Minutes
North Ayrshire Council · 4 June 2026
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Committee — 4 June 2026 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 12 March 2026 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, Donald Reid and John Sweeney. Present (Remote Participation) Davina McTiernan and Donald L Reid. In Attendance D. Hammond, Executive Director (Communities and Housing); T. Reaney, Head of Neighbourhood Services (Place); A. McClelland, Head of Education Service (Education); E. Stewart, Head of Children, Families and Criminal Justice (Health and Social Care Partnership); M. Boyd, Head of Finance; and P. Brown, Senior Manager (Audit, Fraud, Safety & Risk) (Finance); E. Nixon, Senior Manager (Customer Services) (People & ICT); R. Lynch, Senior Manager (Legal); S. Wilson, Committee Services Officer, and M. Sugden, Communications Officer (Media and Internal Communications) (Democratic Services) (Corporate Services). Also In Attendance D. Jamieson (Audit Scotland) Chair Councillor Bell in the Chair. Apologies Cameron Inglis, Tom Marshall and Shaun Macaulay. 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 accuracy of the Minutes of the Meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee held on 29 January 2026 will be 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. Elected Member Requests 2025 Mid-Year Report Submitted report by the Head of Democratic Services informing of the Council's performance relating to Elected Member requests handled in the first six months of Financial Year 2025/26. Officers responded to Members’ questions and the Committee agreed to note the report and the information provided. 4. Code of Corporate Governance Submitted report by the Head of Democratic Services seeking approval of Code of Corporate Governance Statement for the Financial Year 2026/27 attached at Appendix 1 to the report. The Committee agreed to approve the Code of Corporate Governance Statement 2026/27 attached at Appendix 1 to the report. 5. Internal Audit Plan 2025/26: Progress Update Submitted report by the Head of Finance updating on progress made in delivering the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan. Officers responded to Members’ questions and the Committee agreed to note the current position with the 2025/26 Internal Audit Plan. 6. Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud Action Plans: Quarter 3 Update Submitted report by the Head of Finance advising on the progress made by Council Services in implementing the agreed actions from Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud reports as at 31 December 2025. Officers responded to Members’ questions and the Committee agreed to note the current position with the implementation of Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud actions. 7. External Audit Plan 2025/26 Submitted report by the Head of Finance informing of the External Audit Plan for 2025/26 attached at Appendix 1 to the report. Officers responded to Members’ questions and the Committee agreed to note the External Audit Plan for 2025/26 attached at Appendix 1 to the report.
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8. Internal Audit Reports Issued Submitted report by the Head of Finance informing of the findings of Internal Audit work completed since January 2026. The Committee agreed to consider the outcomes from the Internal Audit work completed. 9. Internal Audit Plan 2026/27 Submitted report by the Head of Finance informing of the proposed Internal Audit Plan for 2026/27 attached at Appendix 1 to the report. Officers responded to Members’ questions and the Committee agreed to approve the Internal Audit Plan for 2026/27 attached at Appendix 1 to the report. 10. Standing Item of Business : Consideration of Future Business for Scrutiny Members were invited to consider potential items of scrutiny business for future meetings. Councillor Sweeney requested a report outlining policies and procedures within the Council’s Housing Service, particularly in relation to homeless prevention and housing advice. The report was requested to include information on how the Service manages expectations. The Service undertook to arrange a briefing note in the first instance to share with the Members of the Committee. Councillor D. L Reid requested a report outlining the Council’s role and responsibilities as a Corporate Parent. It was agreed that an Elected Member briefing, arranged by Health and Social Care Partnership, would be beneficial. The Service undertook to arrange the briefing and issue an invite to all Elected Members. 11. Urgent Items There were no urgent items. The meeting ended at 11.05 a.m. The full meeting proceedings can be viewed at https://north-ayrshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/home
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Audit and Scrutiny Committee 14 April 2026 At a Special 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, Donald Reid, Cameron Inglis, Shaun Macaulay and John Sweeney. Present (Remote Participation) Davina McTiernan and Donald L Reid. In Attendance D. Hammond, Executive Director (Communities and Housing); S. Anson, Executive Director (Education); F. Walker, Head of Service (People & ICT); A. Craig, Head of Service; S. Wilson, Committee Services Officer, and J. Hutcheson, Senior Communications Officer (Media and Internal Communications) (Democratic Services) (Corporate Services). Also In Attendance Ian Murdoch and Ronnie Stalker. 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. Additional Bank Holiday : 15 June 2026 Submitted report by the Head of Democratic Services to consider a call-in request in respect of the decision taken by Cabinet at its meeting on 17 March 2026. The original Cabinet report was attached at Appendix 1 to the report. Appendix 2 to the report contained a briefing note provided by the Head of Service (People & ICT) in response to the matters raised in the call-in request form. The Cabinet, on 17 March 2026, agreed to approve the additional bank holiday for all employees on Monday 15 June 2026 and authorised the Head of Education to write to the Scottish Government to obtain approval for one less teaching day. Subsequently, a call-in request was received from Councillors Stalker, Gallacher and Murdoch in the following terms:-
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Reason for Call-In “The cost: the report highlights that the cost of the bank holiday to the Council will be £73,000 in overtime which could potentially rise if staff take the bank holiday at another time which would require a backfill. Furthermore, productivity costings show that the bank holiday will cost the council £1.2m in loss of productivity from staff not working. At a time when we are asking residents in North Ayrshire to pay more council tax (8.5% rise for 26/27) we should be prioritising spending money on services to do those jobs, not a bank holiday that is not necessary. The necessity of the holiday: The game will kick off at 2am on the 14th of June which is a Sunday morning. This gives staff members ample time to have all day to rest and be ready for work on the Monday morning. This shows that the bank holiday is not necessary for staff to enjoy the game with family, when this can be done the day before Monday.” Desired Outcome “For the bank holiday not to go ahead.” The Head of Democratic Services summarised the procedure for considering the call-in request in terms of Standing Orders and referred to the Cabinet decision. Thereafter, the Members who had requested the call-in were invited to speak and Councillor Stalker addressed the Committee in support of the call-in request. The Chair then invited Councillor Larsen, as the Cabinet Member for Finance, to address the meeting. Councillor Larsen explained the reasoning for the Cabinet decision and referred to a briefing note from the Head of Service (People & ICT) provided at Appendix 2 to the report. She was also heard in answer to Members’ questions. The Head of Service (People & ICT) was heard in answer to Members’ questions. Councillor Murdoch was also heard in summing up the reasoning for the call in. Councillor Inglis, seconded by Councillor Sweeney, moved that the Committee agree to accept the terms of the call-in request and refer the matter to the Cabinet for further consideration with the recommendation that the holiday on 15th June 2026 should not be approved for all staff. As an amendment, Councillor Macaulay, seconded by Councillor McTiernan moved that the Committee agree not to support the call-in request and that the decision of Cabinet should stand. There followed questions, debate and summing up on the motion and amendment presented for consideration.
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Thereafter, on a division and a roll call vote, there voted for the amendment, Councillors Macaulay and McTiernan (2), and for the motion, Councillors Bell, Reid, Inglis, D.L Reid and Sweeney (5). The motion was declared carried. Accordingly, the Committee agreed (a) to support the call-in request; and (b) that the matter be referred to Cabinet for further consideration with the recommendation that the holiday on 15th June 2026 should not be approved for all staff. The meeting ended at 10.45 a.m.