Agenda

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 16 February 2023.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

To consider the recommendations of the Constitution Review Working Group held on 1 March 2023.

Report to follow.

The report provides an update to the Committee since its last report in April 2022 of the Information Governance function within the Council.

This report updates Councillors on the position of the Council’s Corporate Risk Register. The main updates are as follows:

·       The reporting of the Register continues in the updated format for this quarter;

·       Material updates to the risks are summarised at sections 11-15.

This report sets out the Internal Audit Charter, approval of which by the Audit & Governance Committee is a requirement of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS). A new Internal Audit Data Analytics Strategy, which sets out how Internal Audit will increase its use of data analytics to provide a greater level of assurance, to increase testing coverage and improve efficiency, has been added, together with a number of minor changes.

The Core Audit Plan, Anti-Fraud and Corruption Audit Plan, and detailed Quarter 1&2 plans will be brought to the next scheduled (main) Audit & Governance Committee in July 2023. This is later than normal due to the rearranging of the Committee calendar caused by the May 2023 local elections.  As an interim measure, for this year only, the Head of Internal Audit & Management Assurance will circulate the Core Audit Plan, Anti-Fraud and Corruption Audit Plan, and detailed Quarter 1 plan to the members of the Audit & Governance Committee in April for awareness.

This interim report details progress made on delivery of the 2022/23 Audit  Plan for the period January to February (inclusive) 2023. The report highlights that:

Seven audit assignments have been completed, six Reasonable’ audit opinions and one ‘Consultancy’ audit review; Thirty three auditassignments arein progress; Implementationof auditrecommendations issatisfactory and none have required escalation to Audit & Governance Committee.

The Chief Internal Auditor is expecting to provide the annual overall opinion on the internal control environment through careful management of reduced resource on the high risk areas in the Audit Plan.

This report sets out the indicative list of reports to be considered by the Audit & Governance Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year in order to enable it to fulfil its terms of reference.