Date: 26 August 2024

Time: 14:00

Venue: MS Teams

Present—

•  Judith Paterson (Chair and Audit Sub-Committee Member)
• Dr Mark Simpson (Audit Sub-Committee Member)
• Ed Pybus (Observer)

In attendance—

• Lisa Duthie, Senior Audit Manager, Audit Scotland;
• Grant Harrison, Trainee Auditor, Audit Scotland;
• Ian Davidson, Head of Social Security Policy, Scottish Government and Accountable Officer for SCoSS; (In attendance for items 1-6)
• Julie McKinney, Head of Social Security Strategy, Welfare Fund and Winter Benefits, Scottish Government; (In attendance for items 1-6)
• Munwar Hussain, Scottish Welfare Fund Manager, Scottish Government; (In attendance for items 1-6) and,
• Lorna Fawcett, Accountant, Scottish Government.
• Stephen Herbert, Secretary, SCoSS; and
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer; SCoSS.

Judith Paterson welcomed the attendees to the third Audit Sub-Committee meeting of 2024.  Apologies were received from Stephen Pendrich, Finance Team leader, Scottish Government.

No interests were declared.

The Minutes of the June 2024 meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee were considered and, following amendment, approved.

Lisa Duthie spoke to the content of the covering letter and noted that the accounts were unqualified and there were no unadjusted mis-statements to report.

The Audit Sub-Committee noted the content of the ISA 580 Covering letter.

Grant Harrison, Audit Scotland, spoke to the content of the Annual Audit Report 2023-24. Grant noted one area of audit focus for 2023-24 had been the parliamentary progress of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill and that Audit Scotland would continue to monitor this through their normal audit process.

Grant also noted the wider scope of audit work that had been conducted with regard to financial sustainability. He noted that Audit Scotland had made one recommendation in the audit report that the Audit Sub-Committee, with the support of the Secretariat, Sponsor Unit and Scottish Government Finance, should perform a self-assessment using the checklist in the Audit and Assurance committee handbook published by the Scottish Government. Grant also highlighted that the recommendation from the previous year’s audit report had now been completed.

The Audit Sub-Committee, and the Accountable Officer, agreed to the recommendation and noted the content of the report.

Stephen Herbert spoke to the content of the Annual Report and Accounts.

The Accountable Officer noted that there was currently a forecast overspend in 2024-25 and that a mid-term budget review would take place and be considered by the SCoSS Board in October.  The Accountable Officer stated that he was content to sign the draft annual report and accounts.

Judith Paterson noted that progress had been made in a number of areas during 2023-24, including on a range of governance matters and also with regard to stakeholder engagement, and this was reflected in the annual report.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed to recommend to the Board that the draft annual report and accounts be approved.

Stephen Herbert noted that the Secretariat have reviewed the risk register and as a result of the review of the register, the Secretariat have proposed the inclusion of two new risks in the register both of which relate to IT and Cyber-security issues.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed to the inclusion of the two new risks, following amendment to include the issue of the use of personal e-mail addresses, for consideration at the next meeting of the SCoSS Board.

The Audit Sub-Committee noted that there had been no losses or special payments since the previous meeting in May.

The Chair thanked Audit Scotland for their work and assistance during the 2023-24 audit process.

The Chair noted that the next meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee will take place on Thursday 14 November.

Meeting closed at 14:37.