Gosport Borough Council Standards & Audit Sub Board Meeting

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RESOLVED: That:

Councillor Martin Pepper is elected Chair and Councillor Jamie Hutchison elected Vice Chair for the municipal year 2023-24

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RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 April were signed as a true and correct record.

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Consideration was given to a report by the Chief Internal Auditor seeking approval from members in regard to the Risk Management Policy 2023, and presenting the Strategic Risk Register, for noting as at June 2023 in line with the Risk Management Policy.

Officers agreed to confirm that the Mayor is able to hold a chairman’s position.

The Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) advised Members that the major projects are now included in the register, objectives are also  included, some of the language has been clarified and there have been changes to the risk matrix  scoring to help identify what is classed as a significant risk.

Following comments from a Member the CIA agreed to address a few minor errors in the wording, and to circulate the formula behind the matrix to help understanding.

Officers advised that the recruitment of the Head of Commercial Property had started. It was hoped to fill the position swiftly with a Gosport focused officer. A piece of work would review the total assets to identify what sits where, and addressing any overlap. Members were concerned about the non utilisation of owned properties and officers agreed to provide an update to the review of commercial loss of income.

Officers advised that a review of the current structure within Streetscene was taking place to develop a plan to alleviate the gap.

Following a Members question, officers agreed to provide more detail regarding the financial split between The Depot and the Bus Station.

Officers advised that there had been significant progress made in project management, but there was no software package in place.

RESOLVED:  That the Members

1.    approved the Risk Management Policy review and update as set out in Appendix A with identified amendments

2.    noted the Strategic Risk Register set out in Appendix B. with identified amendments

Consideration was given to a report by the Chief Internal Auditor tabling the Annual Audit Opinion for 2022/23 for noting to the Members with responsibility for governance ,as set out in Appendix A.

The Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) advised Members that he was presenting the required annual opinion setting out the work carried out throughout the year. He pointed out that Reasonable Assurance had been achieved.

The CIA advised Members that only 28% of the previously agreed actions had been closed, a decrease on the previous year. All follow up audits with open exceptions are to be discussed at CMT and reported to the Corporate Governance Group. Any major concerns following that process would be brought to the S&A Sub Board.

Members were advised that the apprentice issue in the Payroll audit were related to PCC as the audits conducted included samples from both GBC and PCC.

The CIA advised that the second follow up audit would take place in the financial year following the first follow up, so it could be up to 18 months before it is reported in the opinion. Officers agreed to include audit follow ups on the CMT agenda and discuss if there was a way to bring real time tracking of the follow ups to S&A.

RESOLVED: That Members noted the Annual Audit Opinion 2022/23 as set out in Appendix A.