Agenda item

This report sets out the draft Internal Audit Strategic Plan and the Counter Fraud Plan for 2023-24.

Darren Armstrong, Head of Audit & Investigations introduced a report which set out the draft Internal Audit Strategic Plan, and the Counter Fraud Plan for 2023-24.

In firstly considering the Internal Audit Strategic Plan the Committee noted:

·                 The Internal Audit Strategic Plan had been formulated to address the statutory requirements and key risks for the Council in line with the available resources within the Internal Audit service.

·                 The plan had been prepared in consultation with senior management via Departmental Management teams and Senior Leadership teams to gain a greater understanding of the Councils strategies, key objectives, and associated risks.

·                 Additionally, Internal Audit had also (in developing the Plan) undertaken a risk assessment exercise and reviewed departmental risk registers and the Council’s Strategic Risk Register in order to identify key risks that could impact on the achievement of the Council’s objectives.

·                 Whilst the Plan, recognising the extent of resources available, had been focussed on those areas identified with the highest levels of required assurance an element of flexibility had been maintained to ensure a responsive approach could be provided in relation to managing any emerging risks or supporting services undergoing significant levels of change and in need of advice in relation to control measures.

·                 The Committee’s attention was drawn to Appendix 1 of the report that included further details on the Internal Audit Plan including a strategic risk assurance map aligned to the Council’s identified strategic and key inherent risks, available resources and mitigating actions identified.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the report, which are summarised below

·                 The Committee thanked Darren Armstrong and his team for what they felt was a highly informative and clear report.

·                 It was noted that the planned Climate Change Audit had been pushed back to Quarter 3 within the Plan and the Committee queried if this could be brought forward given the increasing focus on activity in this area and planned scrutiny review. In response the Committee were advised that officers would explore if the internal audit on Climate Change & Sustainability could be brought forward within the Internal Audit Plan 2023-24 from Quarter 3.

·                 In response to a Committee query regarding the range of audits identified in relation to the housing function and performance of BHM, the Committee were advised that a great deal of work had been undertaken in terms of the operational performance of BHM, particularly in terms of void turnaround and repairs. The Committee were reassured that this work would continue to evolve as a rolling programme of assurance and to support further improvements. It was noted that as well as building on and responding to emerging risks in housing, the Internal Audit team were able to provide ongoing consultancy support and advice to BHM.

As there were no further issues raised in relation to Internal Audit Strategic Plan the Chair then invited Darren Armstrong to update the Committee on the Counter Fraud Plan for 23-24.

The Committee noted the following key points:

·                 Fraud remained an inherent risk for the Council, due to the unpredictable nature of fraud it was more challenging to predict where resources would need to be deployed on the Counter Fraud Plan

·                 The Counter Fraud Team’s operational approach required both reactive and proactive work. It was noted that reactive work largely consisted of referrals internally, from the Housing department or external fraud types, whereas proactive activity was generated from within the service in response to a wide range of fraud risks.

·                 The Committee’s attention was drawn to Appendix 2 of the report detailing the Counter Fraud Plan for 2023-24 and deployment of resources based on types of fraud to be investigated and the approaches in managing specific risks.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the report, which are summarised below:

·                 In response to a query regarding the current resourcing of the Counter Fraud Team were, the Committee were advised that the team were at full capacity and carried no vacancies, with the team able to access all the areas of expertise they needed to undertake their work successfully. It was however noted that the demand for internal audit work was likely to increase parallel to the increased risk the Council faced. Therefore, the team were aware of the need to work as effectively and efficiently as possible to cover the key areas of risk.

As no further issues were raised, the Chair thanked Darren Armstrong and his team on behalf of the Committee for their hard work on both the Internal Audit and Counter Fraud plans. The Committee RESOLVED to approve the draft Internal Audit Strategic Plan and Counter Fraud Plan for 2023-24.