To update members on the progress of internal audit work and to bring to their attention any key internal control issues arising from work recently completed. To enable the committee to monitor performance of the internal audit team against the approved plan.

Jacqui Gooding, Auditor with the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP), introduced the report the purpose of which was to update the Audit and Governance Committee on the progress of internal audit work and to bring to their attention any key internal control issues arising from work recently completed. The report would also enable the Committee to monitor performance of the Internal Audit team against the approved plan.

During discussion the following principal points were made:

·         Grant determinations had pushed back a number of scheduled internal audits as each time a funding figure was provided a separate sign-off was required.

·         It was unlikely that all internal work that was planned would be completed, but as part of a rolling plan, some of this would be pushed into Q1.

·         There was an ongoing conversation with the Council’s S151 Officer about securing additional resource to deliver some of the planned work.

·         The S151 Officer was comfortable that the work was being completed in line with Government’s requirements. The only concerns he would have were if the deferred audits were delayed past Q4.

·         The Auditor would be closely monitoring capital projects and capital expenditure as these were areas where new processes had been put in place and she would need to check that these were being embedded.

·         On-going grant work needed to be checked and signed off to confirm that funds were being used as approved.

·         Some grants were repeat grants that were signed off each year but others were new tranches of funding that had come through because of the Covid pandemic and all of these needed a separate grant determination.

·         The distinction was made between grants that were actively applied for and those that were allocated by Government and which had specific criteria on how they were spent and the time constraints in which to do so.

·         Although it was difficult to accurately assess, the S151 Officer felt that Herefordshire Council received sufficient remuneration for the additional costs of administrating the extra grants, but had certainly not profited from it.

·         The Auditor confirmed that as part of every audit the efficiency of processes was reviewed but was balanced against the control framework and managing risk, including fraud risk.

·         Any suggestions on how processes could be improved were included in the internal audit reports.

·         Councillors asked the auditors to consider how recommendations to improve processes could be better captured and monitored.

·         The audit of Children’s Services had been delayed at the request of the service who were reviewing their processes and wanted Internal Audit to act as a critical friend. A similar review had been done for Adult Services.

·         Any deferrals were made in conjunction with the S151 Officer (the client officer for any work carried out) and service directors.

·         The Auditor was asked to look at the scope of each piece of work and how that information could best be included in the Plan.

·         The Committee noted the steps that had been taken by the Council to counteract fraud, particularly in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42