Agenda item

Members gave consideration to the Combined Assurance Report 2022/23, which presented the work with Assurance Lincolnshire and the wider Management Team.

The purpose of the Combined Assurance Report was to produce a record of assurance against the Council’s critical activities and risks. It provided an overview of assurance across the Council making it possible to identify where assurances were present, their source and where there were potential ‘unknowns or gaps’. It offered a triangulated view of assurance with opinion provided by management, corporate and/or third-party assurance and Internal Audit.

The Principal Auditor explained that the overall assurance levels direction of travel was positive, with red rated down from 2% to 1%, amber rated down from 49% to 42% and green rated up from 49% to 57%. The Combined Assurance report was produced annually and the report under consideration covered the year ending 31 March 2023.

Debate ensued, and Members raised multiple points about aligning the issues raised in the report with those in the Strategic Risks report, and a perceived lack of consistency. The Assistant Director explained that the report reflected the corporate plan and risk register. Concerning the specific case of housing stock, there was a difference in the process between the internal auditors’ assessing activities in the marketplace, and the strategic risks utilised by officers. It was suggested that a golden thread that linked the strategic risks with the combined assurance findings was possible. A related suggestion by a Member to review the presentation of risks more generally was also heard.

In response to a line of enquiry about the leisure centre contracts and lack of revenue issue, the Assistant Director of People and Democratic Services clarified the national context of lockdowns and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic more generally, significantly affected the operational expenditure of the leisure centre. The Officer advised the Committee that the Authority was liaising and supporting its partners.

Members also expressed other potential related issues, such as a rise in heating costs and a lack of grant support, with one expressing concern over the financial provision affecting the future of leisure provision in the District. Members were informed that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee regularly scrutinised the leisure centre contracts.

In a dialogue about the IT findings in the report and raised concerns about a possible critical event, the Principal Auditor explained that it was the view of the IT Manager and supported by the relevant Directors, with the focus being on a self-assessment process and Lincolnshire Assurance provide some scrutiny to the results produced. The Officer also informed Members of the five-year ICT audit plan, with planned reviews into incident management and cybersecurity.

Members also commented on the importance of environmental concerns when it came to focusing on net zero targets and energy efficiency more widely, focusing not just on SLY (security, liquidity and yield) attributes, but on ESG (environmental, social and governance) features of investments.

Having been proposed and seconded on being put to the vote, it was unanimously

RESOLVED that:-

(a) the report be approved; and

(b) the Committee were assured that the finding illustrated that the Council’s governance framework was operating effectively.