The Deputy Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service presented a report providing a position statement on the progress being made against the audit plan. The information provided was for the first half of the financial year up to the 30th September 2022. Nine audit reviews had been completed, five with an audit opinion whilst one report had been issued as draft and 15 audits were currently ongoing. An audit opinion of substantial assurance had been given to three of those completed audits and an opinion of reasonable assurance to the other two. The finalised audits had made a total of 13 recommendations to date. She added that the regional internal audit service had recently been successful in recruiting 7 new members of staff. It was felt that there would be sufficient coverage by the year end to provide an overall audit opinion.

A Member asked how this committee could be assured that the plan was deliverable with sufficient coverage in the prioritised areas. The Deputy Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service replied that it was difficult to make that judgement but it might help if she provided an indication of where they were to the next meeting.

A Member was concerned about the number of audits ongoing and asked if that was the plan. The Deputy Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service replied that usually Auditors had quarterly allocations but in this instance the Auditors were given six monthly allocations so there could be more flexibility, therefore where indicated audits were ongoing and work had started on them. She was confident they would be completed and it was a realistic indication of where they were.

The Chairperson asked if there could be a target date by which they should be completed in future.

RESOLVED:       GAC noted the content of the report and the progress made against the 2022-23 Internal Audit Risk Based Plan.