Agenda and draft minutes

To record the names of apologies given.

As noted above, apologies were received from Councillor Bailey-Morgan for whom Councillor Lee deputised.

To receive any disclosure of interests from councillors or officers in matters to be discussed.

Note: Councillors are reminded of their obligations to declare disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs), other registerable interests (ORIs) and non-registerable interests (NRIs) in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct.

There were no disclosures of interest made.

Councillor Morris announced that, as requested at the previous meeting, EY had provided to the council some further detail used in their asset valuations.  The Director (Finance) confirmed that officers would work with the council’s external valuers to seek to find a solution to the judgemental differences between the assumptions used by the valuation teams employed by EY and the council.

RESOLVED:

          That the minutes of the previous meeting held 29 January 2026 be agreed as a correct record.

– To receive and note questions asked and statements made from members of the public on matters which fall within the remit of the Committee.. 

NB members of the public are required to register with Democratic Services three clear working days before the meeting (see below for further details).

There were no member of the public present.

Antony Harvey (SIAP) introduced the report and together with the Director (Finance) responded to questions from Members’ thereon, including confirming that the plan could be amended if required to deal with new and emerging risks. 

RESOLVED:

That the Internal Audit Charter 2026-27 (Appendix A of the report) and Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2026-27 (Appendix B of the report) be approved.

The Senior Policy and Programme Manager introduced the report and drew members’ attention to the changes since the previous year as summarised in paragraph 11.7 of report CAB3548.

The Senior Programme and Policy Manager, the Director (Legal), the Director (Finance) together with Councillor Cutler responded to members’ questions on the report.  It was noted that the current controls section of risk CR003 should be corrected to refer to the Residents’ Survey which had been undertaken and completed in 2024.  The Director (Legal) confirmed this would be corrected.

The following points were raised for further review:

a)    In relation to risk CR010, further consideration of whether it should be expanded to include reference to risks relating to the Nature Emergency.  The Director (Finance) agreed to discuss this further with the Executive Leadership Board.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation have regard to the discussion of this committee on the policy and the points outlined above in his presentation of report CAB3548 which would be considered at Cabinet on 12 March 2026.

The Senior Policy and Programme Manager introduced the report and responded to members’ questions thereon.  It was noted that the related Annual Governance Statement would be submitted to the July meeting of the committee.

RESOLVED:

That the Local Code of Corporate Governance 2026 be approved, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

The Senior Policy and Programme Manager introduced the report and drew members’ attention to the proposed revised terms of reference for the committee, which followed the CIPFA suggested terms of reference for local authority audit committees as set out in Appendix 4 of the report.  The proposed amendments followed an Internal Audit assessment against the CIPFA Code of Practice for the Governance Internal Audit in UK Local Government as set out in the new Global Internal Audit Standards.

Councillor Becker highlighted that Appendix 2 reported that there were currently no outstanding code of conduct complaints and congratulated officers for their work in enabling this achievement.

The Senior Policy and Programme Manager, the Director (Legal) and the Director (Finance) responded to members’ questions, including on the revised terms of reference.  The following points were highlighted:

a)    Including training on the revised terms of reference as part of the annual member training programme.

b)    With regard to the requirement to produce an annual report and the appropriate format for this report, the Director (Legal) confirmed this would be added to the committee annual work programme and officers would look for examples of good practice from other local authorities.

c)    Members expressed some concern about the requirement to ensure that external audit provided good value for money, given the lack of flexibility over the annual fees.  However, it was noted that the committee did regularly challenge the external audit providers on this point.

RESOLVED:

1.              That the contents of the report be noted, including the progress made against the actions in the Annual Governance Statement.

2.              That the Director (Legal), under delegated authority adopt the updated draft Terms of Reference for the Audit and Governance Committee, as set out in Appendix 4 of the report.  The amended terms of reference will be included in Article 9 of the Council’s constitution and the changes reported to Full Council later this year for noting in accordance with Article 15.

·       Thursday 16 July 2026

·       Thursday 24 September 2026

·       Thursday 26 November 2026

·       Thursday 4 March 2027

RESOLVED:

          That the future dates of the committee during the 2026/27 municipal year be noted.