To provide independent assurance on the adequacy of the risk management framework together with the internal control of the financial reporting and annual governance processes by considering the head of internal audit’s annual report and opinion, and the level of assurance it gives over the council’s corporate governance arrangements.

The assistant director, SWAP, introduced the report which gave an overall opinion reached in light of work undertaken in 2016/17. She highlighted that 58 reviews had been completed during the period, of which 38 had an assurance opinion.

One corporate risk had been identified in relation to the security of personal and sensitive data managed by a pre-paid card provider for the council. It was reported that the service had taken action to ensure that relevant data security had been put in place.

Although the number of partial assurance reviews had increased this was reflective of the way the council ensured internal audit focus on higher risk areas, particularly adults and children’s directorates where risk was inherently higher. The assistant director stated that she was encouraged by management response and readiness to accept recommendations and address the matters raised in audit reports.

Reviews set as partial, or no assurance or with priority 4 or 5 recommendations will be subject to follow up review in the following financial year. The assistant director stated that the council had introduced a monitoring system for recommendations and that the committee would receive 6 monthly updates on progress.

Following a suggestion from a member of the committee the chief finance officer agreed that consideration be given when planning work for next year to a more in depth look at the ECC directorate.

A member of the committee queried whether the committee could view the detailed audit reports. It was confirmed that significant findings were reported to the committee and that detailed reports could be made available but would have to be redacted as necessary on a case by case basis.

RESOLVED

that

(a)  having regard to the assurance provided by the annual report the committee did not determine any potential items for inclusion in its future work programme.