Agenda and draft minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Morgan and SECONDED by Councillor Jackman and

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Information pertaining to the Members' Code of Conduct and guidance relating to declaring interests can be found on the following webpage: https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/district-councillors/councillor-conduct/

None.

Members of the Public may ask questions of the Leader or an Executive Member. A maximum period of 15 minutes will be allowed with a maximum of period of three minutes per questioner.

None.

Members of the Council may ask questions of the Chair of the Committee subject to procedural rules. The deadline for questions is no later than three clear working days before the meeting.

None.

The External Auditor from Grant Thorton introduced the External Audit Plan to the Committee.

She highlighted the headlines on page 13 and advised on risks, evaluation of buildings, and pension fund liability. There had mostly been no changes since the previous year other than that some concerns about risks had been resolved. The materiality threshold had increased slightly and Value For Money work had mostly concluded.

In response to questions from members of the Committee, it was clarified that:

·       The aim was to complete the work by November, which would be aided by additional resourcing and keeping a number of the same core team members that had carried out the previous work.

·       The Council is not looking to change the current financial management system.

·       Responsibility for the audit work had been spread out across the whole financial team, which would help avoid bottlenecking.

·       The audit work would help ensure the Council’s accounts are in the best shape possible for Local Government Reorganisation.

·       Teignbridge District Council will remain its own distinct legal authority until day one of the new Council or Councils, therefore the audit work would need to continue as usual. The External Audit work would be important if the Council was divided between multiple authorities.

·       It would be important to retain staff, document progress, and keep systems up to date to offset the challenges of LGR.

·       There was the possibility of a fee increase the next year of Audit work. However this would have to be agreed by the PSAA.

It was noted that there is a need for balance between the cost and resources of the Audit and the understanding that the Council would no longer exist within 2 years.

The Committee noted the report.

The External Auditor from Grant Thornton introduced the External Regaining Assurance Strategy Report to the Committee.

It was noted that MCHLG had amended their TDC audit assessment ranking from a D to a C. It was also noted that internal and external audits had separate perspectives and would be approached with separate expectations. Regaining assurance work would begin at the start of 2027, subject to completion of the current work, and by regaining assurance Teignbridge would be in the best position for Local Government Reorganisation.

In response to points raised by members of the Committee, the following clarifications were made:

·       The original proposed date for the regaining assurance work was 2030-2031 however Teignbridge has now been prioritised.

·       The audit opinion for this year will still have to be disclaimed. Regaining assurance work would have to go back to the opening balances of 2020.

·       Sampling work would be undertaken to speed up the process.

·       Reserve balances would need to be tested as they move around.

·       £42,388 Of Section 31 grant had been received to aid with this work.

·       There would be an Audit Committee set up in the new authorities following LGR.

It was considered that realistically only a small number of authorities would be able to submit unqualified accounts for LGR.

The Committee noted the report.

The Head of Strategy and Partnerships and the Project and Performance Officer introduced the Corporate and Strategic Risk Report to the Committee.

It was noted that there were two areas of high risks, and that many of the areas of high risks from the previous meeting had been downgraded to medium risk.  Of the two current high-risk areas, one was Failure to Comply with Health and Safety Legislation which would be improved with the introduction of a new Health and Safety management system that would improve reporting of incidents, and a new Lone Working app. The other risk was Failure of ICT security measures leading to a cyber attack which would be improved with further staff training, dummy training exercises, and updating the cyber incident plan.

The Committee noted the report.

Report to follow.

The Draft Annual Governance Statement was introduced by the Monitoring Officer & Democratic Services Manager. It highlighted the work done to improve the Council’s governance across the previous year.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Morgan and SECONDED by Councillor Jackman and

RESOLVED

That the Draft Annual Governance Statement is approved by the Committee for inclusion in the Annual Statement of Accounts.

The Audit Manager introduced the Financial Instructions and Contract Rules Waivers Report to the Committee.

There had been one waiver in the previous quarter, for the hire of an Interim Head of Legal. The Audit Manager clarified that this was due to the requirement of a specific skill set in the role which was not available from our existing agency provider.

The Committee noted the report.

Report to follow.

The Audit Manager introduced the Internal Audit Annual Report to the Committee.

The Committee were advised that Internal Audit was the third line of defence in the assurance framework after front -line services and risk management. The Audit Manager gave an overview of how internal audits are carried out, and that feedback is received at the end of the audit. All 11 internal audits carried out in the report had received a 10 out of 10.

Cyber security had received significant reassurance from the positive assessment received from the National Cyber Security Centre Cyber

Assessment Framework. Time taken for audits would be included in future reports. The 2026-2027 audit plan would be fast tracked to realign it with the financial year end and prevent any impact on the Annual Governance Statement. A scoping meeting would be held that afternoon to determine requirements.

It was asked that the operational audit plan should be aligned with Local Government Reorganisation.

The Committee noted the report.

The Forward Plan can be viewed at the following link:

Browse plans - Audit Committee, 2026 - Teignbridge District Council

It was considered that two items on the Forward Plan for this meeting, the Review of the Anti Fraud Strategy and the RIPA report, would now come to Committee in September.