To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th February 2023.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2023 were approved as a true and accurate record.

This report sets out RBWM’s Audited Statement of Accounts for 2019/20, the External Auditors’ report on their audit, the ISA260, the management responses to the matters raised in the External Auditors’ report and the Letter of Representation signed by the Borough.

The Committee is asked to note the audited signed accounts for the financial year 2019/20, approve the audited Statement of Accounts and approve the management responses to the matters raised in the External Auditors’ report.

The Committee considered the report setting out RBWM’s Audited Statement of Accounts for 2019/20, the External Auditors’ report on their audit, the ISA260, the management responses to the matters raised in the External Auditors’ report and the Letter of Representation signed by the Borough.

Andrew Vallance, Head of Finance advised the Committee that the accounts had been signed off in Adele Taylor’s final week at the Council noting that they had been previously delayed due to series of objections. He reassured the Committee that it was not uncommon for local authorities to have their accounts signed off a year or two after the year concluded with nationally over 1000 sets of accounts that are late. He was pleased to report that none of the objections were found to have any major substance to them, but it took a long time to be concluded. Benjamin Sheriff from Deloitte was in attendance to answer questions on the objections or the process and Martin Stevens, RBWM’s Technical Accountant was also present.

Councillor Bond enquired on the status of the subsequent three years’ worth of accounts that were backed up behind this set and the timescale for their conclusion. He noted that Deloitte were planning to leave the local authority audit market and wondered if this would impact on their progress. He highlighted a reference at paragraph 4.5 of the report which referred to an unreconciled amount of £1million, an indication that this was not material and sought clarification on what that related to.

Andrew Vallance advised that a set of accounts for the recently concluded financial year of 2022/23 would be available within the next few weeks. He noted that due to limited resources it had not been possible to meet the 31^st May deadline but an unaudited set of accounts would be available to be reviewed shortly.

In relation to 2020/21 and 2021/22 accounts, Benjamin Sheriff of Deloitte advised the meeting that a significant amount of work had already been completed but there were a number of queries that were still being worked through with RBWM’s management team. The target to have those accounts signed off was September 2023 before moving on to considering 2022/23. He confirmed that Deloitte were contracted to conclude the audit of the 2022/23 accounts and they remained committed to delivering that.

Martin Stevens, Technical Accountant, explained that with reference to paragraph 4.5 of the report the Committee should consider the volume of transactions every year and explained that not all of them would be clear. He advised that previously the team could not identify where the income related to, but this had been resolved in the 2020/21 accounts whilst remaining unreconciled in the accounts within the report.

Councillor Wilson sought clarification on whether the amount related to a large number of small transactions or one large value transaction. Information would be circulated to the Committee after the meeting to clarify this point. 

Andrew Vallance added that RBWM do have new auditors, Grant Thornton, appointed for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The report is the first progress report on the internal audit plan for 2023/24 agreed at the February 2023 meeting. It will be presented by the Council’s internal auditors, South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Committee considered the progress report on the internal audit plan relating to the final quarter of 2022/23 presented by Lisa Fryer of the Council’s internal auditors, South West Audit Partnership (SWAP).

Lisa Fryer explained that this was a regular progress report to provide assurance that good progress was being made on the agreed audit plan and to draw the Audit and Governance Committee’s attention to identified areas of weakness requiring improvement. Seven reviews had been completed over this period and opinions were delivered across all of the reviews. She was pleased to report that the Audit Plan was substantially complete with only two audits remaining in progress. There were two high corporate risks reported during the period in business continuity and Section 106 agreements. She explained that where there is a high corporate risk identified this is reported to both senior management and the Audit and Governance Committee.

Lisa Fryer highlighted that the audit plan was risk based and demonstrated that their audit work could be mapped against the strategic risk register. This would demonstrate there had been good coverage against the strategic risk register, noting it would be unlikely to cover all of the strategic risks within one audit year but they have looked at the majority.

Lisa Fryer advised that the Strategic Risk Register had recently undergone a revamp. The report showed the Register as it was in 2022/23 and SWAP had mapped the new audit plan to the new Strategic Risk Register.

