Date: 13 November 2025

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—

• Stephen Herbert, Secretary, SCoSS;
• Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny, SCoSS; and
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer; SCoSS.

Ed Pybus welcomed the attendees to the fourth Audit Sub-Committee meeting of 2025.

No interests were declared.

The Minutes of the August 2025 meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee were agreed.

Stephen Herbert spoke to the content of this agenda item and provided an update on performance and assurance primarily with regard to the financial position of the Commission in the current financial year where expenditure is forecast to be within budget.  The Sub-Committee also considered a budget forecast for 2026-27.

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

Lisa Kinnear noted that the risk register was reviewed at the August Board meeting, at which it was agreed that the removed risks should include the date they were removed. It was also proposed, by the Secretariat, that a new risk be added to the risk register relating to the end of support from Programme Finance at the end of December 2025. The Audit Sub-Committee considered and agreed the new risk and revised risk register for consideration at the next meeting of the SCoSS Board.

The efficacy of the process in place to manage risk was also considered.  The Audit Sub-Committee agreed that they are content with the current  approach and the risk register but would continue to keep the process under review.

Stephen Herbert spoke to this agenda item and noted that at the September Board meeting, the Commission briefly considered the future governance structure of the Commission as a result of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025.

The Audit Sub-Committee considered the future governance structure following the change to the governance of the Commission arising from the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) 2025.  It was agreed to recommend to the Board that the role of the Audit Sub-Committee be repurposed to become the ‘Governance Sub-Committee’.  If agreed by the Board, it was intended that this would be the last meeting of the Audit Sub-Committee.

The Audit Sub-Committee noted that it was previously agreed by the Board to establish a body to bring external expertise into the work of the Commission. The Audit Sub-Committee considered and agreed the role of this advisory panel and also considered the approach to appointments, governance and renumeration arrangements for the panel.

The Audit Sub-Committee agreed to recommend to the Board the establishment of an external panel of advisers for an initial pilot period of up to two years.

The Audit Sub-Committee considered and agreed quarterly meeting dates for 2026.

The Audit Sub-Committee considered the implications of the Consumer Duty, that applies to public bodies in Scotland, for the Commission’s scrutiny processes.

Meeting closed at 15:51