Agenda item

Internal Audit Progress Report Quarter 4 2020/21 (including the Quarter 1 2021/22 Internal Audit Plan)

Minutes:

The Head of Internal Audit & Risk Assurance introduced the item noting that good progress had been made since the previous report to the Audit Committee. All reviews within the Internal Audit Plan were under way, eight assurance reviews had concluded, one consultancy review had been completed and five grant claims had been certified. The Committee were informed that three assurance reviews had been issued with limited assurance opinions; these were, ‘Estates – Lease Management’, ‘Cemeteries – Bereavement Service and Ground Maintenance’, and ‘Education, Health & Care Plans and Local Offer’. Attention was drawn to Appendix D to the officer’s report outlining the outstanding recommendations with revised implementation dates and updates from the action owners; Members were informed that the majority of recommendations had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic but additional resources were being assigned to assist with their closure. By way of clarification for the Committee, it was explained that a significant part of the additional resource assisting with the closure of recommendations would be an Internal Audit Apprentice who had recently come to the end of their fixed term contract; however they would be staying on with the Council predominantly to assist in undertaking follow-up work and verifying whether risks identified by Internal Audit reviews had been verifiably actioned.

 

With regard to Internal Audit Key Performance Indicators (KPI), it was noted that seven of the nine KPIs had been met. KPIs five and six, relating to the percentage of the annual Internal Audit Plan delivered to draft and final report stage by 31 March, had seen an improvement from the previous quarter but did not meet their respective yearly targets; progress against these KPIs would be monitored in the coming year with the target being to achieve KPIs five and six. Members highlighted that the way in which KPI performance was displayed in the progress report made it difficult to delineate between follow up work on recommendations from previous reporting years and the current reporting year; officers agreed to incorporate a separate table supporting the number of recommendations raised within the current reporting year.

 

Members commended officers in their delivery of the Internal Audit Plan against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and saw the report as a good performance given the situation. The Committee sought clarification on the progress made with regard to risks highlighted in relation to Early Years Centres. Members were informed that the appointment of a new service manager in December 2020 was a positive move in shaping the direction of the Early Years Centres service; additionally, a planned relaunch of the service would be promoted in the community around September 2021. Members requested further information pertaining to the planned improvements to the Early Years Centres service.

 

The Committee queried the limited assurance opinion given to the ‘Cemeteries – Bereavement Service and Ground Maintenance’ service asking whether the service had been failing to comply with government legislation at the time of the review. Officers highlighted that, had the service been failing to comply with legislation, Internal Audit would have given an opinion of no assurance to the service; the primary recommendations concerned upgrading the service’s record keeping practices to a predominantly electronic one, where it had previously relied on a mainly paper based system. Members asked whether the three limited assurance opinions had been given due to issues relating to the pandemic, or whether these opinions would have been given regardless. It was noted that the concerns seen, resulting in the limited assurance opinions, were longer term issues and would have been flagged outside of the pandemic environment.

 

Officers also confirmed that the annual review of the effectiveness of Internal Audit would be redefined so as not to be included in the operational Internal Audit Plan as an ‘Assurance Review’.

 

RESOLVED that the Audit Committee:

 

1)   Noted the Internal Audit Progress Report for 2020/21 Quarter 4; and

 

2)   Approved the 2021/22 Quarter 1 Internal Audit Plan.

Supporting documents: