Introduction to police audit committee
Event summary
This event, being delivered by two half-day webinars, provides an essential introduction to the role of the audit committees that support police and crime commissioners and chief constables.
It covers the policing context, governance and audit arrangements with which the committee will work.
This webinar takes place over two half days:
18.06.25 - 10:00 - 12:40
19.06.25 - 10:00 - 12:40
Members of the CIPFA Police and Fire Network, the CIPFA Better Governance Forum or the AFEP Programme can use a prepaid place to attend this webinar.
Date
Starts:
18 Jun 2025 10:00
Ends:
19 Jun 2025 12:40
Location
online
Standard price
£320.00 excl VAT
Network Member Price
£290.00 excl VAT
Book now
About this event
Who should attend?
The event is suitable for members of police joint audit committees and for those who work closely with the committees.
How will you benefit from attending?
By the end of these webinars you will understand:
- The purpose of a police audit committee and how it is held accountable
- The governance arrangements of local policing bodies and their relationships to the audit committee
- The key roles and responsibilities an audit committee fulfils
- How an audit committee can be chaired effectively and the importance of good support for its effective working
- How to work with your internal and external auditors and making effective use of audit reports
- Approaches to questioning, challenging and supporting staff and auditors
CPD hours
This carries six CPD hours.
Topics
- Audit
- / Governance
- / Local government
- / Police
- / Risk management
Speaker - Diana Melville, Governance Advisor, CIPFA
Diana is lead advisor for the Better Governance Forum and is CIPFA’s representative on the Internal Audit Standards Advisory Board. She is a CIPFA-qualified accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Prior to joining the institute in 2008 she was head of internal audit at Salisbury Council, and held other audit roles in local government and at the National Audit Office. She is part of the CIPFA working group that developed the Good Governance Framework for Local Government (2016) and supports other CIPFA policy initiatives and publications on governance, internal audit and counter fraud.
Speaker - Alison Dewhirst, Police & Fire Associate Advisor
Alison has worked in and for policing for over 30 years since her first days as a researcher for City of London Police. Alison is passionate about the practical aspects of policy implementation, analysing how initiatives fit together in the bigger picture of policing as a whole.
During her 21 years working as the Police Advisor for CIPFA, she endeavoured to examine these issues and to share good practice being developed by forces and consider their application to other areas, through the CIPFA Police and Fire Network. More recently, she was also involved in the establishment and running of the Achieving Financial Excellence in Policing (AFEP) programme.
Alison was involved in the financial and governance aspects of police reform, including the introduction of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in 2012 and legislation to allow PCCs to take on the governance of fire and rescue services in 2017. Alison has worked closely with the Home Office, HMICFRS, National Audit Office and Audit Wales over many years. Since leaving CIPFA in December 2021, Alison undertakes consultancy projects in policing and is a police and fire associate advisor for CIPFA.
Alison has an Honours degree in Economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a Master’s degree in Politics (public policy) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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