Agenda item

Consider report by Chief Officer Audit and Risk.  (Attached)

1.1         There had been circulated copies of a report by the Chief Officer Audit and Risk that provided members of the Audit and Scrutiny 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 carried out in the period from 1 – 28 February 2022, associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021-22, was detailed in the report.  A total of two final Internal Audit reports had been issued.  There were four recommendations made associated with the two reports (one ‘High’-rated, one ‘Medium’-rated and two ‘Low’-rated).  An Executive Summary of the final Internal Audit assurance 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 of the 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.  Internal Audit assurance work that was underway was detailed in paragraph 4.6 of the report.  The Chief Officer Audit and Risk highlighted Internal Audit consultancy and other work which included the Fit for 2024 transformation programme, and a specific training workshop for all Internal Audit team members on the Council’s new Contract Management System, as part of the internal rollout of this system across the Council’s services to those involved in contract management.  The Chief Officer Audit and Risk advised of the ‘High’-rated recommendation that had been made in the Internal Audit review of Schools Financial and Business Administration Processes to address completion of e-learning training that should be expected in schools.  There were further recommendations for schools inventory to ensure up-to-date inventories, especially for fire or other such incidents.

1.2         In response to a question about the completion rates for mandatory Child Protection training, particularly in teaching staff, the Chief Officer Audit and Risk confirmed that encouraging conversations had taken place with the Director Education and Lifelong Learning and the Chief Officer Education with regard to completion of mandatory e-learning and that reports were produced on completion of training.  Commitments had been made for how training would be facilitated for teachers when not in class and where there were opportunities to take up training.  A dashboard for when staff completed training needed more management oversight and there were very encouraging signs of that being quickly addressed.  The Chief Executive advised that the current numbers of non-completion were not to hand but had been requested.  When this matter first came to light, Ms Meadows had spoken to the Director of Education and Lifelong Learning and all staff had now been given a clear instruction to complete the training.  This was also being looked at across the whole organisation to ensure compliance.  It would also be picked up by the Review Group which had recently been established to steer the action plan derived from the recommendations in the Independent Inquiry into the Council’s handling of concerns raised about a former SBC employee who had subsequently been charged with assaulting children and abusive behaviour at a school.  Ms Stacey confirmed that part of the conversation with the Director had been around investigating any barriers for non-completion, such as capacity, opportunity, etc. and consideration would be given to building something into in-service days to address this.  The Director Finance and Corporate Governance advised that some mandatory training on SBLearn was time limited and had to be renewed so some staff training may have lapsed.  It had not proved possible to have a calendar in SBLearn which would highlight to staff when their training certification had lapsed.  There was also a regular turnover of staff within schools and depending on when the snapshot of completion rates was taken the position could vary, this could relate to new staff who had yet to undertake the training.  Mr Robertson confirmed that all staff were required to undertake SBLearn training and previous training in another organisation was not recognised.  The Principal Internal Auditor advised there was a facility to upload professional qualifications however this was not part of SBLearn.  Members requested that the Review Group should follow up on mandatory e-learning as part of its first quarter work.

1.3         During the meeting, the Chief Executive received numbers associated with non-completion of the e-learning training within Education.  Out of 2,721 people that should have completed e-learning training, 2,203 had done so.  This corresponded to a 19% non-completion rate.  There were some areas within the Education Service where all were complete but others up to 78% had not.  Both Ms Meadows and Ms Stacey confirmed this would be followed up by both the Review Group and Internal Audit.  Any issues would be raised at Council by the Review Group and would be brought back to Audit & Scrutiny Committee as part of any Internal Audit procedures.

DECISION

NOTED:

(a)       The final assurance reports issued in the period from 1 to 28 February 2022 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021-22;

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

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

(d)       The Review Group would follow-up on mandatory e-learning as part of its first quarter work.