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Agenda item

SIAS ANNUAL ASSURANCE STATEMENT AND INTERNAL AUDIT ANNUAL REPORT 2025-26

REPORT OF THE SHARED INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE (SIAS)

 

To receive the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report for 2025/26.

Decision:

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

 

(1)   Noted the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report.

 

(2)   Noted the results of the self-assessment required by the Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) and the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP).

 

(3)   Approved the Internal Audit Charter for 2026/27.

 

(4)   Received assurance from management that the scope and resources for internal audit were not subject to inappropriate limitations for 2025/26.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 24 minutes 24 seconds

 

The Head of Assurance Services (HCC) & Client Audit Manager (NHDC) presented the report entitled ‘SIAS Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report 2025-26’ and highlighted that:

 

·       SIAS delivered on a plan of work throughout the year, which included around 20 audits. At the year end, a report was provided giving an overall assurance position for the Council.

·       This assurance position then fed into the Annual Governance Statement, to be considered under the next Agenda Item.

·       It was a requirement for management to confirm that the work of SIAS has been completed independently and without limitation placed on their work.

·       There was a requirement to approve an Internal Audit Charter, which set out the rights, responsibilities and where authority came from, and this was required for SIAS to conduct work on behalf of North Herts Council.

·       Every 5 years, an external quality assessment was completed on SIAS and a paper would be presented at a later meeting of this Committee covering this audit work. In the four other years, a self-assessment was conducted by SAIS, which had assessed that it generally conformed to expectations, and provided detail on where improvements could be made.

·       Details of the overall assurance position of the Council and of planned work for future audits were included in section 2 of the report.

·       There were two outstanding recommendations for implementation at the year end, though these were both largely implemented.

·       The processes around assurance mapping and root cause analysis were included in section 3 of the report.

·       SIAS performance against targets set were outlined at section 4 of the report.

 

In response to the Head of Assurance Services (HCC) & Client Audit Manager (NHDC), the Director – Resources confirmed on behalf of management that no limitations had been placed on the work conducted by SIAS throughout the audit period.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·       Councillor Paul Ward

·       Councillor Chris Lucas

 

In response to questions, the Head of Assurance Services (HCC) & Client Audit Manager (NHDC) advised that:

 

·       It was difficult to provide year on year comparison as there were different audit plans in place.

·       Whilst some items have been included on multiple plans, such as Churchgate and the Decarbonisation of the Leisure Centres, there was overall good delivery on outcomes.

·       There had been a focus on significant projects and delivering on these, and all projects included in the Council Delivery Plan should have assurances around them.

·       There had also been work completed on Purchasing Cards and the governance of this process, demonstrating that it was not just the biggest risks which were focussed on.

·       The mapping process took place to review key risks and where they got their assurance from to ensure there were good governance processes in place around these areas.

·       Substantial and Reasonable assurance were the positive categories, with Limited and No Assurance being the negative categories. There were very few examples nationally of No Assurance.

·       The ratings and descriptions were published and the criteria for each was developed from CIPFA guidance.

·       To receive a Substantial assurance position, every individual audit completed would need to return a Substantial category and therefore it was unusual to receive this overall level of assurance.

·       Even high performing Councils did not reach Substantial assurance due to external factors, such as resourcing and staffing levels. Therefore, Reasonable assurance was a positive level of assurance.

 

Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Alistair Willoughby seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

 

(1)   Noted the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report.

 

(2)   Noted the results of the self-assessment required by the Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) and the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP).

 

(3)   Approved the Internal Audit Charter for 2026/27.

 

(4)   Received assurance from management that the scope and resources for internal audit were not subject to inappropriate limitations for 2025/26.

 

Following the vote, the Head of Assurance Services (HCC) & Client Audit Manager (NHDC) advised that an invitation had been circulated to Members for a meeting on 10 July 2026 to provide details of the work undertaken by SIAS, SIAS in general or to raise any specific concerns in private. This was a requirement of the new standards in place and was in addition to regular meetings with the Chair, Vice Chair and Directors.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Ruth Brown, it was advised that this was not an official meeting and therefore there was no minimum attendees required.

Supporting documents: