Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Myla Arceno, Julie Ashley-Wren, Stephen Booth and John Gardner.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings of the Audit Committee held on 8 February 2022 and 28 February 2022.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings of the Audit Committee held on 8 February 2022 and 28 February 2022 be approved as correct records and signed by the Chair.

To consider the Shared Anti-Fraud Service’s proposed Anti-Fraud Plan for 2022/23 and progress on the Anti-Fraud Plan 2021/22.

The Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS) Manager presented the proposed Anti-Fraud Plan for 2022/23, together with a progress update on the 2021/22 Anti-Fraud Plan.

In response to Members’ questions, the SAFS Manager replied as follows:

·        there had been a slight reduction in fraud reporting from staff during hybrid working throughout the Covid pandemic.  Further fraud awareness training was planned, both face to face and via Teams, with a view to simplifying the process for fraud reporting;

·        public awareness of fraud issues was to be raised through another communications campaign; and

·        a breakdown of the fraud/loss savings of £475,000 for 2021/22, as referred to in Paragraph 4.5 of the report, would be provided as part of the SAFS Annual Report to be submitted to the Committee in September 2022.

It was RESOLVED:

1.          That the proposed SAFS Anti-Fraud Plan for 2022/23, as attached at Appendix A to the report, be approved.

2.          That the activity to protect the Council against fraud and corruption, as outlined in the report, be noted.

To consider progress on the SIAS Internal Audit Plan 2021/22.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager presented a progress report with regard to the SIAS Internal Audit Plan 2021/22 (up to 11 March 2022).

The Committee requested the SIAS Client Audit Manager to re-instate the cancelled Quarter 4 IT Resilience audit into the Audit Plan for 2022/23.

It was RESOLVED:

1.          That the SIAS Internal Audit Plan 2021/22 progress report be noted.

2.          That the changes to the Internal Audit Plan, as at 11 March 2022, be approved.

3.          That the status of Critical and High Priority Recommendations be noted.

4.          That the SIAS Client Audit Manager be requested to re-instate the cancelled Quarter 4 IT Resilience audit into the Audit Plan for 2022/23.

To consider the proposed SIAS Internal Audit Plan for 2022/23.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager presented a report in respect of a proposed SBC Internal Audit Plan for 2022/23.

The following answers were given to questions raised by Members:

·        in relation to the re-instated IT Resilience audit, this would either replace a programmed audit with a lower risk level or would be resourced through contingency audit days;

·        due to its low risk level, no audit of the Indoor Market was planned for 2022/23;

·        the process for deciding which audits to include on the active list and which to include on the reserve list was through the overall risk assessment score for a variety of factors (financial risk; reputational risk; risk to the public, etc.).  The higher the score, the more likelihood of an audit appearing on the active list;

·        although an audit of Council garages was on the reserve list, it was confirmed that the Executive was aware of current performance issues and would be receiving a report in Quarter 1 or Quarter 2 of 2022/23 regarding a Business Case for performance improvement.  The Strategic Director (RP) would give consideration to a possible presentation of the Business Case to a future meeting of the Committee.

It was RESOLVED that the proposed Stevenage Borough Council Internal Audit Plan for 2022/23, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be approved.

To consider an assessment of Corporate Governance arrangements.

The Corporate Performance and Improvement Officer presented a report in respect of the activity carried out in 2021/22 to strengthen the Council’s corporate governance arrangements, together with corporate governance enhancement for delivery in 2022/23, which would be reflected in the Council’s 2021/22 Annual Governance Statement.

It was RESOLVED:

1.          That the progess on corporate governance enhancement activity during 2021/22, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be noted.

2.          That the corporate governance enhancement activity identified for 2022/23, as set out in Appendix B to the report, for inclusion in the Council’s 2021/22 Annual Governance Statement, be noted.

To consider any Part I business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

Effectiveness of the Audit Committee

The Chair advised that she and the Committee’s Independent Member had discussed a review of the effectiveness of the Committee.  To this end, she would be sending some information to Members in the coming months, so that feedback could be reported back to the Committee in the summer of 2022.

To consider the following motions –

1.       That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in Paragraphs 1 – 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2.       That Members consider the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determine whether or not maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

It was RESOLVED:

1.          That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in Paragraphs 1 - 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2.          That Members considered the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determined that the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighed the public interest in disclosure.

To note the latest Strategic Risk Register for Stevenage Borough Council and developments on risk management issues.

The Corporate Performance and Improvement Officer presented a Part II report in respect of the Council’s latest Strategic Risk Register.

It was RESOLVED that the latest Strategic Risk Register (set out in Appendices A1 – A3 to the report) be noted.

To consider any Part II business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

None.