Report by the Chief Executive (attached)

The Committee considered the Audit Recommendation Tracker report by the Chief Executive in respect of actions taken to address internal and external audit recommendations (circulated previously).

The Committee noted the following updates:

·       There were 20 live audit reports – as listed in table A.

·       16 recommendations had been included in table B  (recommendations completed since the last meeting of the Governance Committee)

·       Table C detailed 2 recommendations for which time extensions were being requested. One was linked to the wider Devon Emergency Planning and was 75% complete. Works were pending action by Devon County Council. The second was in relation to Housing Policies. The context for the delay was around the team being under pressure on priority work areas but only required a short extension to this audit recommendation. 

·       Table D detailed no outstanding recommendations.

·       The recommendations in Table E (Annual Governance Statement) related to the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24 and none were overdue. It was noted that of the two audit recommendations with due dates at the end of September 2024, 24 AGS 03 had been completed, and 24 AGS 06 was 75% completed and on target for completion by the due date.

In response to questions from the Committee the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that:

·       Future reports could include more detailed information in relation to the higher rated risk audit recommendations if required.

·       The percentage shown (on appendix a) was the average percentage completed of all of the recommendations within the audit.

The Internal Auditor advised that works could be undertaken to improve the format of the reports.

RESOLVED:

(a)           that the time extensions requested in the Audit Recommendation Tracker be approved; and

(b)           that the Audit Recommendation Tracker be noted.