Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit provided Members with a summary of Internal Audit activity in the period during October to December 2013.

Members were informed that reasonable progress had been made in reducing the slippage in the 2013/14 Internal Audit Plan. Reference was made to a range of lean auditing principles, which had included reducing the time taken to approve the Internal Audit terms of references and reports.

The Head of Internal Audit reported that some of the lower risk audits had been deferred to enable some higher risk areas to be included in the Plan. This would not jeopardise any of the operations of the Council.

Reference was made to Appendix B of the report which provided the list of 2013/14 audits which were planned for completion in quarter four which would be deliverable by April 2014.

Reference was made to the work carried out in relation to Treasury Management, where good controls were in place and risks were being well managed. Members noted that there had been no recommendations in this audit and a Substantial Assurance opinion had been issued.

Members noted the reduction in the number of high risk outstanding recommendations which numbered 6, compared to last year’s 86. This was both encouraging and an impressive performance by officers.

Reference was made to the two limited assurance audits for this period which were for Bishop Winnington-Ingram C of E Primary School and West Drayton Primary School. The Head of Internal Audit informed Members that some progress had been made in terms of Bishop Winnington-Ingram C of E Primary School in relation to debt management and recovery, with positive action proposed to address the identified risks and controls.

In relation to West Drayton Primary School, Members were informed that the high risk recommendation in relation to the unauthorised finance lease had been replicated by other schools. Guidance had been issued by the Council to schools reminding them of the rules around contractual arrangements for schools. Members expressed concern at this and asked whether any suggestions could be made to make improvement in this area, such as providing training on financial management to Governors of schools.

The Committee was informed of the recent restructuring which had taken place within the Internal Audit Team which was primarily carried out to reduce the level of management within the Team and to increase front line Internal Audit resource. A new Principal Internal Audit and a Senior Internal Audit would be starting with the Team in February and March respectively. Members placed on record their appreciation and thanks to the work carried out by both Gill Crosbie and Jay Nandhra who had now left the Authority to pursue their careers elsewhere.

Discussion took place on Internal Audit reviews which were to be undertaken in Quarter 4 – January to March 2014 and a number of points were raised. The Chairman asked whether the Risk Management review would benefit from external audit involvement and the representative from Deloitte informed Members that consideration could be given to their assistance if required.

Reference was made to the Corporate Governance review and the Chairman noted that Internal Audit was part of the Corporate Governance structure of the Council. The Head of Internal Audit stated that there would be no conflict of interest as Internal Audit was independent of the structure.

The Deputy Director of Residents’ Services provided Members with details of the Council’s approach to “cyber security” and offered assurance that systems were in place to protect the Council from such risks. The Head of Internal Audit reported that as part of the Internal Audit Plan for 2014/15 a meeting would be taking place between Internal Audit and the Deputy Director to discuss this area.

RESOLVED-

1. That the Internal Audit Progress report for 2013/14 Quarter 3 (October to December 2013) be noted.