and the quantifiable risk to the Council in relation to the health and safety and port navigation. He stated that similarly with regards to the IR35 Regulations, there is no detail to explain what element of the regulations has not been adequately addressed and the reason why he prefers the Executive Summaries are that they provide quantifiable information so that more thorough discussions can be had by the committee. Kathy Woodward stated that from her perspective she would have issue with placing that level of detail into the public domain and an alternative solution may need to be considered about providing the committee with detail outside of the public report. Councillor Booth stated that if he is to fulfil his role as the critical friend he does not have enough information to say he has the assurance to say everything is in hand which is a key function of the Audit and Risk Management Committee. Kathy Woodward agreed to have further discussions with Peter Catchpole on what information needs to be supplied to the committee in order for them to fulfil their role to the best of their ability.

·       Councillor Mrs French asked whether officers had made any progress with regards to the appointment of an Independent Person to sit on the committee? Kathy Woodward stated that there is a potential candidate who has expressed interest in fulfilling the role, however, some further guidance has been requested from CIPFA which is yet to arrive and once it has been reviewed then it can be used to analyse the skills of the committee to create a job description for the role.

·       Councillor Booth asked whether the guidance for Conduct Committee could be used in the interim as it has guidance for appointing independent people? Kathy Woodward explained that it is not the process the guidance is required for, it is concerning the job description. She added that a report would need to come back to committee and to Full Council before the recruitment process can start.

Members AGREED to note the activity and performance of the internal audit function.