Minutes of meeting
Renfrewshire Council · 19 August 2024
Back to Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board — 19 August 2024 and its agenda
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Minute of Meeting Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board Date Time Venue Monday, 19 August 2024 15:00 Council Chambers (Renfrewshire), Council Headquarters, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1AN Present: Councillor Jennifer Adam, Councillor Andy Doig, Councillor Chris Gilmour, Councillor John Gray, Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes, Councillor Robert Innes, Councillor James MacLaren, Councillor Janis McDonald, Councillor Ben Smith In Attendance A MacArthur, Director of Finance & Resources; B Walker, Programme Director (City Deal & Infrastructure), L McIntyre, Head of Policy & Partnerships, L Mahon, Head of Marketing & Communications, L Fingland, Service Planning & Policy Development Manager, and L McGuiness, Strategic Communications Business Partner (all Chief Executive’s); J Lochans, Education Manager (Children’s Services); G Hannah, Head of Climate Change, Public Protection & Roads and G Hutton, Head of Operations & Service Development (all Environment, Housing & Infrastructure); C McCourt, Head of Finance & Procurement, R Cree, Head of People & Organisational Development, M Conaghan, Head of Corporate Governance, K Campbell, Interim Chief Auditor and C MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer (all Finance & Resources). Also in Attendance A Kolodziej, Senior Manager, Azets. Chair Councillor A Doig, Convener, presided. Declarations of Interest and Transparency Statements There were no declarations of interest or transparency statements intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
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1 Summary of Internal Audit Reports for the period 14 May 2024 to 30 June 2024 There was submitted a report by the Interim Chief Auditor relative to the requirement in terms of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that Internal Audit communicated the results of each engagement to the Board. The appendix to the report detailed the category of assurance, service assurance rating and recommended risk ratings for each engagement as either critical, important, good practice or service improvement. A summary of findings was also provided in relation to final reports issued for those engagements completed during the period 14 May to 30 June 2024. The report intimated that in addition to the reports listed in the appendix, Internal Audit had an ongoing commitment to arrange corporate and service initiatives, progress information security matters in partnership with ICT and Legal Services, provide regular advice to officers, provide Internal Audit services to the associated bodies for which Renfrewshire Council was the lead authority and to OneRen and Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Integration Joint Board, co-ordination of the Council’s Corporate Risk Management activity and management of the Counter Fraud, Risk Management and Insurance team. DECIDED: That the summary of Internal Audit findings report finalised during the period 14 May to 30 June 2024 be noted. 2 Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Performance for the Period ending 30 June 2024 There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to Internal Audit and Counter Fraud performance between1 April and 30 June 2024 in terms of the delivery of the Audit Plan for the year which outlined actual performance against targets set by the Director of Finance & Resources. No formal performance targets for fraud investigation had been established as a major part of the team’s work involved being the single point of contact for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Single Fraud Investigation Service and the Service Level Agreement for the work contained time targets for completion It was noted that the types of fraud referrals received to date were wide-ranging and that the team’s objective was to concentrate on investigating those referrals considered to contain the greatest fraud risk. The report also detailed the progress made against local and national initiatives which involvedInternal Audit and the Counter Fraud Team during the period and advised that the Internal Audit Team and the Counter Fraud Team were currently working on a hybrid basis and were undertaking home/site visits when the need arose. DECIDED: That the Internal Audit and Counter Fraud Team progress and performance between 1 April and 30 June 2024 be noted.
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3 Summary of Internal Audit Activity in Partner Organisations for the Period Ending 01 May 2024 to 30 June 2024 There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the outcomes of audits undertaken in partner organisations. The report advised that Members of the Board had expressed an interest in the outcomes of audits undertaken within partner organisation and a revision to the Audit Risk & Scrutiny Board’s Terms of Reference, to facilitate this, had been agreed at the meeting of the Council held on 4 May 2024. The report provided members with a summary of the internal audit arrangements within each partner body and a summary of the internal audit activity between 1 May and 30 June 2024. DECIDED: That the audit arrangements for each partner organisation be noted. 4 Actions Monitoring Report - Dargavel Primary School There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive which provided an update on the open actions relative to Dargavel Primary School. The report advised that following the findings of an independent review into the circumstances of the errors in planning and delivery of primary school provision in the Dargavel area, a SMART action plan had been developed which detailed the Council’s response with a commitment that updates on this plan would be provided to future meetings of the Audit Risk & Scrutiny Board. At a meeting held on 11 January 2024, the Accounts Commission was presented with a statutory S.102 report, as circulated to Councillors on 5 January 2024, by the Controller of Audit on School Accommodation for Dargavel. In the report, the Commission set out its findings, alongside several issues on which it required further investigation. In response, the Council developed an action plan based on the recommendations. The report advised that at the meeting of the Council held on 29 February 2024, elected members considered a report on the outcome of the review of corporate governance arrangements by the Cross-Party Working Group and agreed a number of actions set out in that report. Council further agreed that those actions would be incorporated into the independent review response monitoring arrangements reported to this Board. Appendix 1 to the report provided an update on open actions relative to the Bowles Independent Review Report, the Accounts Commission S.102 report and the actions relative to the report of the Cross-Party Working Group. Appendix 2 summarised all completed actions from each of the three reviews, and Appendix 3 detailed a follow- up report from the Controller of Audit.
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DECIDED: (a) That the update provided in Appendix 1 relative to the Council’s progress with live actions be noted: and (b) That the completed actions provided in Appendix 2, and the follow-on report from the Controller of Audit in Appendix 3 be noted. 5 Summary of recent Audit Scotland publications There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to a summary of recent Audit Scotland publications. The report provided an overview on recent blog posts from the Chair of the Accounts Commission which officers summarised for Board members. DECISION: That the contents of the report be noted. 6 Summary of Internal Audit Investigation Reports for the period 01 May 2024 to 30 June 2024 There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the requirement in terms of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that Internal Audit reported on the findings and conclusions of audit engagements to the Board. The appendix to the report provided a summary of the findings of an internal audit investigation. DECIDED: That the summary of Audit Reports finalised during the period 1 May to 30 June 2024 be noted. 7 Governance Arrangements for the City Region The Programme Director (City Deal & Infrastructure) gave a presentation to update Members on the Governance Arrangements for the City Region. DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.