Minutes of the East Durham College Audit and Risk Committee Meeting held on 25th November 2021

Present:

J Bromiley (Chair), M. Curry, S Duncan, G. Field and R. Harrison

In Attendance:

S Judson, Vice-Principal Finance and Business Planning

C. Tomlinson, Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance

D Ridley, (Clerk to the Corporation)

V. Charlton (Committee Secretary)

L Raine Audit-One, Internal Audit

C. Leece RSM, External Audit

Apologises for Absence:

No apologies

501 Private Session of Committee and Auditors

Staff withdrew from the meeting to allow the auditors to raise any issues which they felt unable to discuss in their presence.

Staff were invited back to the meeting

502 Conflicts of Interest

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

503 Minutes of meeting July 2021

The Committee noted and approved the minutes of the held in July 2021. Chair requested copy of draft minutes within 2 weeks of meeting.

504 Matters Arising

There were no matters arising to discuss.

505 Internal Audit Reports

Follow Up Report - This report was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Annual Internal Audit Report -

This report was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Strategic and Annual Internal Audit Plan -

LR (Audit One) presented the draft Strategic and Annual Audit Plan for 2021-22.

Audit One previously met with the Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning to refresh both the strategic plan and the audit plan, and undertook a review of current risks. Main reviews this year will cover curriculum planning, subcontracting controls, GDPR, health and safety and the annual follow up exercise.

Chair advised that committee had previously discussed prioritising IT work, but a review had since taken place so unlikely that another was required this year.

A governor queried whether Equality and Diversity (EDI) should be included in ‘others' and the Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning advised that the EDI group had been resumed. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance recommended reviewing EDI in 2022/23 when the group has had opportunity to do some work on this area. Governors agreed.

One Governor queried the reasons for Safeguarding and Estates reviews not being in the plan and asked how confident the committee and college were that the required standards were being met. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance confirmed that the recent Ofsted Inspection looked at Safeguarding thoroughly, and there were very positive comments in the report around the culture of safeguarding. The College has a very good safeguarding lead, who attends many external meetings and keeps up to speed on all the statutory changes.

The Committee noted and supported the plan as presented and requested using some of the advisory days on EDI.

506 External Audit

Audit Findings Report -

This report was deemed to be confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

The Committee noted the report

Emerging Issues -

CL (RSM) presented the Emerging Issues report and highlighted key issues.

Producing regular management accounts continues to be encouraged.

A new subcontracting standard is provided at the end of page 4. Original proposals included a limit on portion of provision that could be subcontracted but this had not been included, albeit there is wording confirming that it must be in exceptional circumstances and the ESFA reserve the right to challenge. There is guidance around the due diligence element.

Code of good governance contains sections around the responsibility for governors to oversee and design a robust environment and sustainability strategy and focus on safeguarding. Governors were recommended to review documents as there may be sections they are unaware of, and they can consider how these will impact the College and can raise questions or challenges at committee or Board.

Emerging Issues Paper to be shared with all Governors for information.

The Committee noted the report and agreed to circulate the Emerging Issues paper to Board members.