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 assure the committee that action is being taken on risk related issues identified by internal audit. This is monitored through acceptance of agreed management actions and progress updates in implementing the action plans. In addition, occasions where audit actions not accepted by management are documented if it is considered that the course of action proposed by management presents a risk in terms of the effectiveness of or compliance with the council’s control environment. 

The Head of Internal Audit (HIA) introduced the report the purpose of which was 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 and to assure the committee that action was being taken on risk related issues identified by internal audit. The principal points were noted:

·       No high organisational risks had been identified.

·       No limited assurances to be reported.

·       6 priority two actions had been agreed as part of the foster placement’s audits.

·       9 assignments have been completed since the last progress report with 5 assignments currently in progress and 1 at draft report stage.

·       Since the last report and at the request of the committee, the coverage dashboard had been developed to include courage of future proposed audits. The committee were reminded this could be viewed in more detail in real time using the Auditboard programme.

·       Action tracking since the previous report had been successful with 42 actions having been completed. Work would continue with officers to either close outstanding actions, or, if necessary, agree a revised implementation date.

·       34 actions were reported as being over 90 days overdue and were their focus of attention.

·       A continued high feedback score of 99% was still being achieved although feedback rates had declined since the last committee. It was thought this was due to timings and it was hoped they would see an improvement in the next report.

In response to committee questions, it was noted:

1.     The HIA would adjust the visual presentation used to identify the coverage. Currently where no audits are planned, the dashboard is coloured red, which the committee felt gave a negative perception. It was explained that not everything could be audited and there would be other assurances/ mitigating risks that the council has in place for each area.

2.     The HIA and Director of Finance (DOF) would work in collaboration to produce a plan which provides details of assurance for those areas with no coverage.

3.     The HIA explained how and when it is decided an audit is required.

4.     The HIA would look to include future proposed audits within future reports which displays a prioritisation of high, medium, and low giving the committee an indication of how soon an audit can be expected.

5.     In terms of education, there were lots of areas that could be looked to audit but it had been agreed that the dedicated schools grant deficit would be an area best place to start given the current situation. In relation to the fall in birth rates, the HIA confirmed that this would fall into their scope when the process is started for selecting schools to sample.

6.     The HIA explained that as part of their value for money work they had already started work on the waste contract and lessons learned from that contract ready for the public realm contract. The DOF advised the committee that lessons had been learned from the waste contract and that they were using internal audit proactively at the start of this project rather than wait for them to provide a retrospective view on what could have been done better.

7.     It was explained that the number of outstanding actions were due to the transition from the Councils performance team moving action tracking across to SWAP and the sheer volume. It was hoped that the committee would see a reduction in outstanding actions within the January report.

8.     The HIA was working on a way to keep members updated as to when actions were being given new completion dates and to keep track on the history of changes made to completion dates. It was noted that members could keep track of evidence received from officers and notes attached to each action through the Auditboard system.

9.     The process for chasing officers and actions taken in obtaining updates were provided. It was clarified that officers had to have a justified reason for revising an implementation date such as delays in development of systems.

10.  If officers were not responding or the HIA thought that actions were not being taken seriously this would be raised initially with the director, then at the Director Leadership Team (DLT) meetings and lastly Rachael and it would be brought to the attention of the committee. It was noted that some actions may not be being addressed as they may not be cost effective to the council or could have been superseded.

Resolved

That the Committee a) reviewed the areas of activity and concern and were satisfied those necessary improvements had been outlined and delivered; and b) Noted the report and considered the assurances provided and the recommendations which the report makes, commenting on its content, as necessary.

Action(s)

2023/24-044 The HIA would adjust the visual presentation on the Internal Audit Work Programme and Coverage dashboard used to identify the coverage.

2023/24-045 The HIA and Director of Finance (DOF) would work in collaboration to produce a plan which provides details of assurance for those areas with no coverage.

2023/24-046 The HIA would look to include future proposed audits within future reports to the committee which displays a prioritisation of high, medium, and low.

2023/24-047 The HIA was working on a way to keep members updated as to when actions were being given new completion dates and to keep track on the history of changes made to completion dates.