Agenda item

To present the Internal Audit Progress Report from 1 April, 2016 to 31 August, 2016.

The report of the Head of Internal Audit on the work of the Internal Audit Service during the period from 1 April to 31 August, 2016 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report included a summary of all audit assignments completed during the year; the level of assurance provided; a schedule of follow up audits undertaken together with a list of all Internal Audit recommendations that remain outstanding.

The Internal Audit Manager confirmed that the performance levels of the Internal Audit Section are on target. The Officer highlighted that the implementation rate with regard to High and Medium rated recommendations is now up to 83%.

The Committee noted the update provided by the report and made the following points:

•           The Committee noted and welcomed the Internal Audit section’s performance to date against the key PIs as documented in Appendix A of the report.

•           The Committee noted those areas in Appendix D in relation to Housing Benefit key controls and Corporate Safeguarding where the assurance level was judged to be limited and it raised particular concern that the assurance processes and controls in relation to the latter were deemed to be inadequate as a particularly high risk area involving the care and protection of vulnerable individuals. The Assistant Chief Executive (Partnerships, Community and Service Improvement) said that the Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) has met with all Heads of Service to progress corporate safeguarding. The Committee was agreed that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee be asked to further scrutinise the findings in relation to Corporate Safeguarding.

•           The Committee noted that certain fundamental control issues e.g. the completion of order requisitions prior to the receipt of goods are identified with regularity in audit review findings especially in relation to schools and while accepting that practices sometimes require time to embed, the Committee sought clarification of whether the findings of internal audit reviews in relation to certain establishments e.g. schools require more extensive monitoring. The Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer said that it is difficult to ensure that every establishment adheres to the rules exactly and uniformly especially in relation to schools where the resources, capacity  and pressures vary from school to school. There is a key role for the governing body to monitor practice and to hold head teachers accountable for ensuring compliance.

•           The Committee noted that the internal audit recommendation in relation to agency staff remained on the outstanding list and it sought assurance that agreed practice in relation to hiring agency staff is now being followed. The Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer confirmed that this is the case as per the recommendation and that the system needs to be updated to reflect implementation. The Internal Audit Manager said that she would follow the matter up with the Chief Executive.

The Internal Audit Manager said with regard to those areas in Appendix D where the audit review findings resulted in a limited assurance opinion or where progress on implementation appears to be slow that services are given time to respond to internal audit findings and if at the end of the follow up review in six months, the recommendations have still not been acted upon to an acceptable degree then that lack of progress will be reported to the Audit Committee which then has recourse to calling the relevant Head of Service to account. With regard to Corporate Safeguarding, the review found that although the foundations are in place, safeguarding objectives have not been consistently embedded across services’ business planning processes. 

It was resolved to accept the report and that the Committee takes assurance from the information provided regarding the internal control, risk management and corporate governance processes in place subject to further scrutiny of Corporate Safeguarding.

ACTION ARISING: Findings of audit review of Corporate Safeguarding to be referred for scrutiny by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee.