Agenda item

This report provides the Committee with an update on progress against the Internal Audit Plan.

This report provided an update on progress against the Internal Audit Plan for the period 1 January 2020 to 30 April 2020.  Michael Bradley (Head of Audit and Investigations) introduced the report during which the Committee noted the following points:

·             During this period, Internal Audit completed 10 audit reviews and advisory pieces of work, issued a further seven draft reports which were awaiting management responses, completed 14 follow up reviews, completed two school audits and completed grant claim certifications for the Troubled Families Programme.  Details of the key findings were set out in Appendix A of the report and details of the audits currently in progress were set out in Appendix B of the report. To ensure that agreed management actions in respect of significant risks were implemented, officers had also carried out follow-up reviews.

·             A further seven audits were nearing completion or in progress.  Due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation, a number of this year’s audits had had to be postponed and would be rescheduled in 2020/21.  Planning work had also now commenced on a number of audits from the 2020/21 Audit Plan.

·             For each audit where controls had been analysed and a report agreed with management, an assurance opinion was given. This grading mechanism provided an indication of the level of confidence in the controls in operation and the extent to which they were being applied.  For 2019/20 this grading system would be no longer used and an indication of the level of confidence was now gained by examining the number of issues raised and their associated risk level.

·             During the period, 14 follow up reviews were completed (as detailed within Appendix C of the report).  A further 11 were currently in progress. Of the 14 completed, four had high-risk actions that had not been implemented or only partially implemented.  These would be followed up to ensure they have been satisfactorily implemented.  119 management actions had been reviewed in total.

·             Management had provided positive feedback on individual audits completed on areas including usefulness of the audit, quality of the report and usefulness of any recommendations made.  Of the five questionnaires that had been returned during this period. 97.5% of scores were either very satisfied or satisfied.

The Chair thanked Michael Bradley for the update and invited comments from the Members during which the following were noted;

(a)        Members raised specific questions about the impact of Covid-19 on the finances of the Council when there was no income flow from for example, parking facilities. Furthermore, the ability of the audit team to complete its work whilst service areas such as highways, older persons pathway and Spot Purchasing, Residential and Nursing Care were all marked “fieldwork in progress”.  Michael Bradley responded that the Audit and Investigation unit had, since the report was written, completed some of the audits that were in progress.  In addition, the remote working protocol including some face-to-face activity, where appropriate, had enabled the unit to function with minimal impact.  In 2020/21, the unit would scrutinise any ongoing impact and devise mitigation plans, going forward.

(b)        Members asked the Head of Audit and Investigations to elaborate and provide further updates on the following audit areas that had high risk findings: IT Access and Identity Management (access to applications); Staff Benefits (Effective and regular management reporting and reconciliations of staff beneficial loans, loan policy and central record of loans issued) and First Wave Housing (rent collection KPI).  Michael Bradley informed Members that the council had in place a process for managing staff loans and with positive responses from service teams, and that no irregularities had been identified.  He added that control measures were in place in respect of the findings that were categorised as medium and undertook to circulate further updates to members.

(c)        Specific questions were asked about how the team was scrutinising the impact of the changes and support measures put in place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and comments were also sought on the pension fund investments in passive trackers. Michel Bradley responded that the team was providing assurance via initial spot check testing on grant payments to businesses.  He undertook to share updates on passive trackers with members.

As no further issues were raised, the Chair once again thanked the Head of Audit and Investigations and his team of officers for the comprehensive report and the updates provided.  It was RESOLVED:

(1)    To note the internal audit progress report for the quarter.

(2)    That the Head of Audit and Investigations share further updates noted in the above discussions.