Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance submitted a report prefacing the Internal Audit Charter 2021-2024 which had been prepared in accordance with  the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and these require that the Charter is reported to the Audit & Governance Committee annually. It  provides a reminder of the key aspects of the Internal Audit Function and gave assurance regarding how the Internal Audit Function was resourced, managed, organised and delivered its work. It also sets out the Internal Audit and Senior Management responsibilities.

It was reported that the Charter, once approved, would be presented to the Audit Committees of the other client organisations.

The following key points were noted:

·    The Charter was considered by the external assessor as part of the External Quality Assessment reported to the Committee in September 2021. As part of that the process, the Charter was held up as an exemplar, particularly for an Internal Audit function supporting numerous clients.

·         The Charter has been reviewed and no amendments were required.

·    The service is currently under-going a review as part of the Council’s Transformation Programme which is looking at revised operating models. The Charter will be re-visited following the conclusion of that review, and an updated version presented to Members for their review and approval.

RESOLVED that the Committee considered and approved the Internal Audit Charter and consequently be assured that the Internal Audit function operates in accordance with the relevant standards.