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

There were no apologies for absence nor substitutions made on this occasion.

NOTE: Councillor Keteca had submitted her apologies for absence to Leadership Support shortly before the meeting had started. However, the Democratic Services Officer was not aware of this at the time the apologies for absence were announced at the meeting.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on

It was move by Councillor Steady, seconded by Councillor Morrison and RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 26 March 2026 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Resources and Services

There were no declarations of interest made by Councillors in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting.

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.

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted notice of a question pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38.

To present for consideration the External Auditor’s Draft Audit Plan and Strategy for the year ending 31 March 2026.

The External Auditor’s representative (Sarah McKean) presented to the Committee their Draft Audit Plan and Strategy for the year ending 31 March 2026 which set out their planned audit work in respect of informing their opinion on the 2025/26 Financial Statements and the Council’s use of resources.

It was highlighted that, as set out in the report, the plan had formed an important element of their audit cycle / timetable along with its associated communication with the Council. Their approach had continued to recognise the importance of fostering effective communication throughout the audit process with those charged with governance.

It was reported that the plan had been set against a number of key elements, which included materiality and risk along with considering other important issues such as the rebuilding assurance approach and associated risks that remained ongoing and built on previous discussions with the Committee.

To provide a periodic report on the Internal Audit function for the period March 2026 – May 2026 and the Head of Internal Audit Annual Report for 2025/26 as required by the professional standards.

The Committee was presented with a report of the Internal Audit Manager which provided a periodic report on the Internal Audit function for the period March 2026 – May 2026 and the Head of Internal Audit Annual Report for 2025/26 as required by the professional standards.

It was explained that the report had been split into three sections with a summary as follows:

Internal Audit Plan Progress 2025/26

It was reported that a satisfactory level of work had been carried out on the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan in order for the Internal Audit Manager to provide an opinion in the Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Report for the 2025/26 financial year.

Eight audits had been completed since the previous update to the Audit Committee in March 2026, all of which had received a satisfactory opinion of adequate or substantial assurance.

Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Report

The Committee heard that the Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Report had concluded that an unqualified opinion of Adequate Assurance had been provided.

The work that had been carried out throughout the year by the Audit Committee, Senior Management and the Internal Audit Team had continued to be delivered in accordance with the principles of the Global Internal Audit Standards; however, full conformance could not be confirmed until the required External Quality Assessment had been completed.

One audit from a total of 25 that had been completed had received a less than satisfactory opinion of ‘Improvement Required’.

It was reported that the Internal Audit Team were currently non-compliant with the Global Internal Audit Standards as they were due an External Quality Assessment (EQA) as previously discussed. A self-assessment for 2025/26 had been completed and previously reported to the Committee. Quotes had been retrieved for the EQA with the expectation to complete in early 2027.

Internal Audit Plan Progress 2026/27

It was highlighted that four audits within the 2026/27 Internal Audit Plan had currently been in fieldwork.

To present for consideration a proposed revised approach to the Council’s Corporate Risk Register as part of its wider assurance framework, along with providing a timely update against the existing Risk Register.

The Corporate Director (Economy and Wellbeing) presented, in the absence of the Corporate Director (Finance & IT), a report (A.3) outlining the proposed revised approach to the Council’s Corporate Risk Register as part of its wider assurance framework, along with providing a timely update against the existing Risk Register.

It was reported that, following associated training, facilitated ‘workshops’, and previous updates presented to the Committee, a revised approach to the Council’s Corporate Risk Register had been developed.

A summary was set out as follows:

·        The context of the proposed revised approach had been based on it forming a key element of the Council’s wider assurance ‘framework’, with updates having aimed to provide a more coherent linkage to other relevant elements and activities that already operated elsewhere within the Council.

·        As highlighted in previous updates, the approach was therefore based on a ‘hybrid’ style that aimed to maintain a more traditional risk register but as part of an assurance / governance ‘foundation’, which could be reviewed on an on-going basis and therefore further revised and adjusted as necessary as part of its practical implementation and embedding over the short to medium term.

It was proposed to further develop the revised approach with the aim of finalising the position for presenting to the Committee’s meeting in September 2026. It was reported that September would be later than planned, but it had been recognised and acknowledged that such an approach maximised the opportunity for Members and Officers to further contribute to, and support, that key activity, that in turn would form an important element of the Council’s wider assurance ‘framework’ going forward.

