Agenda item

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) which provides details on the progress made by SIAS in delivering the Council’s Annual Audit Plan for 2020/21 as at 12 June 2020.

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) which provides details on the progress made by SIAS in delivering the Council’s Annual Audit Plan for 2020/21 as at 12 June 2020.

The following points were raised and discussed:

•      It was noted that members of the SIAS team had been redeployed for the last three months to assist with the County Council’s response to Covid-19.

•      In paragraph 2.1 of the report, SIAS has delivered 12% of their audit days as at 12 June 2020. As of this meeting the audit days have increased to 60 days now which is 20%.

•      SIAS have not delivered any final reports yet for 2020/21. This has been a result of Covd-19.

•      Audit plans were paused in April for most of the clients.  Discussions with the SIAS Board and Head of SIAS are taking place on how the impact will reflect across the rest of the year. Any significant changes will be brought up at the committee in September 2020.

•      SIAS have followed up six recommendations, four have been implemented and two have revised target dates. The two revised dates were amended due to the impact of Covid-19 and so were unable to meet original target date.

•      Received a further two satisfaction surveys back from work completed in 2019/20. They met the minimum standards.

•      Appendix B demonstrates all the work that is currently underway. There are 7 projects, 2 projects are a long way into the project fieldwork- heading to draft report soon.

Question by Councillor D.Bell (Executive Member, Resources) – In the current 2020/21 year, will you be required to do any anti-fraud type work on various Covid-19 relating grants we’ve been dispensing under Government guidelines?

Answer from M.Chalkley, SIAS – Currently there are no audits relating to that in the plan. We are discussing with Officers, SIAS, SIAS Board and Head of SIAS what we can do in terms of a response to Covid-19. We have currently agreed that any audit we do take will be discussed with Officers if there is a Covid-19 angle that we need to include or risks rather than specific projects related to Covd-19 response.

Answer from the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) – In terms of business grants and other discretionary grants that we receive funding from the government, that we plan it out to businesses so there are various different checks and assurance framework that the government has issued to the local government to adhere to. The council is definitely following that framework and using a national agency which holds third party bank account data, doing this as part of our payment check.

Question by Councillor J.Boulton – Are you and the team happy that we should be back on track by the end of this financial year (March 2020/21). If no, are we prioritising particular areas of importance?

Answer from M.Chalkley, SIAS – Part of the discussion that is ongoing at SIAS board level, is how we can ensure we are in a position where we can provide an annual assurance opinion at the end of the year. Given the engagement we have had so far I don’t think it will be an issue. In mid-May, the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) engaged with Head of service to prioritise audits that could either be started now or be pushed back or potentially not take place if other task took priority. As we move through the year, we will continue to prioritise and making sure that we are adding resources to areas that provide the most value to the Council and give the best assurance in the areas that are needed. The process has been started.

RESOLVED:

(1)     The Internal Audit Progress Report for the period to 12 June 2020 was noted.

(2)     The implementation status of internal audit recommendations and the management response was noted.