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 2022/23 as at 13 January 2023.

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 2022/23 as at 13 January 2023.

The following points were raised and discussed:

·         In paragraph 2.2, the table detailed all the finalised reports since the last committee meeting in September 2022. It was noted eight audits had been finalised.

·         Paragraph 2.3, detailed all the reports currently issued in draft. 

·         The table at paragraph 2.4 detailed the status of the one remaining outstanding audit from the council’s 2021/22 audit plan.  This audit has now been finalised.

·         In paragraph 2.7, it was noted that no new high priority recommendations have been raised as a result of the work completed.  There are currently no outstanding high priority recommendations from previous reports.

·         Paragraph 2.8 confirmed there were five medium priority recommendations due for follow up by the end of January 2023.  Two have been implemented, an update has been provided regarding the status of each remaining outstanding Audit recommendation and is included in Appendix D.

·         In paragraph 2.1.2 an update was provided on performance indicators as at 13 January 2023, since the submission of the progress report to the committee, SIAS have also issued an additional two draft reports.

·         Paragraph 2.1.5 provided an update on the current plan delivery position for SIAS noting the challenges. However, whilst subject to continuous monitoring, SIAS were able to provide assurance to the committee that the audits for 2022/23 have been allocated for completion before the end of the financial year.

·         Appendix A provided a detailed summary of all audits and their current delivery status. Appendix B detailed all audits, their start dates and status across the year.

·         SIAS noted that the medium recommendations relate to gaps in record keeping identified within compliance workbooks and remedial action trackers for the water hygiene compliance areas.  These relate to the medium recommendation follow ups in the report.  In regards to the partially implemented recommendations, they were rolling out tablets for testing to surveyors.  It was noted that this was around the further improvements and controls that have been put in place.   Controls were put in place to make sure that the compliance was up to standard, and the council will make sure that was on an ongoing basis for further improvements.

·         Members wanted clarification on voids management as the audit was cancelled or did not proceed. SIAS advised the audit was cancelled following an open meeting where it was agreed this was not the right time to do the review.  The remaining budget was put back into the building regulations audit area.  It was noted SIAS has an audit scheduled to be completed very shortly which will look at the process mapping around voids management.

·         The Chair stated that he queried the completion of the SIAS audit, as they were running below budget.  The SIAS officer had explained that they got additional resources and were hoping to catch up by the end of the year.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

(1)Members noted the Internal Audit Progress Report for the period to 13 January 2023.

(2)Members noted the implementation status of internal audit recommendations and the management update.