Meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee
A meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee was held on Wednesday 22 August at
10.30am in the Board room, Denholm House, Livingston.
Present:
Moi Ali
Sir Andrew Cubie (Chair)
Kate Dunlop
Bill Maxwell
In attendance :
Anna Boni
Ruth Brown (External Auditor)
Laura Burman
Morag Campsie (External Auditor)
Les Henderson (Internal Auditor)
Gillian Howells
Jennifer Inglis-Jones (Internal Auditor)
Ken Muir
Stuart Robinson
Caroline Stafford
Apologies:
Iain Nisbet
1.0
Welcome and apologies
Noted 1:
Sir Andrew welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Committee
since the new structure has been in place. He extended a particular
welcome to Kate who has joined as a new Non-Executive Director and
Moi who joins the Committee after previously sitting on the
Management Board. Jennifer Inglis-Jones was also welcomed along
with Anna Boni and Ken Muir. Ken will be attending Committee
meetings annually.
Noted 2:
Bill extended his thanks to Sir Andrew for agreeing to Chair the
Committee for another year which allows for a considerable period of
continuity after the transitional period.
Noted 3:
Apologies were noted from Iain Nisbet.
2.0
Minutes and action log of the meeting held on 7 June 2012
Noted 1:
The Minute of the previous meeting was approved as an accurate
record.
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22 August 2012
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3.0
Matters arising
Noted 1:
The annual report and accounts for the year ending 31 March 2012
were signed off by the Management Board in June. There have been
no significant comments raised by Scottish Government although there
has been some media commentary around this.
Noted 2:
The Committee briefly discussed the complaints handling procedure
and Bill advised that if any of the Non-Executive Directors receive any
complaints directly, they should liaise with his support team.
Action 1:
Stuart agreed to provide a detailed briefing to the Non-Executive
Directors around current ongoing complaints if the need arises.
4.0
Declarations/register of interests
Noted 1:
No declarations were made.
Items for discussion
5.0
Finance report
Noted 1:
The Committee noted the finance report, as at 31 July 2012, in
particular the context around early planning to meet the budget
reduction between this year and next year.
Noted 2 :
Work is underway to integrate finance reporting into the business
planning tool.
Noted 3:
A note has gone out to all staff advising that they can apply for another
tranche of voluntary exit but making it clear only those with exceptional
circumstances will be supported.
Noted 4:
The Committee enquired about the recent media commentary around
travel and subsistence for Education Scotland employees, in particular
the FOI requests. It was noted that these have been dealt with
appropriately and Audit Scotland provided additional assurance around
this.
Noted 5:
Bill advised that the budget now sits alongside the Learning and
Justice portfolio budget rather than being subsumed and Bill will now
attend Portfolio Director Finance meetings.
6.0
Audit Scotland
6.1
Draft Annual Audit Report
Noted 1:
Ruth took the Committee through the draft report which was a
summary of findings from Audit Scotland’s 2011/2012 audit.
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22 August 2012
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Action 1:
Ruth agreed to send Caroline an electronic version of the
Learning the lessons of public body mergers report for circulation
to the Committee. This will be discussed further at November’s
meeting of the Committee.
6.2
Role of the Board – Follow Up Report
Noted 1:
Members noted this report which detailed some follow-up to the report
originally issued in September 2010.
Action 1:
There was discussion around the training needs for the
Non-Executive Directors and it was agreed to discuss this further
at November’s meeting of the Committee.
7.0
Internal Audit
7.1
Annual Audit Plan 2012/13
Noted 1:
Specific scope for individual reviews will be agreed when Craig Munro
(new Strategic Director) takes up post in early September.
Agreed 1:
The Committee approved the draft internal audit plan covering period
of April 2012 to March 2013.
Action 1:
Les agreed to liaise with Caroline around inviting the NonExecutive Directors to an informal session with Audit Scotland to
discuss the detail of their collaborative working and further
discuss the audit strategy and charter.
Action 2:
A paper outlining the clear line of responsibilities of the
Curriculum for Excellence Implementation Group and the Glow
project will come to November’s meeting of the Committee.
8.0
Corporate risk
Noted 1:
Laura invited the Committee to review the corporate risk register which
highlights the corporate level risks for the organisation, their mitigating
actions and any changes to risks since the beginning of the reporting
year.
Action 1:
Further discussion to take place around matching a Non
Executive Director to a directorate.
Action 2:
Laura agreed to provide the Non-Executive Directors
with a
session around risk and will use Les’ session as an opportunity to
do this.
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22 August 2012
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9.0
Inspection policy and code of practice: outline strategy and timetable
Noted 1:
The Committee noted the assignment and responsibilities relating to
the strategic oversight of inspection and review strategy, performance
and policy within the new Education Scotland structure.
Noted 2:
The Committee also noted the supporting protocols, key principles and
standards pertaining for the proposed code of practice.
Agreed 1:
The Committee approved the proposed function, structure and
development timescale relating to the code of practice.
Action 1:
Ken agreed to bring a draft policy to November’s meeting and
include consideration of the use of ‘evaluative activity’ instead of
‘inspection and review’ to reflect the wider scope of the code of
practice.
Items for noting
10.0
Framework document development
Noted 1:
Bill tabled a draft version of the framework document. This is not the
final iteration as dialogue is still happening around this between Bill,
Leslie Evans and Sarah Smith.
Action 1:
Bill agreed to email Members an electronic version of the
Framework document for their comments.
11.0
Corporate Expectations 2012 / 2013
Noted 1:
The Committee noted the enclosed letter from Paul Gray, Director
General of Governance and Communities, which sets out Scottish
Government expectations for how Public Bodies will act corporately.
Action 1:
This will be a substantive item for discussion at November’s
meeting of the Committee.
12.0
Revised matters for consideration
Noted 1:
The updated matters for consideration were noted as being a current
work in progress.
Action 1:
Laura agreed to update the matters for consideration further
following discussion.
Action 2:
A reminder of business items to be discussed at meetings to be
included in future meeting invitations.
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22 August 2012
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13.0
Any other business
Action 1:
Andrew agreed to meet Kate, Moi and Iain before November’s
meeting to evaluate effectiveness of the committee.
Action 2:
As Chair of the Committee, Andrew agreed to write to express
thanks to Charles, David and Shirley for their previous valued
contributions.
14.0
Date of Next Meeting
Noted 1:
Wednesday 21 November at 10.00am in the Boardroom,
Denholm House, Livingston
Agreed 1:
It was agreed to allow 3 hours for this meeting.
Audit and Risk Committee: Minutes
22 August 2012
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