Agenda item

To inform Members of the Internal Audit activity progress in relation to the approved Internal Audit Plan 2022-23.

The Head of Audit Risk Assurance (ARA) introduced the report and explained that it was the first Internal Audit Progress Report which included the changes previously mentioned at committee. These changes included:

• More concise summaries which showed the scope of the work completed, the saliant findings and the number of recommendations.
• A refreshed way in which the progress against planned work was reported.
• Additional Red, Amber and Green (RAG) ratings.
• An additional Comments column to provide further information.

He further informed the committee that there were six activities included within the report. Four of these were assurance activities which were all given an acceptable level of assurance. The remaining 2 pieces of work were grant certifications. The Head of ARA concluded with an update that there had been no new irregularities reported to the ARA Counter Fraud Team for 2022/23.

In response to Councillor Hurst the Head of ARA explained that the monthly control checks mentioned in point iv on page 21 of the reports pack were to inspect the paperwork surrounding electrical inspections, not the inspections themselves.

Councillor Baker questioned page 20 of the reports pack where it noted that 142 properties had received an unsatisfactory electrical inspection result. She queried why 41 of those properties remained unsatisfactory. The Chair, Councillor Studdert-Kennedy, explained that there was no mandatory access for an electrical inspection to take place which meant that the tenant could refuse access. He further informed Committee that it had been requested for access to be mandatory in future tenancy agreements to prevent inspectors being refused.

Councillor Baker further queried if the reasoning would be the same for the 106 properties that were overdue for their electrical inspection. It was agreed for the ARA team to come back with further details of any barriers preventing those inspections from taking place.

It was also agreed to look into whether there was a link between the rise of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and the reduction of the evening presence of Neighbourhood Wardens (NHW).

The Head of ARA gave the following answers in response to questions asked:

• The electrical report was a follow up from the original audit report due to the limited assurance result, all but two of the original recommendations had been implemented. The follow up report implemented a further 2 recommendations which would enhance the work completed on the original recommendations.
• Page 23 of the reports pack outlined the 31 May 2023 as the target completion date for the sub delegations. This was to allow a corporate Council wide review of the sub delegations process and provide enough time for the new Monitoring Officer to review it.
• Page 27 of the reports pack showed a number of delayed reviews which were due to a number of different factors. The intention was to complete as much of the plan as possible by the end of the year. It was confirmed that a few of those activities were already in progress and it was agreed to add additional comments where an item has been delayed to explain the reasons.

Councillor Hurst proposed and Councillor Pearcy seconded.

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

It was later noted at Item 9 that the Head of Development Management and the Development Team Manager were present during the discussion of this item as requested by Members in case of any departmental questions.

RESOLVED To:

a)  Accept the progress against the Internal Audit Plan 2022-23; and

b)  Accept the assurance opinions provided in relation to the effectiveness of the Council’s control environment (comprising risk management, control and governance arrangements).