Meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee
A meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee was held on Tuesday 17 September 2013 at
2:30 pm in the Boardroom, Denholm House, Livingston.
1.
Apologies/welcome*
Present:
Moi Ali
Alan Armstrong
Laura Burman
Morag Campsie (External Auditor)
Stephen Coulter
Alasdair Craik (External Auditor)
Andrew Duncan
Kate Dunlop (Chair)
Leslie Evans
Les Henderson (Internal Auditor)
Gillian Howells
Bill Maxwell
Craig Munro
Iain Nisbet
Linn Phipps
Linda Rae
Gayle Reilly
Stuart Robinson
Apologies:
Alastair Delaney
Jennifer Inglis-Jones
Bill opened the meeting by welcoming Kate Dunlop in her first official role as Chair of
the Audit and Risk Committee; new non-executive director Linn Phipps; and
Linda Rae, Executive Assistant to Chief Executive.
Leslie Evans, DG Learning and Justice was also welcomed to the meeting. Leslie will
attend Audit and Risk Committee annually.
Bill informed the Committee that Craig Munro had moved into the position of Strategic
Director, School Years. Stephen Coulter, Scottish Courts Service, had been
appointed to take up the post of Strategic Director for Strategy, Performance and
Corporate Resources on a 12 month secondment from 7 October 2013.
Andrew Duncan, Programme Manager was also welcomed, representing
Alastair Delaney.
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Tuesday 17 September 2013
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2.
Minute of previous meeting and action log*: 5 June 2013
Noted 1: The minute of the previous meeting was approved subject to a few minor
typos.
Noted 2: The actions from the previous meeting are now complete. However, Kate
was concerned that some discussions from the previous meeting had not
been recorded as actions on the tracker.
Noted 3: At the last meeting, Iain had requested that each of the non-executives be
provided with an update on media press coverage. An update for August
was provided to the non-executives.
Action:
Non-Executive Directors to receive a monthly update of media
coverage.
3.
Matters arising*
Noted 1: No other matters arising.
4.
Declarations of interest*
Noted 1: No changes to the current declarations were made.
Items for discussion
5.
Internal Audit*
5.1
Progress report on Annual Governance review 2012/13
Noted 1: Les provided his progress report on the governance risk and financial
assurance frameworks for 2012/13. He noted the auditors are content with
the progress being made.
Noted 2: The recommended action point on ‘the performance measures and targets
set for 2013/14 set out in the Corporate Plan and underpinning Business
Plans should be regularly reported on to the CMG and Board throughout the
year’ is marked as complete as processes have been put in place. The
performance measures will be refined and reported on every quarter.
Noted 3: Stuart informed the committee that interim measures are in place whilst the
Strategic Impact Board (SIB) develops the corporate performance reporting
procedures.
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Tuesday 17 September 2013
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5.2
Audit plan 2013/14
Noted 1: Due to a variety of factors including the corporate plan not yet being
published and staff changes, the internal auditors presented the committee
with a one year plan for 2013/14 instead of the usual three year plan.
Noted 2: Moi thought the paper was very clear and asked how the 75 days resource
allocation is calculated. This was explained and agreed as being adequate.
Noted 3: Iain asked about policy advice. Bill agreed this as an area that should be
included in the audit plan.
Action:
The following actions were noted:
 Internal auditors to revise section 18 of the report.
 Audit committee to offer any comments on the report to the internal
auditors by email.
5.3
Audit strategy
Noted 1: This paper was provided to the committee for noting.
5.4
Audit charter
Noted 1: This paper was provided to the committee for noting.
6.
External Audit*
Noted 1: The External Audit work for the 13-14 financial audit will commence shortly.
Noted 2: The External Auditors informed us that their colleagues in Performance
Audit and Best Value Group (PABV) were due to commence an audit on
School Education. An update was provided stating that their colleagues
were currently scoping this study and had been in touch with key
stakeholders including Education Scotland. They were due to finish their
scoping exercise in the coming weeks at which point a project brief
document would be published and sent to all stakeholders. The External
Auditors agreed that this document would be forward on once available.
Action:
External Auditors to send a copy of project brief document once
available.
7.
Third sector early intervention fund
Noted 1: Alan presented the Third sector early intervention fund paper to the
committee. This paper sets out the new Strategic Funding Partnerships
(SFPs) which were established from 1 May 2013 and the associated risks.
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Noted 2: Alan told the committee about the work in Polmont. To ensure proper
governance the team who support the development will be different from the
team who evaluate the project. The committee supported this structure.
