The Council is asked to approve the Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18.

40.1           Attention was drawn to the report, circulated with the Agenda, at Pages No. 9-18 which Members were asked to consider and approve. The Mayor invited the Vice-Chair of the Audit Committee to present the Committee’s 2017/18 annual report to the Council.

40.2           The presentation covered the following key points:

·         The Role of the Audit Committee – very important role of assurance and to ensure the Council’s internal control environment, including risk and governance, was operating effectively. Assurance mainly came from internal audit, external audit and the Finance Team. The Audit Committee was not a finance Committee as the bulk of the Work Programme was focused on governance.

·         Not Just About Finances – the Committee had responsibility to approve the Council’s Statement of Accounts but was also the catalyst for changes to the garden waste scheme which generated nearly £800,000 income and was a direct result of an internal audit report and the Audit Committee asking for improvements; Ubico client monitoring following an internal audit report that had required immediate improvements on how the Council monitored the contract; tree inspections had previously been paper-based but now had a cloud-based solution; and the complaints framework had been redesigned as the previous framework was not effective.

·         Sources of Assurance – Internal Audit – this was a small but effective team which gave the Audit Committee an independent viewpoint. An external peer assessment of internal audit in 2017 had concluded it was compliant with Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. During the year, the Committee had received internal audit reports on a wide range of Council activity e.g. the Public Services Centre refurbishment, cemeteries, land charges, absence management etc. Overall, audit opinions issued during the year had been positive with 37 out of 39 opinions showing either ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ levels of control. 27 audit recommendations had been made during the year with only two categorised as ‘high’ and 10 audits having no recommendations.

·         Sources of Assurance – External Audit – the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton, gave the external opinion on how well the Council was performing. The external auditors had provided a positive conclusion on the Council’s statement of accounts, finding them to have been produced in a true and accurate manner with no amendments required, it was satisfied with the improved arrangements for the monitoring of the Ubico contract and had concluded that the Council had proper arrangements in place to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness of resources.

·         Annual Governance Statement – Audit Committee Effectiveness -  the Council had a statutory requirement to produce an Annual Governance Statement which provided a high level overview of its overall governance arrangements and identified areas for improvement including risk management.

·         Audit Committee Effectiveness – similar to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Audit Committee sought to maximise its value and emerging ideas included: the introduction of a six-monthly newsletter; changes to the Committee’s Terms of Reference and its name; building on training already received; more challenge to Officers; and a formal review of effectiveness.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40

 To approve the annual Audit Committee Report.

18.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated separately, which attached, at Appendix 1, the Audit Committee Annual Report 2017/18 for approval.

18.2          The Head of Corporate Services explained that it was good practice to produce an annual report to demonstrate the broad range of issues that the Audit Committee had considered and reviewed throughout the year.  It had also been agreed at an Audit Committee Workshop that an annual report would help to raise the profile of the Committee as the perception among the wider Membership was that it was purely financial.  A report had been compiled based on the work that the Committee had undertaken in 2017/18 including: Internal Audit monitoring reports; Annual Governance Statement; financial reporting including the presentation and approval of the Council’s Statement of Accounts; Gloucestershire Counter Fraud Unit reports; external audit monitoring reports; reports on key governance frameworks e.g. safeguarding, health and safety etc.; and Internal Audit operational reports such as the Internal Audit Charter and Internal Audit Peer Review.  Following approval, the annual report would be presented by the Chair of the Audit Committee at Council in September 2018.

18.3          The Chair felt this was a good start in terms of changing perceptions of the Audit Committee which was much more than just a finance committee and was actually becoming increasingly about policy and governance.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          That the Annual Audit Committee Report 2017/18 be APPROVED.