Minutes of the VSS Audit and Risk Committee

Tuesday 17th January 2023, 10am

Remote – via Zoom

 

 

ARC Members Present:

Colm Doran (CD)                      Chair

Bertha McDougall (BMCD)        ARC Member

Briege Lafferty (BL)                  ARC Member

Johnathan McCullough (JMcC) ARC Member

John Cahill (JC)                        ARC Member

 

VSS Officers in Attendance:

Andrew Walker (AW)                Chief Executive Officer

Tara Lewsley (TL)                    Head of Corporate Services

Nicola Crawford (NC)                Finance Officer (Minutes)

 

Others in Attendance:

Catriona McHugh (CMcH)         Cavanagh Kelly (Internal Audit)

Kathy Doey (KD)                       NIAO

Tanya Hamilton                         TEO

Sinead Browne                          TEO

 

 

 

A      Apologies

 

No Apologies.

 

B      Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 20 October 2022 were approved.

       

C      Action Points

 

        None outstanding

                                                                                                             

D      Conflict of Interest  

 

        All papers were noted by the Committee and no conflicts of interest were declared.

                                                                                                

 

 

E      Accounting Officer Update

       

AW provided an update of the current challenging and difficult environment including the current operating environment.  Externally, the sector continues to feel the direct and indirect impact of a range of issues, including: the unstable political environment; an expired Victims Strategy; uncertainty of budgets; the cost of living situation; increased needs and capacity constraints; and continued lack of progress on legacy mechanisms.  Many of these issues have been present for some time now.

 

Internally, staff pressures remain a key risk.  The BCS report on the staffing restructure highlighted a small increase in staff numbers (54 to 60) focusing on the change in structure within teams rather a significant increase in staffing numbers. VSS continue to look at different funding options with TEO and SEUPB which can support the VSS structure in the longer term.  The risk in not achieving long term funding will result in difficulty of attracting and retaining staff. The current pay award also compounds this risk.   Internal temporary promotions, at SMT level, need to be addressed and permanent appointments made. 

 

AW advised that the uplift in budget has now been resolved and the 22/23 budget allocation letter was received yesterday (16th January 2023).  This included PIV gap funding which had been a significant risk.

 

AW advised that this week advertisements will be going live for expression of interest for PEACE PLUS partnership.  This round of funding requires a partnership to be established before the application is submitted.   VSS hope to have partnerships in place by the end of March.  AW also stated that Regional Trauma Network is progressing well and the RTN Board continues to meet regularly.

 

The strategic risk register was discussed:

·       TL provided update on 22/23 budget position.  HWB team reviewing INP Needs based awards monthly which includes suppliers and individuals being contacted to identify if full allocation will be spent.  Current spend is typical for this point of the year.

 

·       TL advised that SEUPB cash advance is to be recovered by SEUPB through a net off against verification of claims already submitted for payment.  TEO have provided cashflow support to VSS whilst SEUPB verification is pending.  SEUPB have restarted processing payments to WAVE.

 

·       TL provided an update on the rebuilding of the finance team.

 

·       AW confirmed risk in respect of delays to repayments to WAVE from SEUPB is now closed along with PIV gap funding with the recent budget allocation letter being received.

 

CD had no queries on risk register, but committee proposed to organise a separate meeting to review risk register in greater detail.

 

AP1: Session on Risk Management to be arranged with ARC members and SMT

 

F      Quarterly Reports   

       

        F1    Quarterly ALB Report

 

The Committee noted this paper.

                                                                                              

        F2    Quarterly Assurance Statement

 

The Committee noted this paper.

 

        F3    Quarterly M&E Report – Qtr 3 2022/23

 

Quarter 3 2022/23 were noted. AW explained Education and Training lower against target as change in framework has had an impact in the number of people eligible.

 

         

G     Internal Audit

       

CD noted the committee hasn’t had the opportunity to review Internal Audit papers as they were received late.

CMcH apologised for the late report, advising that the delay was due to the time required to complete the audit and delays in receiving information from staff given that both the NIAO and CK audits were taking place at the same time and then a further delay due to illness.  CMcH summarised the finding within the report.

CD asked for further clarification as report finding appeared harsh considering there were no priority 1 recommendations.  JM agreed given no significant errors/issues were found. CMcH noted that the report was at a point in time and that a limited assurance rating is about judgement and that the lack of some audit trail documentation in 21/22 gave rise to her concerns.  BL questioned the line between satisfactory and limited assurance.  CMcH advised that Cavanagh Kelly have an internal scoring and VSS were borderline – There doesn’t need to be a priority 1 recommendation to merit limited assurance. Changes in finance team staff have been highlighted in the Executive Summary.

AW thanked Cavanagh Kelly for the report.  AW highlighted pressures within the Finance team and noted that VSS have implemented the majority of recommendations already.

                                                                                                      

H      External Audit Update

                                                                                                     

Verbal update from KD. Although new wording of the Governance Statement hasn’t been seen, KD is content.  KD advised of unqualified audit and thanked TL for her work during the NIAO audit.  KD noted the changes to the Education and Training scheme based on NIAO recommendations and advised that these changes were not seen within the 2021/2022 accounts as recommendation was only brought forward within that year.

 

AW requested that the wording within the Report to Those Charged with Governance in respect of ineligible expenditure be revised to potential ineligible expenditure.  KD acknowledged this and agreed to amend. 

 

I       Standing Agenda Items

 

All standing agenda Items were noted by the Committee.           

       

        I1     2020/21 ARC Self-Assessment Report - Action Plan                            

        I2     ARC Training Update and Requirements                          

        I3     Audit recommendations                                                   

        I4     Gifts and Hospitality Update                                            

        I5     Compliance Update

        I6     Procurement Update                                                       

        I7     Data Protection

 

 

 

J    Any Other Business

 

TL advised that there had been minor changes to the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 following the NIAO audit and it was agreed that the committee would receive these and approve via email.

 

TL advised of small adjustments to the Internal Audit Strategy for 2022/23 to allow time for new recommendations to be implemented it was agreed that this also would be circulated by email for approval.

 

KD advised this was their last ARC and advised their replacement will be Andrew Allen, ARC members thanked KD for her work on the VSS audit for a number of years and wished her well in her future work.

 

Date of Next Meeting - TBC