The Head of Audit Partnership introduced his report proposing an updated Internal Audit Charter.  The Head of Audit Partnership explained that the Charter was a key document setting out the roles and responsibilities of the Council’s Internal Audit service and its relationships with Officers and Members.  It had been updated to reflect changes in Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (the “Standards”) and audit practice, most notably to reflect the Committee’s expressed wish to have greater engagement with service areas which receive adverse (i.e. weak or poor) Internal Audit opinions.

In response to questions, the Head of Audit Partnership advised the Committee that:

·  He was satisfied that there was sufficient Internal Audit resource in terms of both quantity and expertise to deliver the 2019/20 Internal Audit Plan.  The proposed approach to dealing with adverse Internal Audit opinions would involve a small amount of additional work in producing the reports, but it could be managed without compromising any other areas of work.

·  Each of the Audit Partnership authorities would be updating their Internal Audit Charters to reflect changes in the Standards and practice.

·  The Charter made no changes to the everyday mechanics of the Internal Audit approach and detailed current practice.  The Charter and its obligations were referred to in the Internal Audit Plan and as part of the material provided to audit sponsors (Heads of Service etc.) at audit planning stage and when undertaking audits.  He was satisfied that the obligations within the Charter were complied with.  There was an obligation to regularly review and update the Charter and, in terms of quality, the Internal Audit Service would undergo an External Quality Assessment on conformance with the Standards later in the year and the findings of the assessment would be reported to the Committee in the spring of 2020.

During the discussion on this item, the Head of Audit Partnership was congratulated on the production of the updated Charter and thanked for his work and that of the Internal Audit team.

RESOLVED:  That the updated Internal Audit Charter, attached as Appendix 1 to the report of the Head of Audit Partnership, be approved.