Argyll and Bute HSCP Audit and Risk Committee held on 20 February 2024
Argyll and Bute Council · 27 March 2024
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 27 March 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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MINUTES of MEETING of ARGYLL AND BUTE HSCP AUDIT AND RISK COMMITTEE held BY MICROSOFT TEAMS on TUESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2024 Present: Councillor Kieron Green (Chair) Susan Ringwood Councillor Dougie Philand Emily Woolard Attending: Fiona Davies, Chief Officer, Argyll and Bute HSCP James Gow, Head of Finance, Argyll and Bute HSCP Charlotte Craig, Business Improvement Manager, Argyll and Bute HSCP Paul MacAskill, Chief Internal Auditor, Argyll and Bute Council Mhairi Weldon, Senior Audit Assistant, Argyll and Bute Council Lynsey Innis, Senior Committee Assistant, Argyll and Bute Council Gregory Odour, Audit Manager, Mazars LLP 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. There were no apologies for absence intimated. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest intimated. 3. MINUTES The Minute of the meeting of the Argyll and Bute HSCP Audit and Risk Committee, held on 19 December 2023, was approved as a correct record. 4. INTERNAL AUDIT UPDATE The Committee gave consideration to a report which provided an update on the work carried out by Argyll and Bute Council’s Internal Audit Team on audits which are of operational relevance to the Committee. The report also provided and update on actions from audit reports already presented to the Committee which were still open as at 31 December 2023. Decision The Audit and Risk Committee reviewed and considered the progress on completion of the internal audit recommendations.
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(Reference: Report by Chief Internal Auditor, dated 20 February 2024, submitted) 5. COMMITTEE SELF-ASSESSMENT Consideration was given to a short verbal update from the Business Improvement Manager who outlined the low response rates received to date in relation to the annual review questionnaire and advised that a decision had been taken to delay the submission of the Committee’s Annual Report to the Integration Joint Board. She advised that this would now be submitted to the meeting scheduled to take place in May 2024 and as such she would arrange to re-circulate the annual review questionnaire with a view to generating a better response rate. Decision The Audit and Risk Committee: 1. Noted the information provided. 2. Noted that the responses received in respect of the Self-Assessment will be fed into the Committee’s Annual Report prior to it being submitted to the Integration Joint Board at their meeting in May 2024. 6. AUDIT FEES The Committee gave consideration to a report which outlined the proposed fee for the external audit of the Annual Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024. Decision The Audit and Risk Committee: 1. Noted the contents of the report and the increase in audit fees. 2. Noted that the Finance Network are preparing a response on behalf of the sector. (Reference: Report by Head of Finance, dated 20 February 2024, submitted) 7. AUDIT SCOTLAND PUBLICATIONS Consideration was given to a report which provided an overview of relevant recent Audit Scotland publications. Decision The Audit and Risk Committee noted that Audit Scotland continue to publish reports that may be of interest to members of the Committee. (Reference: Report by Head of Finance, dated 20 February 2024, submitted) 8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The Audit and Risk Committee noted that their next meeting was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 9 April 2024.