Agenda item

To present the minutes of the previous meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 19 September, 2018.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 19th

September, 2018, were presented and were confirmed as correct subject to amending the reference to 31 March, 2017 in the first bullet point under item 8.2 to read 31 March, 2018.

Arising thereon –

•           The Head of Audit and Risk reported that the Audit and Governance Committee’s revised Terms of Reference were endorsed by the Executive on 29 October and will now be presented to the Full Council for approval on 11 December, 2018.

The Committee noted that the new terms of reference extend its responsibilities appreciably; the Committee was concerned that it is not meeting those expectations currently and it sought assurance therefore that it will be able to do all that is expected of it within the schedule of meetings assigned to the Committee over the course of the year.

The Head of Audit and Risk said that the new guidelines issued by CIPFA on the function and operation of Audit Committees in local authority and police bodies have increased their responsibilities meaning that the Committee will have to be provided with the information that will enable it to meet all its oversight responsibilities. It is unlikely that all audit committees are fully compliant with the CIPFA terms of reference at this point in time; the CIPFA guidance also includes a self-assessment of good practice which the Audit Committee will undertake to establish where it is at; whether further training might be necessary or desirable and to assess the reports and papers it is likely to need in future to fulfil its enhanced oversight role and to perform effectively. The Officer said that the new expectations on audit committees in relation to this Committee specifically did not overly concern her as taking on the new responsibilities will be a step by step process with the plan being to introduce the new duties incrementally. In addition, a sub-group of the North and Mid-Wales Auditor Partnerhsip (the Heads of Audit) is looking at the issue in terms of moving audit committees forward to ensure they are doing what is expected of them. A meeting of the sub-group scheduled for January, 2019 will consider a plan of action to enable audit committees to reach a position of full compliance. They  are working on a plan from the perspective of the region with one of the suggestions being that Audit Committee members may benefit from sitting in on a meeting of an audit committee in another local authority area to observe practice in other audit committees.

•           The Committee noted that previously there was a provision whereby the Chair and Vice-Chair could meet privately with Internal/External Audit which was useful in terms of being able to raise issues which could then be reported back to the Committee as necessary.

The Head of Audit and Risk said that arrangements for the Chair and Vice-Chair to meet privately with Internal and External Audit without the presence of Management are formalised within the new Terms of Reference.

The information was noted and there were no proposals for additional action.