Agenda item

To consider a report on the revised Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Audit Committee Position Statement.

Ian Evenett presented a report on the revised Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Audit Commission Statement. The revised statement addressed the significant role that an audit committee played in governance and any issues arising from the review of local audit undertaken by central Government. Whilst following the statement was not a legal requirement, the statement may be considered as proper practice and was supported by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office.

The statement suggested that an audit committee should report annually, in a public report, how it had complied with the position statement, discharged its responsibilities, and include an assessment of its performance.

Discussion focused on member training and the ability for the committee to meet privately and separately with the external auditor and with the head of internal audit.

Mr Swift said that he did not recall there having been any committee training since he had been co-opted but he had been provided with a copy of the Audit Committee Handbook which was very useful.

Members and officers had mixed views about the committee being able to meet privately and separately with the external audit and the head of internal audit. The following points were raised:

-        Private meetings, without other officers there, could be beneficial and could provide an opportunity to ask, for example, if it was felt that sufficient resource was available.

-        Much of what was published for the committee was in the public domain anyway and members should feel able to ask whatever they wanted of the external auditor and head of internal audit in a public setting, with the exception of things relating to specific individuals.

-        Lukman Patel said that members were entitled to raise matters of concern with the Chief Executive / s151 Officer / Internal Audit Manager but private meetings of local authority committees could not be set up without a statutory reason to his knowledge. However, officers would consider this further.

-        The Internal Audit Manager had made it clear to his staff that they could access the Head of Service, the Monitoring Officer and the Chair of the committee if they had concerns about resources.

-        The Internal Audit Manager said he could understand the need to have provision for private contact if need be and there were internal processes in place to facilitate other than via private meetings.

-        The Internal Audit Manager explained that local government audit committees varied widely in terms of size and scope.  This committee could say that it could not meet the recommended practice in relation to private meetings due to its current arrangements.

-        There were safeguards in place and the Whistleblowing Policy could be invoked if need be. This might ultimately lead to something coming back to the committee.

-        Mechanisms were in place but this was about providing opportunities to meet in private if need be.

-        The Vice-chair expressed his hope that anybody with concerns would feel able to approach him.

Ian Evenett confirmed that more detailed guidance would be coming forward in future. The committee would be asked to review its performance against the CIPFA position statement at the end of the current financial year. An effective audit committee contributed greatly to the effectiveness of the authority’s internal control.

IT WAS AGREED

1)    That the update on the revised CIPFA Audit Committee Position Statement be noted with the comments as outlined above, and

2)    That the committee, on an annual basis, review and report on its compliance against the position statement including an assessment of its performance.