Minutes of ARAC meeting 28 May 2025

Members Present:

Dean Sullivan (Chair)

Jill Laughlin

Claire McAleenan

In Attendance:

Marie Mallon OBE (Chair NIAO Advisory Board)

Dorinnia Carville (C&AG)

Rodney Allen (Chief Operating Officer)

Brian O’Neill (Director)

Anu Kane (Audit Manager)

Sean Cavanagh, SCC (External Auditor)

Lee Glover, Validera (Internal Auditor) – online via Teams

Steve Connors, Validera (Internal Auditor) – online via Teams

Colette Kane (Director) – Agenda item -3

Louise Halligan (Committee Secretary)

Apologies

No apologies were recorded.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

There were no issues declared by members.

Minutes and Matters Arising from the previous meeting

Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 January 2025 were agreed by all parties concerned, there were no matters arising requiring updating. 

 

  1. Internal Audit (IA) Reports

    Lee Glover and Steve Connors presented the following reports:

  • Delivery Management: Management of Contracted-Out Audits

  • Information Governance

  • Core Financial Controls

  • Health and Safety Estates Management

  • Follow-up Report

Members noted the reports presented and the assessments of ‘satisfactory’ provided.  A discussion took place regarding the level of assurance provided and the recommendations outlined in the Information Governance report. Members were content with the explanations provided and expressed confidence in the findings presented by Internal Audit and requested that the Committee receive regular updates on the implementation and progress of the report’s recommendations.

Members welcomed the ‘recommendations tracker’ template provided in the Follow-up Report, all agreeing this would prove to be a useful tool going forward.

  1. External Audit 

Sean Cavanagh advised that a member of his team had recently been onsite to conduct the audit which is nearing completion and findings will be reported at the June 2025 ARAC meeting.

  1. Risk Management

Corporate Risk Register

Colette Kane joined the meeting and provided an overview on the Risk Register presented.  Members were advised that only minimum changes had been made to the register since the January 2025 ARAC meeting, any changes made were highlighted in red for members’ convenience.

Draft Annual Assurance Statement

The draft assurance statement covering 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 was presented, no near misses or issues were reported for the year.  Members took assurance from the risk management activities and assurance mechanisms observed throughout the year.

Update of the Corporate Risk Register

Members were advised the update is progressing well with the following tasks completed or in progress: 

  • A review of the other audit agencies risk registers; 

  • Continued liaison with Internal Audit who are providing advice on the approach to risk management; 

  • Completion of a staff survey seeking views on the current risk register; and 

  • Consideration of potential risks by the Corporate Risk Register Working Group (CRRWG).

When the work is complete, proposals for reshaping the risk register will be submitted to the Senior Leadership Team and then ARAC for review. Members sought clarity on timeline and management advised potential consideration during a Risk Workshop scheduled for the autumn.

  1. Financial Statements - Judgements /Financial Estimates

Brian O’Neill presented a paper to apprise members of judgements/financial estimates to be used in the preparation of NIAO’s Annual report and Accounts for 2024-25.  Discussion followed surrounding the vacant office space and the ongoing efforts to secure potential tenants.  Members asked management to ensure any risk is properly captured in the risk register.

  1. Report Tracking Implementation of Audit Recommendations

Internal Audit Recommendations

Brian O’Neill advised that all recommendations made by NIAO’s previous Internal Auditors (RSM) in the three-year period 2021-22 to 2023-24 have now been completed. 

The current Internal Auditor (Validera) has provided a template for use when tracking audit recommendations. Members were advised that going forward this template would be used to record progress of all recommendations made by Internal Audit and External Audit.

External Audit Recommendations 

There are currently no outstanding recommendations. 

6.              Fraud, Raising Concerns and Complaints Report

 

        Fraud

Brian O’Neill advised that there are no ongoing cases and no new fraud/raising concerns cases to report since the January 2025 ARAC meeting.

Internal Concerns Raised

There are no ongoing cases and no new cases to report since the January 2025 ARAC meeting.

Complaints

There are no ongoing cases and no new cases to report since the January 2025 ARAC meeting.

7.               Direct Awards Contracts Report

Brian O’Neill presented a paper outlining the direct award contracts for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Discussion followed concerning extensions granted to some existing contracts.  Members took assurance that each contract awarded had the appropriate levels of approval and fully complied with the procurement policy. 

8.               Current Policies to note:

After discussion members endorsed the papers presented, taking assurance from the policies and procedures in place.

9.              Review of ARAC Terms of Reference (ToR)

Members endorsed the terms of reference presented.

10.    Draft ARAC Annual Report to the Advisory Board

Marie Mallon (on behalf of John Turkington, the previous ARAC Chair) provided an overview of the draft ARAC Annual Report to the Advisory Board. Members endorsed the draft report presented.  The final report will be presented to the Advisory Board at their meeting scheduled for 9 June 2025. 

11.   Papers noted:

  • DAO (DoF) 02-25 Corporate governance in central government departments: Code of good practice NI (2025)

12.    AOB

                 No issues raised.

13.    Date of Next Meeting

                 30 June 2025 @ 10am

14.   The Committee met with Internal and External Auditors for private discussions.