Agenda item

This report presents the outcomes of the Internal Audit External Quality Assessment, undertaken in Quarter 3 2022-23.

Darren Armstrong, Head of Audit and Investigations, introduced a report updating the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee on the outcome of the Internal Audit External Quality Assessment (EQA) undertaken in Quarter 3 2022-23. Context was provided that as part of the Council’s statutory duty to maintain an adequate and effective Internal Audit function the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) required an EQA to be undertaken at least every 5 years. The Committee were advised that the review of Internal Audit’s performance at Brent had been completed by Caroline Glitre, the Head of Internal Audit for the London Borough of Barnet. The outcome of the EQA was felt to be overwhelmingly positive with the Council found to be performing highly throughout the assessment.

Caroline Glitre, Head of Internal Audit, London Borough of Barnet addressed the Committee to share her findings from the assessment, the Committee noted the following key highlights from the EQA report:

·                 It was confirmed that throughout the assessment Brent had been rated at the highest rating of “Generally Conforms”, this rating indicated that the relevant structures, policies and procedures of the internal audit service and the application of them were compliant with the PSIAS.

·                 Feedback received from key stakeholders throughout the assessment process indicated that the Internal Audit Service at Brent was delivered with professionalism and integrity. Issues and concerns were raised at the appropriate levels with a healthy level of challenge in place.

·                 Among the general good practice recognised in Brent, five areas of notable practice had been specifically identified, as detailed within section 4.4 of the report and the final Assessment Report.  These included the steps taken to maintain independence of the Head of Internal Audit and provision for their regular attendance at Departmental Management Team meetings.

·                 A total of ten good practice recommendations had also been made by the assessors.  These had not impacted on conformance with the PSIAS and, as summarised in the final Assessment Report included updating the Council’s Risk Management Policy Statement and Strategy and consideration to be given as to how the reporting of outcomes of Consultancy Work was reported to the Committee. A detailed action plan had been developed in response to reflect management actions, including responsible officers and target dates for each of the recommended actions, which had been attached as Appendix C to the final Assessment Report Progress on implementation of the action plan would be updated to the Committee periodically at future meetings.

·                 It was felt that in summary Internal Audit at Brent was a well led respected service that added value and provided evidence based reliable assurance over the Council’s governance, risk management and internal controls.

The Committee welcomed the findings and outcomes identified and with no other comments raised the Chair thanked Caroline Glitre and officers for their hard work and assurance provided in relation to the EQA and it was RESOLVED to formally note the report and outcome of the Internal Audit External Quality Assessment and endorse the Action Plan developed in response to the key findings and recommendations as laid out in the report.