Audit and Risk Committee

The Audit and Risk Committee will advise the Board and Accounting Officer on:

• the strategic processes for risk control and governance and the governance statement;
• the accounting policies, the accounts and the annual report of the organisation including the process for review;
• planned activity and results of both internal and external audit; adequacy of management respond to issues identified by audit activity including external audit’s management letter;
• assurances including outsources or shared service partners, relating to the management of risk and corporate governance requirements for the organisation;
• proposals for tendering for internal or external audit services or for purchase of non-audit services from contractors who provide audit services;
• counter-fraud and bribery policies, whistle-blowing processes, and arrangements for special investigations;
• and consider other topics as defined by the Board.

Current committee members (as at June 2024) are:

Julia Heap - Chairperson and CITB Trustee

Herman Kok - CITB Trustee

Richard Plumb - Founder and Director, Black Swan Internal Audit Services

Richard is Founder and Director of Black Swan Internal Audit Services providing internal audit, risk management and governance support to clients in both the public and private sectors.

In his most recent role Richard was Head of Risk & Assurance at Ordnance Survey, a Government owned company and prior to that Partner with RSM, a global professional services practice, where he was responsible for developing and delivering internal audit, risk management and governance services to the public and not for profit sectors nationally and in London and the South-East.

Richard who has more than 35 years experience in the internal audit and risk profession is a CCAB CIPFA qualified accountant, Affiliate of the Institute of Risk Management, Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist and ISO 14001 Environmental Management Auditor.

Richard has been a member of the CITB Audit and Risk Committee since 2017.

Lee Jones – Group Business Assurance Manager, Kier Group

Lee is the Group Business Assurance Manager for Kier Group, a publicly limited company, with responsibility for the Construction and Infrastructure Divisions, Group Functions, internal audit strategy and external ISO certification.

Before joining Kier, Lee was with Interserve for 6 years and worked with Key account clients including HSBC, BBC, and his last role as Head of Quality, Safety, Health and Environment for US Visiting Armed Forces. Prior to Interserve Lee was with Enterprise Managed Services as the Divisional Quality Manager for their Government Services Division, Lee worked with local authorities across the UK and estates management for the Ministry of Defence.

Lee qualified in building services engineering over 30 years ago, and has been lead auditor since 1995. He is also a Chartered member of IOSH and a Practitioner Member of IEMA.

Lee has been a member of the CITB Audit and Risk Committee since 2021.

2024 Meetings

• 1 February
• 2 May
• 18 July
• 17 October