Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Divisional Manager, Audit, Procurement and Operational Finance, which informed Members of the outcome of the recent Peer Review.

The Board was advised that it was a requirement of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that an external assessment of the Council’s internal audit arrangements be carried out every five years. To fulfil this requirement, an independent peer review was conducted in September 2017 by senior Internal Audit representatives from other North West authorities.

The approach taken, findings and agreed actions from the peer review were set out in the report, and it was noted that the conclusion was that the Council’s internal audit arrangements did conform to the PSIAS. A small number of actions were agreed to further develop conformance with the PSIAS, detailed at Appendix 3.  It was reported that, during the peer review, four additional recommendations were agreed, which were considered contributory to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the internal audit service. These were detailed at Appendix 4.

          RESOLVED: That the contents of the attached peer review report, which confirms that the Council conforms to the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, be noted.