Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

Mr Armstrong from BDO, the Council’s Internal Auditors presented the Internal Audit Annual Report for 2023/24, which included the annual opinion of the Head of Internal Audit required by Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

The Group was informed that the Internal Auditors had provided substantial assurance for the second year running, which reflected the positive outcomes referred to in this and previous reports to the Group. Mr Armstrong stated that other outside assurance was also taken, for example the broadly positive outcome from the recent Peer Challenge Review, together with the culture and cooperation of the management team, which had been positive over the last 12 months. The Group noted that every report had a substantial opinion on either the control design or effectiveness, or both, with the graphs on page 50 onwards of the report, which highlighted the positive trajectory, with a reduction in the number of medium recommendations. There was also a generally stable position on the number of control design opinions and a slight improvement on the number of control effectiveness opinions. Mr Armstrong concluded by referring to the key themes and added value from the work throughout the year, which was detailed at pages 52 and 53 of the report.

Councillor Butler welcomed this positive report and questioned what would happen going forward and Mr Armstrong confirmed that work was already progressing for 2024/25. The Director – Finance and Corporate Services referred to the considerable work undertaken by both officers and Councillors to get to this very positive position, and whilst not being complacent, everyone would continue to work hard to maintain this, and he believed that this was the third year that the Council had gained substantial assurance. 

It was RESOLVED that the Internal Audit’s Annual Report in relation to 2023/24 be noted.