Issue - meetings

Simon Martin, the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) Officer, presented the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report 2019/20. He briefly summarised the purpose and contents of the report. The key messages, contained in the report were that the Council’s internal control framework was largely working well; 29 audits had been carried out, with 83 recommendations made. SIAS had met or exceeded all targets for 2019/20 and therefore the Council had the vast majority of its internal audit plans successfully delivered. The SIAS Officer summarised the content of the Audit Charter

The SIAS Officer explained that as part of the recommendations, there was a need for Members to provide management assurance that the scope and resources for internal audit had not been subject to inappropriate limitations in 2019/20.

Councillor Corpe, queried the the term ‘agreed non-conformance’.  The SIAS Officer said there were two levels of non-conformance. He explained what the two levels of non-comformance were.

The Chairman sought and was provided with clarification on a number of issues:

·        The identity of the Head of Assurance at Hertfordshire County Council.

·        The timescale for the external quality assessment of SIAS and potential auditors.

·         The implementation of recommendations identified by the Information Management Audit.

·        The improved position of Herts Home Improvement following the previous audit.

·        The forthcoming high-profile recommendation from the draft Information Management Audit.

The Chairman asked the Head of Strategic Finance and Property for assurance that the scope and resources for internal audit were not subject to inappropriate limitations in 2019/20.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property confirmed there had been no inappropriate limitations or restrictions.

It was moved by Councillor Corpe and seconded by Councillor Stowe that the recommendations, as detailed, be approved.  After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that (A) the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report were noted by the Committee;

(B) the results of the self-assessment required by the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) were noted by the Committee;

(C) the SIAS Audit Charter was approved by the Committee; and that:

(D) management confirmation that there had been no inappropriate limitations on the scope and resources for the internal audit for 2019/20 be noted.