Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Birnie and Fiona Jump (Head of Financial Services).

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)        may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting and consider the actions

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

There was one outstanding action point from the previous meeting. This information will be provided to members as soon as possible.

All other action points had been completed and circulated.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules as to Public Participation

There was no public participation.

Chris Paisley from the Council’s external auditors KPMG will attend to give a presentation to the committee.

Chris Paisley from KPMG attended the meeting remotely to introduce himself to the committee.

Please refer to the video minutes for full discussion.

P Lazenby introduced the item. The purpose of the report was to provide the committee with a progress update against the annual internal audit plan.

Please refer to the video minutes for full discussion.

Outcome

The Audit Committee noted the final internal audit report issued for the Council’s corporate Health and Safety arrangements, and the content of the SICA and progress against the annual internal audit plan.

Actions

1.    M Kirk to provide a brief overview on the Digital Platform for members.

2.    M Kirk to provide further information on the findings of the Health and Safety Review.

3.    T Angel to add ‘Review of Procurement Service’ to the work programme for September, as requested by N Howcutt.

4.    N Howcutt to circulate recent Cabinet reports relating to the Procurement Review to the committee.

N Howcutt introduced the item and advised the purpose of the report was to present the proposed Treasury Management Strategy for 2024/25 and to provide an update on performance against the Council’s Prudential Indicators as at Quarter 3, 2023/24.

Please refer to the video minutes for full discussion.

Outcome

The Audit Committee noted the Treasury Management Strategy 2023/24 and the performance against the Councils prudential indicators.

The Chair asked for an update on the Independent Member at the next meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 20 March 2024.