The Committee considered Appendix B of the report where SWAP provided summary information of all the audits that had been carried out in the period. During this period there were five summaries with all the key findings for the Committee to consider. Members of the Audit and Governance Committee would be given access to the full reports, management responses and detailed action plans with timeframes to address areas of weakness.

On page 284 the Committee were referred to the audit relating to Business Continuity Management with 13 findings in total and four of which were of the highest priority rating and therefore categorised as having a high corporate risk. The Council has had business continuity in its strategic risk register and work to update this since 2020. At the time of the audit it was found that there was no fully complete and approved business continuity plan, some services had not completed their responses or plan for their service and no training had been undertaken. The findings had been readily accepted by management, an action plan agreed with actions due to be implemented by the end of the calendar year. Lisa Fryer advised that SWAP would undertake a follow up review to evidence this had been completed in 2023/24.

On page 286 the Committee were referred to the audit relating to Section 106 agreements in which SWAP were unable to give any assurance of an adequate control framework being in place and therefore concluded that this was a high corporate risk given the Council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This report is the first annual report of the new internal auditors, South West Audit partnership (SWAP). It will be presented by Lisa Fryer from SWAP.

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Committee considered the first annual report from South West Audit Partnership (SWAP), attached as Appendix 1 of the agenda report. SWAP had issued a limited assurance opinion.

Lisa Fryer presented the report explaining that the opinion was to be expected in the context of the Council’s improvement journey since 2019 and the replacement of the internal auditors as part of the action plan in response to the CIPFA Governance report adopted in the summer of 2020. Audits had been deliberately focussed on areas of concern that officers felt needed improvement. As explained in the previous item three service areas had been categorised as having a high corporate risk during the year including Contract management. This had been identified by the Audit and Governance Committee and senior management as an area of concern. The service was currently working on a contract management framework to be put in place to manage the improvements required and a follow up audit would take place in quarter four. The previous internal audit plan had been substantially delivered. From the three follow up activities undertaken it was shown that overall actions had been taken to mitigate the risks identified.

Lisa Fryer explained that the annual opinion was set out on page 258 of the agenda report and in SWAP’s summary on balance based on their audit work they had given a limited assurance opinion. They had based this on the internal audit assurance work carried out through the year, the grant certification work, the follow up activity and advisory work. The audit work had represented good coverage in terms of strategic risks and corporate priorities as well as covering core areas of finance and governance. SWAP had also undertaken work in service areas of Adults, Children and Place.

Lisa Fryer put the opinion in the context that since being appointed the Council’s management team had been open with audit, had accepted recommendations for improvements and readily agreed proposed action plans. This had led to 70% of reports being in the lower end of the assurance levels. She noted that although she would expect to see limited assurances the percentage was quite high and with three identified corporate risk areas during the year. She reflected that the Council was self-aware and that follow up work carried out did demonstrate that work to mitigate exposure to risk had taken place.

She concluded that based on the evidence gathered through the year the opinion offered was limited but there was good reason to show that there was a desire for improvement at the Council and that progress will continue.

Councillor Wilson asked a representative from the management team to provide perspective on high corporate risk identified for contract management. 

In response Kevin McDaniel advised the meeting that the Council had contracts of various sizes across directorates and different approaches had been taken to the procurement, contract management and the process to renew contracts. The ambition of the small procurement team was to share best practice across the Council.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider the Committee’s work programme for the municipal year.

The Committee considered its work programme and Andrew Vallance advised that there would be a progress report from SWAP at most meetings. The next meeting would consider the draft accounts for 2022/23 and September’s meeting would have the auditor’s accounts for 2020/21 based on the earlier discussion. A risk management paper would be brought to the Committee every six months. Members of the Committee were welcome to propose topics to be considered by the Committee Chair.

In response to Councillor Wilson’s query, it was confirmed that future internal audit progress reports would include both the recent audit work undertaken as well as any follow up activities concluded.

An updated programme would be circulated to the Committee.