Agenda

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2024 as an accurate record.

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) published new Global Internal Auditing Standards (GIAS) in January 2024 with the Internal Audit Standards Advisory Board (IASAB) and CIPFA publishing the Global Internal Audit Standards in the UK Public Sector Application Note, in December 2024.  The existing Internal Audit Charter and Audit Strategy have been reviewed and updated to take into account the requirements of the new Standards.

This report seeks the Committee’s feedback on the Strategy and approval of the Charter and Mandate.

The Strategic Audit Plan documents significant, persistent risks that the Council faces and the associated business areas and is used to support the annual planning process to ensure that internal audit continues to provide assurance over the breadth of the Council’s operations.

The ‘3 plus 9-month’ plan approach allows for the first three months to be identified in detail with the remaining nine months being more flexible to reflect the risks and needs of the Council at the time. 

Local authorities are required to have risk management arrangements in place. The Council’s approach to managing risk is explained in the Risk Management Strategy which is being presented to the Committee for approval.

The purpose of this report is to provide members of the Audit Committee with an update on risk management across the Council.

New Global Internal Audit Standards were published in January 2024, these will become mandatory for the profession in early 2025. Further guidance on the application of the Standards in UK public sector and local government will be provided by IASAB and CIPFA respectively and comes into force from April 2025.

This report provides the Committee with an overview of the standards and some materials to assist Members in gaining a better understanding of requirements.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·       9 June 2025

·       22 September 2025

·       1 December 2025

·       16 March 2026

·       8 June 2026