Present:
R Harrison (Chair), J Bromiley, M. Curry and S Duncan
In Attendance:
S Judson, Vice-Principal Finance and Business Planning
C. Tomlinson, Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance
S Pritchard, (Clerk to the Corporation)
R. Armstrong Audit One, Internal Audit
C Leece (RSM)
Apologises for Absence:
Apologies received from G Field.
540 Private Session of Committee and Auditors
Private discussion of Committee and Auditors prior to the arrival of College Officers.
541 Conflicts of Interest
The Clerk noted, in terms of the request on item 9 the Auditors will withdraw from the meeting.
542 Minutes of meeting March 2023
The minutes of the meeting held in March 2023 were accepted as a true record.
543 Matters Arising
The Chair asked the committee for an update on the progress of several learning platforms in the college. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance responded that the college was still in the process of moving from Canvas to Teams and an update would be provided at the next committee.
544 Internal Audit Reports
The Internal Auditor (Audit One) presented the reports to the committee. The reports were confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
Risk - The Committee noted the report.
Recruitment and Induction - The Committee noted the report.
Internal Audit Progress Report - The Committee noted the report.
545 External Audit
External Audit Update (RSM)
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented the confidential update.
546 College Leadership Group Reports GDPR
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented the report which was confidential as it contains information relating to data protection.
The committee noted the report.
Cyber Security
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented the report which was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity relating to services and systems.
Breaches and Waivers & High Value Orders
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented the report which was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
The Committee noted the report.
Risk Management
The Principal presented the report which was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
The Committee noted the report.
Sub-Contract Arrangements
The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance presented the report was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity as documents contain financial information.
The Committee noted the report.
Audit Tracker Report
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning reported that due to the low number of recommendations a verbal update would be given. It was confirmed that there were only 3 overdue recommendations with a revised date.
Recommendation from the Health and Safety Audit was to ensure risk assessments were subject to a formal review by the H&S team and form part of the H&S committee schedule. The Health and Safety manager continues to review high risks and has revised the risk templates as requested. The information is reported into the H&S committee meeting across all sites.
Recommendation for the college to have a centralised risk assessment register, has now been implemented.
Recommendation for the college to create a task and finish group to explore the current usage of the forecast software is now complete. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality confirmed that a task and finish group was set up to look at forecast and CPD was delivered to all Curriculum Directors and Programme Area Leaders by MIS. She explained that forecast is being used more effectively in curriculum planning but in terms of monitoring Power BI would be more beneficial to the college.
The Auditors withdrew from the meeting in order for the committee to discuss the Internal Audit Tender.
547 Any Other Business
Internal Audit Tender
The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented her findings to the committee. She recommended that rather having an internal audit function lead by Audit One, using area specialists to undertake audits would be better value for money such as Wylie and Bisset.
The Chair asked if the college did go ahead with this proposal how would the college guarantee that there were area specialists who could undertake the audits. The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning responded there were consultancies and organisations to help the college find the right specialists. It would lead to additional work, but it should give the college a better outcome.
Governors recognised the difficulties however questioned the idea of not getting an audit opinion for the year. The Principal noted Wylie and Bisset are based in Glasgow and there will be a tendency to do Audits remotely which highlights a risk for the college, in terms of additional work. A Committee member recommended the college contact Wylie and Bisset to discuss.
The Committee requested the Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning complete a tender and circulate a scope, then share a list of proposed Audit organisations to next committee.