Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

Mr Armstrong from BDO, the Council’s Internal Auditors, presented the Internal Audit Progress Report Quarter 3 which reflected progress made for the year against the annual Internal Audit programme, recommended changes to the programme and any significant recommendations to the audits.

Mr Armstrong informed Members of the Group of an update in professional standards for internal audit, being that in January 2024, the Institute of Internal Auditors published the new Global internal audit standards and that in December 2024, the Internal Audit Standards Advisory Board published Application Note Global Internal Audit Standards in the UK Public Sector.

Mr Armstrong confirmed that BDO had been involved in the consultation process for the new Application Note and were reviewing their processes to evaluate any changes or amendments needed but remained confident that their existing processes would meet the new requirements with minimal change.

Mr Armstrong referred Members of the Group to the summary review of the audit programme for 2024/25 and confirmed that seven of the nine reviews had been completed and that they were on track to complete the remaining two reviews by the deadline of June 2025.

In relation to the Carbon Management Action Plan and the Housing Benefits review, Mr Armstrong noted that BDO had provided a substantial assurance for the Carbon Management Action Plan design, with two medium assurances, being around how SMART the actions were and the monitoring of delivery of the actions. In relation to Housing Benefits he said that substantial assurance had been provided for the Control Design and Effectiveness with two low (housekeeping) findings over documentation and review and approval process of discretionary housing payments, with the Council having accepted and completed recommendations.

Councillor Om asked about the Cyber Security review and Mr Armstrong confirmed that findings had been presented to the last meeting of this Committee.

Councillor Polenta noted reference in the report to gas consumption in leisure centres being a high contributor to emissions and also that BDO did not provide assurance as to whether data provided was correct. Mr Armstrong explained that the scope of the review did not involve validation of data but related to governance and management and monitoring of data and activity by the Council. He confirmed that there were clear actions for various service areas, including leisure centres.

Councillor Birch asked for information about Co2 emissions from Bingham Arena. The Head of Finance said that she would feedback this request.

The Chair noted that Bingham Arena had been designed with Co2 emissions in mind to make it as efficient as possible and that the Council was currently looking to upgrade Cotgrave and Keyworth Leisure Centres to reduce their carbon footprints.

It was RESOLVED that the Governance Scrutiny Group considered the quarter 3 progress report for 2024/25 (Appendix A) prepared by the Council’s Internal Auditor.