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Agenda item

SIAS PROGRESS REPORT 2025/26

REPORT OF THE SHARED INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE (SIAS)

 

To receive the Internal Audit Service progress report 2025/26 of the SIAS.

Decision:

RESOLVED: That the  Committee notes:

 

(1)   The SIAS Progress Report for the period to 13 March 2026.

 

(2)   The implementation status of the reported high priority recommendations.

 

(3)   The plan amendments to the 2025/26 Annual Audit Plan.

 

REASON FOR DECISION: This report details progress made by the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) in delivering the Council’s Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2025/26 as of 13 March 2026.

 

Minutes:

Audio recording – 26 Minutes 14 seconds

 

The SIAS Head of Assurance presented the report entitled ‘SIAS Progress Report 2025/26’ and highlighted that:

 

·       There had been significant progress in delivering the Plan since the concerns raised about the delivery profile at both the September and January meetings of the Committee.

·       The percentage of the plan delivered (days) had moved on to 87% and the percentage of projects delivered (draft reports) had increased to 71% since the Progress report had been published two weeks ago.

·       The number of final reports issued had risen to 10, and there were three further reports in quality review, with the result that there was an increased confidence in meeting delivery targets by year end on 31 March 2026.

·       There were no plan changes to report and the updates on the two high priority recommendations were highlighted, as was the one made in the recently issued Purchasing Cards audit.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·       Councillor Paul Ward

·       Councillor Stewart Willoughby

·       Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham

 

In response to questions, the SIAS Head of Assurance advised that:

 

·       A draft Cyber Resilience Plan for the Council had been in place for a while, but it was constantly being changed as the risks changed and it was tested and exercised. SIAS need it to move out of draft form and be agreed by the Cyber Security Board and Leadership team.

·       Despite the Client satisfaction questionnaire only having 3 returned out of 20, SIAS has received informal feedback which had all been good. Response rates were usually between 15-30% so 3 was a bit low but this might be due to people having other priorities.

·       SIAS was anticipating challenges regarding Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and had spoken to those Local Authorities that had gone through LGR, their equivalent of what year 2027/28 for would be for us seemed to be the year where issues arose the most in terms of plan content and delivery.

·       There would be an impact on all partner plans going forward due to LGR but the delivery for this plan is part of business as usual.

 

In response to questions, the Director - Resources advised that:

 

·       The cyber resilience testing conducted in March 2026 was a lessons learned exercise for what would be done in the event of a cyber-attack. The Council was assured that there were good measures in place to prevent attack and how to prioritise which areas should be restored.  

·       It was his responsibility to chase feedback forms, but this was a low priority for most people, however there had been no negative feedback either formally or informally for SIAS.

 

Councillor Stewart Willoughby proposed and Councillor Paul Ward seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted:

 

(1)   The SIAS Progress Report for the period to 13 March 2026.

 

(2)   The implementation status of the reported high priority recommendations.

 

(3)   The plan amendments to the 2025/26 Annual Audit Plan.

 

REASON FOR DECISION: This report details progress made by the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) in delivering the Council’s Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2025/26 as of 13 March 2026.

 

Supporting documents: