Agenda item

Consider Report by Chief Officer Audit and Risk.  (Copy attached.)

7.1       There had been circulated copies of a report by the Chief Officer Audit and Risk that provided members of the Committee with details of the recent work carried out by Internal Audit and the recommended audit actions agreed by Management to improve internal controls and governance arrangements.  The work Internal Audit had carried out in the period from 6 November 2021 to 31 January 2022 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021/22 was detailed in the report.  A total of five final Internal Audit reports had been issued relating to assurance audits.  There were two recommendations (one Medium-rated; one Low-rated) made associated with two of the reports.  An Executive Summary of the final Internal Audit reports issued, including audit objective, findings, good practice, recommendations (where appropriate) and the Chief Officer Audit and Risk’s independent and objective opinion on the adequacy of the control environment and governance arrangements within each audit area, was shown in Appendix 1 to this report.  The SBC Internal Audit function conformed to the professional standards as set out in Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) (2017) including the production of the report to communicate the results of the reviews.  In response to questions on climate change, fuel poverty and sustainability, Ms Stacey explained that with regard to the audit approach, the Principal Internal Auditor observed the Sustainable Development Committee and also the Officers’ Working Group which were developing an action plan.  This would be included in the Audit Plan for 2022/23, to ensure the risk of the Council not fulfilling its obligations on sustainability was monitored. 

7.2       Councillor Robson referred to the digital strategy and the need for Members to have better access to more information.  Mrs Stacey referred to the Accounts Commission report ‘Digital Progress in Local Government” around designing services, especially when using technology, which recognised that appropriate skills were needed to use it.  Discussions were underway with the Director Strategic Commissioning & Partnerships who had recently taken over responsibility for the CGI contract, and the governance going forward needed to incorporate wider stakeholder groups in the different phases.  Mr Robertson further advised that in terms of support for Members, there was a proposal to develop a Members’ portal which would be a repository for information which would also help with Ward work.  Proposals for this would be brought forward as part of the digital strategy.  It would be helpful for the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team to have conversations with Elected Members on the provision of information to Members as part of the development of the digital strategy.  Mrs Stacey confirmed that the audit had looked at the ICT provider as part of the digital strategy and part of the contract with CGI, with the risk level around governance and having implementation plans in place along with how stakeholder engagement would work.  Governance of this needed to be fit for purpose for the next phase.  Mr Robertson added that the IT client function had transferred to the Director Strategic Commissioning & Partnerships, but the whole focus of the digital strategy remained a corporate priority.  The digital strategy had been approved the previous February and officers had been working since then to deliver what was a very high level document, with detailed business change and projects to come forward.  The first such one had been the Total Mobile roll out, originally to the eastern Borders care services and now in the south and west, so all the Council’s care services were on Total Mobile.  This provided technology to all front line operatives, allowing business processes to link up front line to back office to reduce paper.  The digital strategy aimed to link 77 systems into one information hub so everyone could get much better information, and that would include the Members’ portal.  The digital strategy would be monitored through the Fit for 2024 Board, which was attended by Mrs Stacey and the audit team could also look at specific projects associated with the strategy as part of the 2022/23 audit plan.  

DECISION

AGREED to:

(a)       note the final assurance reports issued in the period from 6 November 2021 to 31 January 2022 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021-22;

(b)       note the Internal Audit Assurance Work in Progress and Internal Audit Consultancy and Other Work carried out in accordance with the approved Internal Audit Charter; and,

(c)       acknowledge the assurance provided on internal controls and governance arrangements in place for the areas covered by this Internal Audit work.