Agenda

To receive apologies for inability to attend the meeting (if any).

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 27 January 2026.

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Purpose: To consider the Forward Plan for the next 12 months.

Purpose: To be informed about the actions taken from past meetings.

Purpose: To update the Committee on the status of Internal Audit work as at the end of quarter three 2025/26.

Purpose: This report proposes the formation of a new Audit and Risk Committee to provide a stronger and clearer focus on financial management and risk assurance, with the consequent merging of the Governance and Personnel Committees.

Purpose: To highlight the 17 corporate risks (as at the end of December 2025) that need to be considered by the committee and outline the actions that were being taken to mitigate those risks, in accordance with the West Berkshire Council Risk Management Strategy, and to call attention to changes observed in the Corporate Risk Register (CRR) during the reference period, more specifically, those related to a change in scoring or to the closure or inclusion of a risk in the register.

RECOMMENDATION: That members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items as it is likely that there would be disclosure of exempt information of the description contained in the paragraphs of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 specified in brackets in the heading of each item. Section 10 of Part 10 of the Constitution refers.

(Paragraph 3 – information relating to financial/business affairs of particular person)

(Paragraph 5 – information relating to legal privilege)

(Paragraph 5 – information relating to proposed action to be taken by the Local Authority)