In attendance: Kieran Donnelly (C&AG), Rodney Allen, Chair (COO), Patrick Barr (Director), Neil Gray (Director), Colette Kane (Director), Brian O’Neill (Director), Suzanne Walsh (Director), Tomas Wilkinson (Director), Louise Donnelly (Secretary)
No. |
Topic |
1. |
Apologies No apologies were recorded.
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2. |
Declaration of Conflicts of Interest There were no issues declared by members.
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3. |
Minutes of Previous meeting and Matters Arising Minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 May 2022 were agreed and the matters arising noted as updated.
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4. |
Strategic Paper on Public Reporting Patrick Barr presented a paper providing an update on the current position with regard to the Public Reporting Programme, the report also outlined future topics for consideration and thoughts on the future resourcing of public reporting. All members agreed resourcing was key to ensuring the consistent delivery of the public reporting programme within the appropriate timescales.
Members discussed and agreed the proposed actions presented in the report and agreed, in the short to medium term, to explore ways to enhance the capacity and capability currently available within NIAO. Going forward OMT will continue to monitor, review and focus on workforce planning to help ensure public reporting work is adequately resourced in the longer term. |
5. |
Draft Annual Report, Accounts and Governance Statement Brian O’Neill briefed members on the current position for 2021-22. SMT was asked to consider the draft report presented and provide feedback to Brian O’Neill before 21 June 2022 when the draft will be considered by the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee prior to signing and certification by the external auditors.
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6. |
Management Information Report The interactive performance report detailing key performance outturns for the public reporting and financial audit programmes to May 2022 was presented. Each member provided the C&AG with an update on the status of audits in the pre-summer recess period and the current position on backlog accounts. The C&AG emphasised the need for continued focus on clearing the backlog.
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7. |
Corporate Report Brian O’Neill provided an overview on the current position with regard to Finance, HR and Business Support:
Finance
HR
Business Support
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8. |
Technical Report From the Technical Report provided Suzanne Walsh updated members on the following:
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9. |
Annual Assurances
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10. |
Internal Audit – Assurance Statement The overall opinion from RSMUK is that there is a satisfactory system of governance, risk management and control in place. The report is currently presented in DRAFT as RSMUK are currently finalising the Follow Up report, but this will not change the overall assessment of “Satisfactory” assurance. The final report will be available in time for presentation at ARAC next week. |
11. |
External Audit Brian O’Neill advised that the external audit is ongoing with no significant issues identified to date. |
12. |
Risk Management Corporate Risk Register The Corporate Risk Register was presented by Colette Kane, changes were highlighted in red for member’s convenience. Members discussed the rating of risk one (Risk one: Failure to provide timely and high quality outputs to support and promote public sector accountability and improvement) and decided to keep the inherent assessment under close review in the months ahead. OMT will continue to monitor and assess this at their weekly meetings. |
13. |
SMT Self-Assessment Report Following discussion on the results of the SMT self-assessment exercise it was concluded that the Team was performing effectively. It was agreed that some suggestions for further improvement would be discussed with the new C&AG. |
14. |
Auditee Survey Returns A full breakdown of results and responses was presented to SMT, an overview report will be presented to staff and audited bodies. The C&AG and members welcomed the positive outcome and feedback received from the Survey. |
15. |
Papers noted:
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16. |
AOB
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Rodney Allen noted this was the C&AG’s last SMT meeting and on behalf of members passed on sincere thanks to Kieran for his invaluable contributions as Chair of the meetings. He personally recorded his thanks to the C&AG for his support over the last 15 months in the role as COO. Everyone present wished Kieran well on his retirement and looked forward to an opportunity to mark his retirement in the weeks ahead. The C&AG thanked everyone for their kind words. |