Agenda item

To present the Committee’s Annual Report for 2021/22 (Chair’s Report).

The Annual Report on the Governance and Audit Committee 2020/2021 – Chair’s report was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Head of Audit & Risk reported that the Governance and Audit Committee is a key component of the Council’s governance framework.  Its function is to provide an independent and high-level resource to support good governance and strong financial management and to provide ‘those charged with governance’ independent assurance on the adequacy of the risk management framework, the internal control environment and the integrity of the financial reporting and governance processes.  CIPFA guidance states that audit committees should report regularly on their work to ‘those charged with governance’, and at least annually report an assessment of their performance.   The Annual Report will be submitted to the full Council at its meeting to be held on 13 September, 2022 for information.  She noted that the composition of the Committee has been changed with a third of the Committee being Lay-Members and the Chair having to be a Lay-Member.    The composition and arrangements section of the report refers to the Committee’s Terms of Reference and the items that the Committee have discussed in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.  She referred to Page 8 of the report – Treasury Management and it highlights the reports that the Governance and Audit Committee have received from the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer so as to discharge its function as part of the Terms of Reference of the Committee.  The Annual Report highlights the subject matter of reports submitted by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer and the questions asked by the Committee and the response thereafter received by the Officer and whether the Committee has resolved to accept the reports. 

The Head of Audit & Risk further reported that the Governance and Audit Committee is required to meet a minimum of four times per year.  The Committee met formally (virtual meetings) on nine occasions which included three special meetings to consider the draft and final Statement of Accounts 2020/2021 and the report of External Audit on the Financial Statements (ISA 260 Report).  The membership and attendance at meetings during 2021/2022 are attached within Appendix A of the report.  Members of the Committee received training on new legislation, professional guidance and research and the attendance can be seen at Appendix B of the report.  The Members of the Governance and Audit Committee will be asked to complete a self-assessment of their knowledge and skills which will assist in developing a training programme for training and development needs of the Members of the Committee.  A wide range of courses are available for the Committee with some courses mandatory in accordance with the responsibility of the Members of the Committee i.e. Treasury Management Training, GDPR.  She noted that discussion will be undertaken during the summer with the Chair as to the training sessions that he considers mandatory for the Committee.

In response to a question raised by the Committee as to whether this Committee has to assess the efficiency/effectiveness on the impact it has within the Council and it would be good practise to keep evidence over the year when the Committee has made comments, propose suggestions or request that an item be scrutinise so that it can be included in the Annual Report.  The Head of Audit & Risk responded that the minutes of the Committee are an excellent source to monitor the actions discussed at the meeting and recommendations taken.  The actions taken by the Committee is incorporated within an ‘action tracking system’ and the self-assessment process will be forwarded across the services of the Council and stakeholders who rely on the work of the Committee (this process will be undertaken during the summer). 

In response to a question raised that there is a statutory duty that the Committee is required to meet a minimum of four times per year but due to the workload of the Committee it was considered that meetings would be overloaded and the Committee met a total of 9 times in 2021/22.  The Head of Audit & Risk responded that the Forward Work Programme at Item 9 of the Agenda will give an opportunity for the Committee to review the frequency of the meeting if they consider that there are too many items on the Agenda and another meeting can be arranged. 

It was RESOLVED to endorse the Annual Report of the Governance and Audit Committee for 2021/2022 prior to its submission to the meeting of the full County Council on 13 September, 2022.