The Audit and Standards Committee met to discuss the Internal Audit Annual Report 2024/25, which gave an overall opinion of substantial assurance on the council's control environment. The committee also reviewed the work programme and future meeting dates, and confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting.

Internal Audit Annual Report 2024/25

The committee considered the Internal Audit Annual Report 2024/25, which summarised the results of internal audit work carried out in the year ended 31 March 2025. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, presented the report, which gave an overall opinion of substantial assurance on the authority's control environment. This was an improvement from the previous year's moderate assurance.

The report highlighted that over 50% of the audits were substantial assurance, which was up compared with the previous year where it was 40%. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, explained the different levels of assurance: full, substantial, moderate, and limited. Limited is regarded as a negative opinion, moderate as a positive opinion, but highlighting that there are a number of issues. Substantial is a good place to be, and full assurance is pretty unprecedented.

The report also detailed the non-assurance work undertaken by the internal audit team, including advisory work and special investigations. One area of advisory work was on Unit 4, the council's financial system, where there had been a substantial amount of change. The team also participated in the National Fraud Initiative, a two-yearly initiative where the data of the county council is shared with national data to identify potential frauds.

Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, explained that he triangulated the internal audit work with other external bodies that make comment on the work of the council and council services, such as Ofsted¹ and the Inspectorate for Fire Service². He also considered changes to the arrangements internally for the management of the risk management function.

Several councillors raised questions and comments regarding the report.

Councillor Richard Dickson felt that the committee should thank all staff for their work in improving the council's internal audit assessment. He also asked if there was any data as to how the council's internal audit assessments compared with peer councils. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that he did not have that information to hand, but that he would feedback to the councillor on that. Robert Zara, Independent Member, added that there is a lot of noise in the trend on opinions, and that he did not see it as a measure of performance. He said that it is a measure of Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager's effectiveness at picking the right topics, because if he picks the right higher risk areas, the assurance might be more challenging to get to the higher levels.

Councillor Richard Dickson asked whether Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, was seeing any pressures coming from local government reorganisation. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that it was certainly something they were mindful of, and that they were keeping a watching brief on it.

Councillor Mark Stevens raised the theme of resources, and asked whether there were areas that have probably gone into what have become lower risk through various years, and then there may be a level of complacency. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that it was certainly something that was considered, and that they were thinking about what audits they have done to make sure there is coverage across all services over every period of time.

Councillor David Curtis noted that there were four schools with limited assurance, and asked if that was something that should concern the committee. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that it was a concern, but that the levers that the county council is able to use are limited.

Councillor Edward Harris asked how much business change in terms of roles, responsibilities, and authorities ends up in the planning process. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that change is a risk, and that it is part of the conversation. He said that they have meetings with all of the directors around the council, and that part of the agenda is what programmes of change they have in their area, and what is coming up.

Sandip Shergill, Independent Member, asked how Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, balanced requests from management for additional advisory work alongside the plan. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that they do build a certain amount of contingency timing into their plan, and that they expect to do some advisory work. Sandip Shergill, Independent Member, also asked about the qualifications of the auditors and the training and ongoing training and development around independence. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that all of the managers are professionally qualified, and that the auditors are either qualified or very experienced.

Councillor Mark Stevens asked if the council swapped auditors between different authorities to give them a completely fresh exposure. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that that was not something they had tried, but that they do have external work that they undertake, providing the internal audit service to Stratford District Council and to the Warwickshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner and the West Mercia Police Force and Police and Crime Commissioner.

Councillor Mark Stevens also asked about the reference to climate change and level of assurance not applicable. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, explained that the climate change work was a follow-up piece of work, and that the previous report was a low level of assurance and that was around the ways of being able to access the external funding and resourcing to be able to deliver the change that's required and how that's been handled.

Councillor Edward Harris asked if the council was spending a substantial amount of time and resources on climate change. Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, said that it was there in the mix of if it's a council objective and they are thinking about the risks of delivering it comes into the discussion of the planning and it wouldn't be weighing against in a disproportionate way.

Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, confirmed to the committee that he runs the internal audit with no influence and that it is completely independent.

Work Programme and Future Meeting Dates

The committee reviewed the work programme and future meeting dates.

Councillor Richard Dickson asked whether the committee should be scheduling in for this committee to receive and review the inspection reports from the fire service and also CQC³ on other social services. Rob Powell, Executive Director for Resources, said that typically they would not come to this committee, they would go to the relevant scrutiny committees, but they would inform the external audits' assessment and be picked up that way.

Councillor Richard Dickson asked for reassurance that a potential visit by a DOGE⁴ team would not disrupt or distract the completion of the annual external audit. Rob Powell, Executive Director for Resources, said that anything like that would need to be properly planned, and obviously without disruption to the external audit.

The committee noted that Paul Clarke, Internal Audit Manager, would be giving the committee an internal audit update report for the progress on the programme for this year, and giving an insight on outstanding actions and helping with some training at the next meeting on 11 September 2025. The committee will also do a self-assessment of this committee at that meeting.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2025 as an accurate record.

Exempt Information

The committee moved to a closed session to discuss items containing exempt or confidential information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972.