Agenda item

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) on the overall opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control.

Report of the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) on the overall opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control.

Paragraph 2.11 outlined the overall opinion provided was reasonable assurance for financial and non-financial systems, this indicating that those are generally sound system of governance, risk management and control in place.

Paragraph 2.10 highlighted there have been no matters that threatened SIAS’s independence during 2022/23, or any inappropriate scope or resource limitations during the year. The Section 151 officer confirmed that they were happy that SIAS was not subject to any inappropriate scope or resource limitations.

Paragraph 3.2 provided a summary of the outcomes of work performed during the year, this supported in the overall opinion. No limited assurance opinions or high priority recommendations were made during 2022/23.

Paragraph 3.3 detailed the individual opinions for financial and non-financial systems. At the time of preparing the report, three audits were still at draft report stage, however, the outcomes from these audits have been considered within the opinion.

Paragraph 3.7 highlighted the recommendations follow up process. This provided the Committee with assurance over management implementing agreed audit recommendations. Updates will be provided to Committee throughout the year through SIAS progress reports.

Paragraph 4.1 provided a summary of the performance against performance Indicators for 2022/23. Planned days were 97% against a target of 95%, planned projects were 100% delivered against a target of 95% and customer satisfaction was 100%, from a 61% questionnaire return rate.

Appendix A details the outcome from individual audits. Appendix B details, definitions of assurance and priority levels. Appendix C details the PSIAS's self-assessment, SIAS note two areas of intentional non-conformance, these relating to appointments and performance appraisals of the Chief Audit Executive, noting the shared service and therefore these cannot be undertaken by the Audit Committee or the Chief Executive.

Appendix D provides the Audit Charter. There are no changes to the charter from that presented or improved in 2022/23, the charter sets out the authority and arrangements for internal audit as well as SIAS’s approach to delivering service.

The following points were highlighted and noted:

·       The Independent person stated in the appendix it discussed moving to Office Wednesday, for the team. What processes are in place post Covid for both SIAS in terms of connecting as an audit team with challenges in terms of risk and also how that is being reviewed as part of the audit work in terms of management being on site or executives being on site and how that is considered through the audit work.  SIAS stated it has been a difficult transition. It is key for the service and have grown in structure. SIAS are keen to make sure that all staff are present on site including management, to share ideas and networking and being able to discuss audits to support development and wellbeing.

·       The independent person asked in terms of being on site as part of their fieldwork, for example, to assess management, how is this being done in the office? SIAS stated they work with a number of district and borough councils, so they based the audit fieldwork on what is required by that authority.  SIAS will go to offices, supporting staff and sitting with officers where required.

·       The independent person asked whether SIAS have seen any kind of shift since coming back after Covid versus pre-Covid, in terms of executive oversight and a change in their perception of the controlled environment is running given there might be more hybrid working by the council itself? SIAS stated they have not. SIAS have always had quite a remote based service anyway so were quite ready and set up for that and are still able to provide appropriate levels of executive oversight. This is a risk that is considered as part of each audit engagement. SIAS have not seen any major issues so far.

·       Member asked how the client satisfaction is measured. There were 39 out of 65 responses, would that be 39 different people surveyed and would that be across all levels of the Council or would it only be management?

·       SIAS stated a feedback form was issued to the key contact for that audit, be it direct or operational level and to provide feedback on it. SIAS have a scoring system with a number of questions and there is a score that is deemed satisfactory level, so when we say 100% is of those returned, they all met that. They might not be 100% but they all met that satisfactory level in terms of satisfaction.

·       Members mentioned two audits were deemed to be cancelled, one was COVID-19 recovery and the other was the voids management. Why were they cancelled and are they captured elsewhere? SIAS stated terms of the voids management, it was cancelled because the timing was not appropriate when they originally planned to do it, but the days associated with it were extended onto a separate Housing Maintenance contract mobilisation audit. So SIAS had two parts in effect for that they had the original one and then used the time that was earmarked for the voids management to then look at voids through the secondary audit, so they did in fact cover the most appropriate risk for the Authority at the time but came in a different form, so whilst it was cancelled, it was covered. The Covid 19 recovery was deemed not relevant any more as things had moved on. It was agreed with the Section 151 Officer to use the time against something else the authority wants.

·       Members stated one of the risks with COVID-19 and recovery was in terms of the change of staff and as a consequence of the change of staff, services were not 100%.  Will this be looked at in a different environment, maybe not necessarily COVID-19 but impact of COVID-19 to the staff and hence delivery of the services. SIAS stated yes, it would be considered. It was noted that SIAS did undertake a resilience audit which specifically looked at the senior management changes and making sure that the constitution was up to date and that the appropriate governance arrangements were in place.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

(1)  Members noted the Annual Assurance Statement and Internal Audit Annual Report.

(2)  Members noted the results of the self-assessment required by the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP).

(3)  Members approved the SIAS Audit Charter.