Agenda item

Ian Morton, the Internal Auditor, introduced the report and explained the purpose of the Internal Audit Plan. The Internal Auditor stated that the Items proposed for the 2023/24 Plan and the plan itself were still subject to changes which would be agreed with officers, and notification of any proposed changes would be brought to Authority Meetings.

Members asked the Internal Auditor to confirm whether the monitoring of enforcement was for breaches of planning conditions or of planning law more generally, to which Mr Morton confirmed they will be monitoring both conditions and all other breaches of planning approval.

Members were assured that due to the size of the organisation, compared to other larger ones the Auditors are used to dealing with, the allotted time for completing the Audit is reasonable. The Internal Auditor also confirmed that the monitoring of vehicles carbon emissions is something that can be discussed with officers.

There were concerns about the audit of performance management, which relates to the delivery against the Management Plan, and whether the expected audit date of September is too soon. This was considering guidance that the Authority were expecting from DEFRA which impacts the Management Plan but that had been delayed and there was no due date yet for it. The Internal Auditor confirmed that they mostly look at how the Authority collects and monitors performance management data so the lack of the DEFRA guidance might not affect the audit too significantly.

Members wanted to make sure that the Audit definitely links back to the delivery of the Management Plan and the objectives that the Authority has set.

The recommendation as set out in the report was moved, seconded, voted on and carried.

The Chair offered his thanks to the diligence, in both professional and personal terms, that Ian Morton had applied as the Authority’s internal auditor and wished him well for the future as he was retiring.

RESOLVED:

To approve the 2023/24 Internal Audit Plan as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.