Decision details

The Committee received a report (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which provided an update on the key areas that were considered for internal audit activity in the years 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 and provided it with an early opportunity to identify any potential areas for inclusion in the 2026/27 Strategy.

The Audit Manager, Dan Harris of RSM set out the report and invited the Committee to reflect on potential areas for inclusion. Reference was drawn to the Insurance Audit Area of the report that had been blank, which the Audit Manager advised he would ensure this was updated for the report for the March Committee meeting.

In response to questions from the Committee, the Audit Manager advised that the Risk Register was a moving piece and there were risks that may have come on to the Risk Register that might not have been reflected in the strategy document. Discussions with officers may well bring in Local Government Organisation (LGR) and any potential coverage. In relation to risks, he would look to the Risk Manager and other risk owners to discuss whether there were other sorts of assurance. RSM were not always the right source of assurance so there was not always a correlation to every risk on the Risk Register through to the Internal Audit Strategy. Regarding comments from the Committee around the lack of an Audit Area for Planning more broadly than Planning Applications, he would undertake this into the discussions over the upcoming weeks with a view to updating the draft plan that would come to the March Committee meeting.

Whereupon it was

RESOLVED

that the Committee commented on and noted the Internal Audit Strategy for 2026/27.