Agenda item

To submit the Internal Audit progress report.

A progress report on the work of Internal Audit for the period from 1 April to 16 November, 2012 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Audit Manager drew attention to the primary points of the report as follows –

·         There were two reviews in the period which resulted in a “Red Assurance” opinion – Data Security and Modern Records Management the executive summaries of which were provided as appendices B and C to the report. The recommendation from several reviews of Information Governance/Management  and Data Security conducted  by Internal Audit, PwC and WAO over the course of the past year have been collated into a single Action Plan which is being addressed by an Information Management Group led by the Interim Head of Function (Resources).

·         The number of advisory/investigative reports undertaken during the period (17). Referral work has diverted resources from Planned Internal Audit work meaning that only 46% of audit reviews have been completed to draft stage which is below the 90% target.

·         The performance in implementing internal audit recommendations in the period is below target with 67% of High and Medium recommendations having been recorded as implemented.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following matters –

·         Concern regarding the income position of Oriel Ynys Môn given that the net running costs for the Oriel for 2011/12 (expenditure less income – including £250k income from the Isle of Anglesey CharitableTrust) were £33k over budget for the year. Members were of the view that the issue of the income history of the Oriel merited further investigation. It was agreed that the matter should be raised in the first instance at the next meeting of the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust.

·         The potential and opportunities for linking internal audit review work with the savings agenda and specifically the value for money aspect of those areas reviewed. Mr Patrick Green RSM Tenon acknowledged the point made and said that the scoping of audit reviews to accommodate that dimension would be discussed with Officers next year should that be the direction of travel favoured by the Committee.

·         Clarification around the follow up action to the audit review of Building Maintenance Unit Procurement arrangements. The Officers explained what had been the prompt for the initial review instigated with the WAO in order to obtain an overall view of the BMU in terms of operation and value for money and what had taken place as follow up developments. The matter is being considered by the SLT.

·         Follow up review of school recommendations and the unsatisfactory progress deemed to have been made by those schools covered by the review in terms of implementing previous internal audit recommendations in relation to governance issues. The Officers outlined the measures being taken to develop a system to facilitate and ensure compliance by schools with governance and control requirements.

It was resolved to accept the report and to note its contents.

ACTION ARISING: The Interim Head of Function (Resources) to arrange for a report from the Information Management Group to be made available to the next meeting of the Audit Committee.