To provide an update on the progress of internal audit work and to bring to Committee’s attention any key internal control issues arising from work recently completed.

The significant findings and risks were presented, highlighting two areas where partial or no assurance was found, these being Procurement and Schools.

With regard to procurement, it was found that guidance for officers was largely satisfactory. However, the contracts register was not up to date and therefore some contracts documentation was not available for audit.

In relation to schools, there were significant findings but no fraud was detected and there are controls in place for the future.  Findings were identified across the sample of six schools and a report will be produced which will go to schools. Further work will be carried out with a further six schools as part of a rolling programme, following-up on areas of partial or no assurance and looking at Pupil Premium issues.

There were no significant findings in terms of key controls and all review actions have been accepted by officers.

A question was raised about feedback from schools, particularly where there is no financial control from the council, e.g., with academies.  The Chief Financial Officer explained that there is assurance through the systems operated through Hoople and control via the Scheme of Delegation, as well as a statutory duty for academies to work with the Schools Forum, and therefore there is some scope for intervention.

A member requested that school governor training be more thorough, and added that the General Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been asked to look more at schools especially with regard to the Pupil Premium.

In response to a member’s observation that some items had been described as removed from the report, it was clarified that this was in order to provide capacity for priority areas and those items would be carried into the next plan.

A member asked how Herefordshire ranked in relation to significant risks when compared with other authorities.  It was confirmed that there is consistency with other unitary authorities and further information could be provided on this area. 

A further question was raised about timescales for and management of implementing electronic systems given that there has been reference to systems not being up to date. Timescales for implementation were not known. However, it was noted that the difficulties in providing documentation during the audit were found to be historical. Further information was requested on this area.

A member requested that the ICT Plan be included in the future work programme for the Committee.

RESOLVED:

that the report be noted.