The importance of providing updates to the Committee in terms of the Council’s existing Corporate Risk Register was highlighted. The existing register had been reported to the Committee in January 2025.

It was noted that despite the full register having not been presented since January 2025, important and relevant updates had been provided to the Committee during 2025/26, with extracts from associated reports set out in Appendix B to the report (A.3).  

In terms of the latest position against the current register, a high-level summary had been set out within the report. There were no major issues to raise, and existing risks would be subject to a ‘mapping’ exercise as part of developing the revised Risk Register approach to ensure an appropriate level of continuity and assurance to Members.

To provide the Committee with the most recent annual letter to the Council from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). The letter relates to complaints processed by the LGSCO in the financial year 2025/26. The submission of the annual letter builds on the established practice of reporting to this Committee and, thereby, extends awareness of such complaints and the opportunity (more generally) for learning by the Council from complaints.

The Committee was provided with the most recent annual letter to the Council from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). The letter related to complaints processed by the LGSCO in the financial year 2025/26. The submission of the annual letter had built on the established practice of reporting to the Audit Committee and, thereby, had extended awareness of such complaints and the opportunity (more generally) for learning by the Council from complaints.

It was reported that the annual letter from the LGSCO had set out a summary (for the previous financial year) of the number of complaints received by the LGSCO concerning the Council, which services they related to, the decisions that had been reached in the year on complaints made to it and compliance with recommendations from it on upheld complaints. The 2026 letter from the LGSCO (in respect of 2025/26) had been set out in Appendix A to the report (A.4).

The annual letters were sent by the LGSCO to the Chief Executive, the Leader of the Council and the Chairman of the Council’s Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee. A brief summary of the statistics from the Annual Letter, and the upheld complaints identified in the annual letter for the year concerned, had been submitted to the Chief Executive’s Officer Management Team, as part of a development of learning across the various upheld complaints over those years.

The Committee heard that where an individual report on a particular complaint to the LGSCO had identified maladministration, the Monitoring Officer was under a duty to report to Cabinet (in respect of executive functions) or Council (in respect of non-executive functions). The annual LGSCO letters had been referenced in reports on individual upheld complaints to Cabinet and Council.

The reporting of LGSCO annual letters to the Audit Committee supported the Committee’s terms of reference to ‘assess external regulatory reports and monitoring any quality improvement programmes where required. Comments are provided to Cabinet as appropriate.’

It was highlighted that the Housing Ombudsman had not made seven recommendations in respect of the Council’s Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy adopted with effect from 1 September 2025, despite not being specifically referenced in the LGSCO annual letter. It was explained that Officers had no reason to believe that the Policy was not compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Code for complaint handling. However, it was further explained that the recommendations from the Housing Ombudsman would adjust some wording in different sections of the Policy which they considered would help to confirm the full application of the Code. On that basis, the recommended changes were being actioned.

It was moved by Councillor Placey, seconded by Councillor Sudra and RESOLVED that:

the Committee notes the contents of the report, including the Annual Letter from the LGSCO for 2025/26.

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.

Members considered a report (A.5) which updated them on the progress on outstanding actions identified by the Committee along with general updates on other issues that fell within the responsibilities of the Committee.

It was reported that a Table of Outstanding Issues had been maintained and reported to each meeting of the Committee. This approach enabled the Committee to effectively monitor progress on issues and items that had formed part of its governance responsibilities.

Updates had been set out against general items, the Annual Governance Statement and External Audit recommendations within Appendices A, B and C of the report (A.5).

The Committee heard that, to date, there had been no significant issues arising from those updates and work had remained in progress or updates had been provided elsewhere on the agenda where appropriate.

Following its approval at a recent meeting of Full Council and as requested by Cabinet, the Council’s revised Procurement Procedure Rules were attached as Appendix D to the report (A.5) for the Committee’s consideration and determination of how it wished to undertake the necessary review.

It was moved by Councillor Sudra, seconded by Councillor Steady and RESOLVED that the Committee:

(a)   notes the updates set out in the report (A.5); and

(b)   notes the Council’s revised Procurement Procedure Rules, as set out in Appendix D (A.5).