Issue - meetings
Evaluation and Recommendations following completion of the Self-Assessment Toolkit
Meeting: 19/03/2024 - Audit and Governance Committee (Item 49)
49 Audit and Governance Committee Effectiveness Review 
PDF 210 KB
Purpose:
To present a summary of the findings / conclusions resulting from the AC Effectiveness Survey responses
Recommendation:
That the Audit and Governance Committee recommends to Council:
- A reduced Audit and Governance Committee to 11 Councillors.
- A recruitment exercise for up to 2 Independent Persons.
- No Members of the Executive to sit on Audit and Governance Committee.
- A programme of training is developed to ensure Members of the Audit and Governance Committee are able to discharge their responsibilities confidently.
Invited:
Andrea McCaskie, Director of Governance
Lucy Cater, Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Director of Governance presented the report which provided a summary of the findings / conclusions resulting from the Audit and Governance Committee Effectiveness Survey responses.
The report outlined how eleven Members of the Audit and Governance Committee had completed the survey, along with three non-Audit and Governance Committee Members.
The key areas included in the survey included Organisational knowledge, Audit and Governance Committee role and functions, governance, internal audit, financial management and reporting, external audit, risk management, counter fraud, values of good governance, treasury management. Respondents were also asked about their skills i.e. professional qualifications, previous committee experience and whether they felt able to challenge and evaluate data. Three additional questions were added to the survey.
- CIPFA's suggested size of an Audit Committee is between 6 and 8 Members.
Audit and Governance Committee currently has 17 Members. What is your opinion on the size of the Audit and Governance Committee, and does it hinder your ability to contribute to discussions?
- CIPFA recommends that Independent Members (not Councillors) who have
knowledge and experience of Audit are introduced to the Audit and Governance Committee? What is your view on this?
- CIPFA discourages Executive Members sitting on the Audit Committee. What is your view on this?
Members commented that having an Independent Member on the Committee was a good idea as it would bring expertise to the Committee. It was also to be noted that the recommendations were chosen due to what CIPFA had recommended and that other steps could be looked at. Queries were raised over whether the Independent Member would be purely a consultee position who was unable to vote on recommendations and whether a meeting would be able to be held in their absence. The Independent Member would be found through posting an advert, and it would be paid in accordance with the Members’ Allowances Scheme. Action Point: The Director of Governance would investigate the voting and attendance issues and come back to the Members on this query. A comparative analysis would be done on other local authorities look to see if they had Independent Members. The recommendations would then go to the Annual Council meeting in May.
RESOLVED that the Audit and Governance Committee AGREED to:
1. A reduced Audit and Governance Committee of 11 Councillors.
2. A recruitment exercise for up to 2 Independent Persons.
3. No Members of the Executive to sit on Audit and Governance Committee.
4. A programme of training to be developed to ensure Members of the Audit and Governance Committee are able to discharge their responsibilities confidently.