The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor King (with no substitute).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Thursday 27 May 2021.

The Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Thursday 27 May 2021 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

There were no Questions on Notice on this occasion.

To provide the Committee with a periodic report on the Internal Audit function for the period April 2021 – June 2021 and the Annual Report, as required by the professional standards.

The Committee had before it a report submitted by the Council’s Internal Audit Manager (A.1) which provided a periodic update on the Internal Audit function for the period April 2021 to July 2021 and the annual report of the Internal Audit Manager. That report was split into three sections as follows:-

1)   Internal Audit Plan Progress 2020/21

·     The 2020/21 Internal Audit Plan  had been completed with sufficient work undertaken in order for the Internal Audit Manager to provide an opinion in the Annual Head of Internal Audit Report.

·     All audits within the Internal Audit Plan had been completed with only two receiving an overall audit opinion of ‘Improvement Required’. All other audits within the plan had received a satisfactory level of assurance.

2)   Annual Report of Internal Audit Manager

·     The Annual Report of the Internal Audit Manager had concluded that an unqualified opinion of Adequate Assurance was  justified.

·     Work carried out throughout the year by the Audit Committee, Senior Management and the Internal Audit Team  had been  in line with guidance provided by CIPFA on the ‘Head of Internal Audit Opinion due to the impact of COVID-19’ released in November 2020.

3)   Internal Audit Plan Progress 2021/22

·     Two audits had been completed with both audits receiving a Substantial Assurance opinion.

·     A further four audits were in fieldwork with another two audits allocated.

INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN PROGRESS 2020/21

The Committee heard how the 2020/21 Internal Audit Plan  had been completed with the exception of two audits being deferred to the 2021/22 Internal Audit Plan and replaced with three audits that had been identified due to the emerging risks from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Audit Committee had agreed  those changes to the audit plan in October 2020. A total number of nine audits  had been completed during April 2021 to June 2021 and all had received a satisfactory assurance opinions with no significant issues being identified.

The Committee also heard how Internal Audit continued to provide advice on internal control, risk management and governance arrangements on a consultative basis. Further to completing audits within the agreed plan, the team had attended meetings on Digital and Office Transformation, new system / process implementations in areas such as Leisure Services, Princes Theatre and  Accountancy. Internal Audit had also continued to provide advice and support in areas such as procurement, payroll and grant management to ensure constitutional and legal requirements were met in new or unique circumstances.

It was reported to Members that the Council had remained focussed on delivering the message that Internal Audit were there to support services and by letting them know about policy and procedural changes, difficult circumstances or just the unknown due to working on new projects / initiatives. The team could advise and support at an early stage rather than create additional work at a later date if governance or internal control issues were identified during an audit at a later date.

Quality Assurance – The Internal Audit function issued satisfaction surveys for each audit completed. In the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To present to the Committee the progress on outstanding actions identified by the Committee along with general updates on other issues that fall within the responsibilities of the Committee.

The Committee had before it a report submitted by the Assistant Director (Finance & IT) (A.2) which presented to the Committee the progress on outstanding actions identified by the Committee, together with updates on other general issues that fell within the responsibilities of the Committee.

• Members were aware that  a Table of Outstanding Issues was maintained and reported to each meeting of the Committee. That approach enabled the Committee to effectively monitor progress on issues and items that formed part of its governance responsibilities.

• Updates were set out against general items, external audit recommendations and the Annual Governance statement within Appendices A, B, and C respectively to the Officer report.

• The Committee was informed that to date there were no significant issues arising from the above, with work remaining in progress or updates provided elsewhere on the agenda where appropriate.

After a detailed discussion the Committee RESOLVED that :-

·         the progress against the actions set out in Appendices A to C of the Report of the Assistant Director (Finance & IT) be noted.