To receive a report from the Assistant Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer.

John Medler, Assistant Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer presented Members with the Combined Assurance Status Report 2023/24, pages 51 to 72 of the Agenda refer.

Members were advised that the Combined Assurance Status Report provided a record of assurance against the Council’s critical services, key risks, partnerships and projects and supported the Council’s commitment to achieving good corporate governance.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

A Member commented in favour of the combined assurance approach and queried the identification of overarching themes for internal audit.  In response, the Section 151 Officer advised Members that the report identified specific emerging risks and that audit was examining strategic oversight which provided a more generic overview instead of focusing on specific elements.

The Internal Audit Manager advised Members that combined assurance reports formed part of annual planning for audits and was beneficial when presented to the Committee alongside the annual audit plan for observing the relationship between the two processes.  

The Internal Audit Manager further commented on the benefits of combined assurance which enabled internal audit to communicate with all Managers and Assistant Directors across the Council to gain greater intelligence and understanding for providing independent insight and assurance opinions. 

·         In reference to the overall assurance rating, a Member commented on the benefit of information being included to observe trends and to see where scores had increased and decreased, page 57 of the Agenda refers.

·         Referring to the cover of the Combined Assurance Status Report 2023/24, a Member queried the ability for anyone reading the report to understand where the report was relevant to East Lindsey instead of the Partnership, page 55 of the Agenda refers.

·         In relation to the business continuity and economic hardship risk, a Member queried where this occurred in East Lindsey, pages 59 and 60 of the Agenda refer.

·         A Member further queried who was responsible for General Fund Assets and commented on the benefit of identifying the names of Officers in the reports, page 60 of the Agenda refers.

In response, the Internal Audit Manager confirmed to Members that the report was solely focused on East Lindsey District Council and that the strategic risks had been provided from the Council’s strategic risk register to highlight the risks and mitigation measures in place.

The Assistant Director – Governance and Monitoring Officer explained to Members that a variety of delivery mechanisms existed within the Council, including internal, external and those delivered through the Partnership.  The Assistant Director – Governance and Monitoring Officer advised Members that the key element was whether assurance was provided with how the Council’s arrangements were delivered and not who was providing them.

·         In reference to Emerging Risks, a Member commented that it was difficult to observe the overall theme and queried whether a PESTLE analysis could be utilised to identify where there were gaps in specific themes, page 70 of the Agenda refers.  In response, the Internal Audit Manager acknowledged the value of feedback on the way in which information was presented.

·         The Chairman commented on the issues around the Growth Directorate and queried whether the findings indicated an issue with the way large projects were delivered, page 70 of the Agenda refers.  In response, the Internal Audit Manager assured Members that the issues highlighted were being examined to ensure that the correct information was provided to the Committee.

The Chairman thanked the Assistant Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer and the Internal Audit Manager for his report.

Following which, it was

RESOLVED:

That the findings illustrated in the assurance framework detailed within the Combined Assurance Status Report 2023/24 (attached at Appendix A) was operating effectively as part of the Council’s corporate governance arrangements be noted.