Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

Mr Dulay from BDO, the Council’s Internal Auditors presented the Internal Audit Annual Report 2024/25, which summarised the work undertaken and management actions arising from the audit. It also provides the annual opinion of the Head of Internal Audit required by the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

Mr Dulay informed the Group that the Council has had another positive year, has had a sound system of internal control, that controls were applied consistently across services and has reached an overall opinion of substantial assurance which is the highest level of assurance that can be awarded and is not typical of similar authorities and is a significant achievement.

Mr Dulay continued to advise the Group that the audit had issued no high-level findings and a total of 2 medium recommendations, reflecting limited control weaknesses, adding this demonstrates the Council’s positive culture for maintaining effective controls, and where recommendations have been provided these have been implemented in a timely manner throughout the year.

Councillor Gowland expressed her thanks to the finance department and fellow Councillors involved with the scrutiny of the Council’s financial governance.

The Chair asked a specific question in relation to a topic covered in a recent Licensing Committee where there had been an under payment from two venues within the Borough and the time taken to discover the underpayment and whether it is considered timely for the Council’s processes and systems in this area to be added to the audit programme. The Director for Finance and Corporate Services explained the audit plan is flexible and specific audits maybe added if, and when necessary. Mr Dulay added that any additional work is usually highlighted by management responses and would be followed up within the audit programme.

Councillor Om commented on the summary of findings and the yearly comparisons for Operational Effectiveness which had increased for 2024/25. Mr Dulay explained there was an increase in the number of moderate assurances across the reviews, but overall the control for Operational Effectiveness remained positive.

It was RESOLVED that Governance Scrutiny Group noted the Internal Audit’s Annual Report in relation to 2024/25 (Appendix A)