Date: 9 May 2024

Time: 14:00

Venue: MS Teams

Present—

• Judith Paterson (Interim Co-Chair)
• Dr Mark Simpson (Interim Co-Chair)

In attendance—

• Lisa Duthie, Senior Audit Manager, Audit Scotland;
• Julie McKinney, Head of Social Security Strategy, Welfare Fund and Winter Benefits;
• Stephen Pendrich, Finance Team leader; and,
• Lorna Fawcett, Accountant. (In attendance for Agenda Item 4);
• Stephen Herbert, Secretary, SCoSS;
• Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny, SCoSS; and
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer; SCoSS

Interim Co-Chair, Judith Paterson, welcomed the attendees to the second Audit Sub-Committee meeting of 2024.  There were no apologies and no interests were declared.

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

Stephen Herbert spoke to the content of this agenda item and noted that the paper for this item had been reviewed by Scottish Government Finance and Sponsor Unit.  The paper provided an update on the external audit process, which remained on schedule, and a range of governance matters.  These included a review of SCoSS corporate documents, the agreement of the SCoSS Business Plan for 2024-25 and a stakeholder engagement strategy, as well as the establishment of the Charter sub-committee. Lastly an update around the challenging financial position in 2024-25 was given and it was noted that there will be a mid-year review of the financial position in October.

The Audit Sub-Committee noted the performance and assurance update.

Judith Paterson spoke to the content of this agenda item which involves the implementation of the Audit Advisors legacy report recommendations which were agreed at February’s Audit Sub-Committee. The Audit Sub-Committee agreed a range of actions to implement the recommendations arising from the Audit Adviser’s legacy report.  These were as follows—

• The Secretariat, Sponsor Unit and Finance would undertake assessment of the SCoSS governance framework as part of the annual report and accounts process. Audit Scotland agreed to discuss with the Secretariat whether any further assurances were necessary.

• That existing procedures were in place to provide sufficient support for budget monitoring and forecasting. If any further support were considered necessary the Secretariat would raise this with Finance and Sponsor Unit and report to the Audit Sub-Committee.

• Finance to continue providing support in relation to financial support for preparation of the annual report and accounts and assurance with regard to financial disclosure, notes to the Accounts, review of accounting policies and of the government finance reporting manual (FReM) and Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) as well as any other relevant accounting standards and associated disclosures changes that may be required.

• The Secretariat will produce the audit assurance checklist and Finance will provide assurance with regard to the content of the checklist. Finance and Sponsor Unit will provide a letter of representation to the Accountable Officer as part of the annual report and accounts process.

• That an assessment of whether there is a need for audit training for Audit Sub-Committee members will be undertaken once a new Chair of SCoSS has been appointed.

• Sponsor Unit and Audit Scotland to consider further the extent of Internal Audit support required to support the annual report and accounts process.

• The Secretariat and Sponsor Unit will review governance support and report to the Audit Sub-Committee via the ‘performance and assurance update’ report which is considered at each meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee noted that the Secretariat and the Audit Advisor, prior to leaving his post, had reviewed the risk register and advised that no further change to the register is required at present.

The Audit Sub-Committee considered and agreed that no change was required to the register.  The Risk Register would be considered at the next meeting of the SCoSS Board on 30 May.

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

Andrew Strong spoke to the content of this item, which highlighted recent Charter research engagement events which aimed to engage directly with people with communication needs on their experiences of the social security system.  In particular, Andrew Strong highlighted a range of lessons learned regarding the organisation of on-line events as part of the engagement process which were as follows—

• From the outset of planning online events with partner organisations to initiate a dialogue on potential risks associated with online events;
• That verification measures are put in place to assess the authenticity of potential participants in online events;
• Working with partners on carefully worded invites that do not advertise the amount or source / provenance of a thank you payment;
• Ensure that a ‘thank you payment’ is provided via local / Scottish sources rather than larger multi-national sources; and
• Prior to undertaking further online events the Secretariat seek to draw on best practice from more local sources such as the former Social Security experience panels and Social Security Scotland client engagement.

The Audit Sub-Committee noted the lessons learned and agreed that these should be reviewed by the Charter Sub-Committee.

No other business was discussed.