Noted 3: Linn asked about how risk mitigation actions are tracked through the
organisation. Alan explained the risk escalation process from the Strategic
Impact Board then to Corporate Management Group (CMG).
8.
Audit and Risk quarterly report
Noted 1: This was noted as the annual report which is submitted to the Management
Board.
Noted 2: Leslie asked how the committee, as a group, undertook self-appraisal. This
was discussed with agreement on the need and it was suggested that this
should be an agenda item for the next meeting in December. It was agreed
that the feedback from the risk workshop could also form the basis of
discussion.
Action:
The following actions were noted:
 Typo in Alasdair Craik’s name on page 1 of the report
 Kate Dunlop chaired the last committee in the absence of
Andrew Cubie which should be noted on page 1 of the report
 Member’s attendance at meetings should also be recorded in this
report
 On the fourth paragraph ‘and/or’ to be amended
 Committee Self-Appraisal to be added to the December Agenda
9.
Corporate Risk*
9.1
Update on implementation of risk management approach
Noted 1: Laura provided the Committee with a redeveloped corporate risk register and
also an interim corporate performance report.
Noted 2: Craig provided the Committee with an update on risk number 7: Glow. This
relates to one particular project, ‘migration of Glow to Microsoft 365’. This
had proved more difficult than originally thought and a submission was being
sent to the Cabinet Secretary later in the day regarding an extension of the
contract to allow for dual running. A general discussion followed about
the importance of project management protocols and risk escalation
processes.
Noted 3: Strategic objective 1: ‘to build a world class curriculum’. Although we have
provided support for the new NQs, this still remains as high/medium risk due
to significant changes in exams. Kate felt this was a fair reflection of this
risk, however, Les thought that we could change the phraseology to make
this more positive.
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Tuesday 17 September 2013
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Items for noting
10.
Corporate Governance – transition to new structure
Noted 1: New Corporate Governance arrangements are being established. New
Boards have been added to the structure which are a People Board, a
Resources Board and the already established Strategic Impact Board.
Each board will be chaired by a Strategic Director and will have decision
making authority. These should be up and running within the next four to
six weeks.
Noted 2: It was noted that a considerable amount of work had been undertaken to get
to this point. Kate asked the Internal Auditors for their thoughts on this new
structure and they commented that they felt that there is a more concise
landscape which looks more effective. Measuring the effectiveness of these
boards will be part of the internal audit programme.
11.
Health and safety report (verbal update)
Noted 1: Following an action from the previous meeting, an order has now been
placed for a defibrillator for the Livingston office and training will follow
thereafter.
Noted 2: SG have confirmed that a Health and Safety shared service is not feasible.
A new post will therefore be advertised to recruit and train a H&S specialist.
12.
Fraud Awareness survey results
Noted 1: The results from the fraud awareness survey which took place between
27 August to 20 September 2012 were shared.
Noted 2: Gillian informed the committee that the Civil service e-learning package had
been launched which is mandatory for all staff and that to date 154 staff had
completed this course. She also commented that the intranet page on
Fraud as well as the induction programme will be refreshed in due course.
13.
Finance report
Noted 1: The finance report was noted. Gillian informed the committee that we are
on budget half way through the budget year.
Noted 2: Stuart informed the committee that work had been carried out to update the
Business Planning Tool (BPT) providing financial information for colleagues
across the organisation and assist strategic directors and others monitor
their budgets and take the necessary action in a timely manner. Gillian and
her team have been working with IT to provide better information. Progress
has been made since last year but there are still some refinements to be
made.
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Noted 3: Iain asked why the outsourced costs had increased. Gillian replied that
contractors are used for outsourced work for certain projects and the pattern
will change depending on the project.
14.
Any other business*
14.1
Corporate Plan
Noted 1: The Committee received a mock-up of the final version of the Corporate
plan and also the CP ‘Lite ‘version. These will be circulated to the
Committee following launch at the Scottish Learning Festival on
26 September 2013.
Action:
The Committee to receive a copy of the Corporate plan once it has
been launched at SLF.
14.2
Timeline for December meeting
Noted 1: Linda presented the timeline for the 11 December 2013 meeting informing
the Committee of the key dates. This was accepted and agreed.
15.
Date of next meeting*
The next meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 11 December 2013 at
10.30 am, The Optima, Glasgow.
Kate thanked the minute taker and all other participants. She thanked Leslie Evans,
DG Learning and Justice especially for her attendance and her input.
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