Issue - meetings

          The Board considered a report from the Head of Audit, Procurement and Operational Finance, which presented the Internal Audit Peer Review.

It was a requirement of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that an external assessment of the Council’s internal audit arrangements should carried out every 5 years.  To fulfil this requirement, an independent peer review of the Council’s internal audit arrangements was conducted in February 2024 by senior internal audit representatives from other North West authorities.  The Halton Borough Council Peer Review of Internal Audit Service Against the UK Public Internal Audit Standards was appended to the report.  It was noted that the purpose of the external assessment was to help improve delivery of the audit service and to establish whether governance requirements relating to the provision of the service were embedded.

The approach taken, findings and agreed actions from this review were set out within the report, which concluded that the Council’s internal audit arrangements confirmed to the PSIAS.  It was noted that many positive observations and good practices were identified by the review team and any recommendations made were intended to add value by strengthening the existing arrangements further.  Officers advised that all recommendations were agreed and would be implemented.

RESOLVED:  That Members note the outcome of the external assessment of the Council’s Integral Audit function against the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.