Agenda item

To receive the report of the Devon Audit Partnership

Chair welcomed Brad Hutton, Senior Assurance Manager, and Jo McCormick, Deputy Head of Devon Audit Partnership (DAP).

Councillor Bright joined the meeting at 14:08.

The Senior Assurance Manager introduced himself andit was confirmed that he would be attending future Committee’s following the retirement of Paul Middlemass. 

Members were then directed to page 18 of the agenda and the Internal Audit Annual Report. The audit opinion was confirmed to be a ‘reasonable assurance’. The control framework for the audit was highlighted and explained for members and more detail was provided on how the outcome of ‘reasonable assurance’ had been reached.    

The Senior Assurance Manager highlighted page 19 of the agenda, which detailed the audits that had taken place in 2023-24 along with a breakdown of their specific assurance ratings. 

Detail regarding the completion of planned audits was also noted, along with follow up work undertaken on 2022-23 audits which had returned a limited assurance opinion.  The Senior Assurance Manager mentioned the Housing Options audit opinion, which was one of the reassessments, and had now moved to a ‘reasonable assurance’.

The remainder of the report was summarised and the attached appendices were noted and explained before members were asked for their questions.

Members queried the Active Torridge audit findings and requested more detail on the limited assurance opinion mentioned on page 19 of the agenda. DAP agreed to follow this up with the Chair following the meeting.

Members discussed the audit opinions and the rating systems DAP have in place and queried if there was any benchmarking of these opinions, to provide context.  The Deputy Head of DAP provided examples of how this was possible through the work completed with their client base within Devon. The Deputy Head of DAP was not aware of national benchmarking and advised of the complexities of this.

The Section 151 Officer went on to note the summary report and the actions from audits (pages 26-27) and advised of how this could be used to gauge risk and assurance level.

There was a discussion regarding cyber security and member training. The continued risk to the Council of an attack were highlighted for members, along with the potential outcomes given the Council’s reliance on IT infrastructure for the day to day running of council business. 

The Chief Executive responded to discussion on training for members and it was suggested that Group Leaders could reinforce the importance of training within their groups.

Member’s thanked DAP officers for their report and mentioned some of the positive outcomes noted in the report.

Discussion continued in relation to member training, and how to make this more accessible for members. There was also discussion on the issue of recruitment and how this appears to be a theme within the report.

The Deputy Head of DAP explained these 2 areas were key risks on most Local Authority risk registers. It was suggested that some benchmarking on cyber security training across other Local Authorities could be brought to the following meeting for members. 

In response the Chief Executive highlighted there was a Corporate Peer Challenge recommendation to set up a Member Development Working Group and this would be led by Group Leaders and the Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive also provided a brief update on recruitment, and work taking place to update HR policies at TDC.

Members duly noted the report.