Date: 14 November 2024

Time: 14:00

Venue: MS Teams

Present—

•  Ed Pybus (Chair of Audit Sub-Committee)
• Judith Paterson (Audit Sub-Committee Member)
• Adam Bennett (Audit Sub-Committee Member)

In attendance—

• Grant Harrison, Trainee Auditor, Audit Scotland;
• Stephen Herbert, Secretary, SCoSS; and
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer; SCoSS.

Ed Pybus welcomed the attendees to the fourth Audit Sub-Committee meeting of 2024.  In particular, the Chair welcomed Adam Bennett to his first meeting as a member of the Sub-Committee and thanked Judith Paterson and Dr Mark Simpson for having fulfilled the roles of Co-Chairs of the Sub-Committee since December 2022.

No interests were declared.

The Minutes of the August 2024 meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee were considered and 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. He highlighted three main points. Firstly, the 2023-24 annual report and accounts was laid in Parliament and published on the SCoSS website in September.  He noted that the timetable for the 2024-25 audit will be considered at the February meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee.

Secondly, recent changes to membership of the Board and changes to Sub-Committee memberships. Lastly, in terms of finance, he noted the recent revised budget allocation for 2024-25 following the mid-term review of the financial position.

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

Stephen Herbert spoke to the content of the agenda item noted the Audit and Assurance checklist was drafted in response to a recommendation from the Audit Scotland 2023-24 Annual Audit report.  He noted that the checklist has been reviewed by the Sponsor Unit and Finance and SCoSS Secretariat and it is a shared view that the governance of the audit process is appropriate and that the completion of the checklist has not identified any significant gaps in the current approach to audit and assurance.

Grant Harrison noted that the checklist will be formally reviewed by Audit Scotland at the beginning of next year.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed the Audit and Assurance checklist.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed the Annual Audit Plan for 2025.

Lisa Kinnear noted that the Secretariat have reviewed the risk register and as a result of the review of the register, the Secretariat have made changes to the format to make the document more accessible and reviewed the scoring of risks. As a result of the review of the register, the Secretariat proposed to remove two risks regarding the loss of Board resource and loss of Secretariat staff.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed, to recommend to the SCoSS Board, the revised risk register.

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

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed that the next meeting dates for the Sub-Committee would be—

• Thursday 13 February (2pm to 4pm);
• Thursday 12 June (2pm to 4pm);
• Thursday 14 August (2pm to 4pm);
• Thursday 13 November (2pm to 4pm).

No business was discussed.

Meeting closed at 15:31