2. 250313 Minute
North Ayrshire Council · 29 May 2025
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Committee — 29 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Audit and Scrutiny Committee 13 March 2025 At a Meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee of North Ayrshire Council at 10.00 a.m. involving participation by remote electronic means and physical attendance within the Council Chambers, Irvine. Present (Physical Participation) John Bell, Eleanor Collier, Cameron Inglis, Davina McTiernan, Donald L. Reid and John Sweeney. Present (Remote Participation) Donald Reid In Attendance (Physical Participation) D. Hammond, Executive Director (Communities and Housing); Kerry Logan, Head of Service, (Health and Community Care) (Health and Social Care Partnership); R. McCutcheon, Executive Director, M. McNeil, Senior Manager (Waste Resources) (Place); A. McClelland, Head of Service, C. Hope, Senior Manager (Facilities Management) (Education); M. Boyd, Head of Service, D. Forbes, Senior Manager (Strategic Business Partner), J. McCallum, Senior Manager (Audit, Fraud, Safety and Risk) (Finance); F. Walker, Head of Service , J. Smillie, Senior Manager (People Services), F. Carlyle, Team Manager (HR), E. Nixon, Senior Manager (Customer Services) (People and ICT); R. Lynch, Senior Manager (Legal Services) and H. Young, Senior Committee Services Officer (Democratic Services) (Corporate Services). Also in Attendance (Physical Participation) D. Jamieson and F. Mitchell-Knight Audit Scotland. Chair Councillor Bell in the Chair. Apologies Tom Marshall 1. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest by Members in terms of Standing Order 11 and Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for Councillors. 2. Minutes The Minutes of (i) the Ordinary Meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee held on 23 January; and (ii) the Special Meeting held on 6 February 2025 were confirmed and the Minutes signed in accordance with Paragraph 7 (1) of Schedule 7 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
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3. Sickness Absence Management Submitted report by the Head of Service (People & ICT) on the Council’s Sickness Absence policies and how these are managed, monitored and reported. The Wellbeing@Work Supporting Attendance Policy was set out at Appendix A, Maximising Attendance Policy (Teachers) set out at Appendix B, Wellbeing@Work Supporting Attendance Policy Management Prompts set out at Appendix C, Maximising Attendance Policy (Teachers) Triggers set out at Append D, Absence Targets set out at Appendix E, Directorate Summary – Absence at 2024/25 set out at Append F and the Local Government Benchmarking Framework set out at Appendix G to the report. Officers were heard in response to Members’ questions. The Committee agreed to a further report detailing the impact of sickness absence levels on the overtime budget of services and loss of service. Noted. 4. Accounts Commission’s Report: Local Government in Scotland: Financial Bulletin 2023/24 Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) informing the Committee on the findings of the recently published report with the feedback on each of the key messages identified set out at Appendix 1 to the report. Noted. 5. Internal Audit Plan 2024/25: Progress Update Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) requesting approval for an amendment to the 2024/25 Internal Audit Plan set out at Appendix A to the report. The Committee agreed to (a) note the factors affecting the completion of the Internal Audit Plan; and (b) approve the deferral of one audit set out at Appendix A to the report. 6. Internal Audit Reports Issued Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) informing on the findings of Internal Audit work completed since January 2025 Officers were heard in response to Members’ questions. Noted. 7. Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud Action Plans: Quarter 3 update Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) on the progress made by Council Services in implementing the agreed actions from Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud reports as at 31 December 2024. Appendix 1 to this report provides the
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Committee with full details of the three actions that were not completed within the agreed timescales. Officers were heard in response to Members’ questions. The Committee agreed to (a) note the current position with the implementation of Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud actions; and (b) challenge Services that have not implemented actions within the previously agreed timescales. 8. Internal Audit Charter 2025 Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) on the updated Internal Audit Charter set out at Appendix A to the report. Officers were heard in response to Members’ questions. The Committee agreed to (a) note the changes in Internal Audit standards and that the requirements have been incorporated into the Internal Audit Charter where necessary, (b) note the inclusion of the Integrated Joint Board within the scope of the Internal Audit Charter, (c) approve the Internal Audit Charter set out at Appendix A to the report, and (d) future amendments to the Charter will be made where a need is identified. 9. Internal Audit Plan 2025/26 Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) on the proposed internal audit plan for 2025/26 with the internal audit plan for quarter one and two of 2025/26 set out at Appendix A and a list of potential audit areas set out at Appendix B of the report. The Committee agreed to approve the internal audit plan for 2025/26. 10. External Audit Plan 2024/25 Submitted report by the Head of Service (Finance) on the External Audit Plan for 2024/25 with Audit Scotland’s Annual Audit Plan for the 2024/25 audit set out at Appendix 1 to the report. Officers were heard in response to Members’ questions. Noted. 11. Standing Item of Business: Consideration of Future Business for Scrutiny Members were invited to consider potential items of scrutiny business for future meetings. The Committee noted the request from Councillor Donald Reid for a report on supplier and quality issues of purple bin lids and the replacement process to be brought to Audit & Scrutiny.
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12. Urgent Items There were no urgent items. The meeting ended at 11.30 a.m. The full meeting proceedings can be viewed at https://north-ayrshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/home