Agenda item

To inform Members of the Internal Audit activity progress in relation to the approved Internal Audit Plan 2021/22.

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance introduced the report and explained that it included all activity up to the middle of March and counter fraud activity. He informed the committee of the 6 pieces of work that had been completed since the last update and confirmed that they were on schedule for completion of the audit plan for the end of the financial year.

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance informed the committee of the internal changes that they had made which included:

·         A change in the format of the reports, they would be more focused.

·         Any areas that needed to be addressed by management would be clearly highlighted.

·         The risks identified in the reports would be categorised as high, medium and low.

·         The internal Audit Progress report would be split into two sections.

·         The summary of Internal Audit Activity would be Red, Amber and Green (RAG) rated to show progress.

·         The Annual Report, The Chair’s Annual Report and the Annual Governance Statement would all undergo a refresh to be more focused.

It was agreed to take questions on the Internal Audit Progress Report first and then discuss the Risk Management Review at appendix B afterwards.

In response to Councillor Pearson, the Head of Audit Risk Assurance explained that the levels of assurance had changed as part of the internal changes, to aid the transition period a key would be used as part of the future reports.

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance introduced the Risk Management Review and highlighted the following main points:

·         The role of internal audit in relation to risk management was to help the council to achieve its objectives. This included identifying and managing risks appropriately.

·         It was felt a review of risk management was required to establish where the council was and where efforts could be made to improve.

·         Audit Risk Assurance (ARA) previously had a Risk Management Officer post which was no longer available, this furthered the need for the review to be completed externally.

·         The report was a light touch review as opposed to an in depth full audit report.

·         There were a number of recommendations and suggestions which ARA would be happy to assist Officers with implementing such as training.

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance gave the following answers in response to questions asked:

·         Paragraph 3.17 on page 69 of the reports pack stated that the Committee was not fully achieving its role. This was partially due to not having sight of the council’s risk register and therefore not being able to challenge management and internal audit regarding those risks and the mitigations put in place.

·         The follow up of the Risk Management Review due in quarter 4 would be based around the recommendations from this report.

Councillor Baker raised a question with second homes not being charged a premium and whether there was anything in place to stop people calling their empty properties second homes in order to get out of the fees. It was agreed to take this away to find out the answer. 

Councillor Baxendale joined the meeting.

In response to Councillor Pearson, the Strategic Director of Resources agreed that the risk register was used as part of the performance monitoring meetings. He also confirmed that they were looking to procure a new system for risk management, one where Members would have access.

Councillor Baker proposed and Councillor Pearcy seconded.

The Chair made a friendly amendment to accept the report.

After being put to a vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED    To ACCEPT:

a)    The progress against the Internal Audit Plan 2021/22; and

b)    The assurance opinions provided in relation to the effectiveness of the Council’s control environment.