Agenda item

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

1.1          With reference to paragraph four of the Minute of the Meeting held on 14 March 2022, there had been circulated copies of the Internal Audit Work to May 2022 which 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 had carried out in the period from 1 March to 31 May 2022 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021-22 was detailed in this report.  A total of seven final Internal Audit reports had been issued.  There were 16 recommendations made associated with six of the reports (13 Medium-rated; 3 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.  The Chief Officer Audit and Risk summarised the work contained in appendix one of the report.

1.2          In response to a question about the role of a Capital Board in relation to the Strategic Leadership Team and the impact on capacity of officers, the Director Finance and Corporate Governance advised that the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) had regular oversight of the capital plan, regular reporting of the capital plan to the Executive Committee which had oversight on the delivery of the plan delegated from Council.  There was a series of project boards in place to govern the major initiatives of the Council, such as the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme.  Mr Robertson further advised that the aim was to have appropriate governance arrangements in place that did not unduly clutter the landscape but ensured effective governance to deliver projects.

1.3          The Chairman requested that a timeline be put in place for the development of an IT asset management strategy, that the cost behind the income generation of business property assets of £1.2 million detailed in the Asset Management section in appendix 1 was made clear, and that the cost of sites without buildings on them was also clarified to be part of a single economic development industrial strategy.  In response to a question on roads maintenance management, the Chief Officer Audit and Risk advised that opportunities for use of technology to assess road conditions was not part of the business application system audit, however it may be able to form part of audit scope.  The Director Finance and Corporate Governance advised that the Council was actively looking at that example with CGI to assess the potential for installing road condition monitoring technology on the bin fleet as they travelled on most roads in the Borders on a regular basis.

DECISION

(a)          NOTED:

(i)        the Executive Summaries of the final Internal Audit assurance reports issued in the period from 1 March to 31 May 2022 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2021/22; and,

(ii)       the Internal Audit Consultancy and Other Work carried out in accordance with the approved Internal Audit Charter.

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