Agenda item

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

With reference to paragraph 6 of the Minute of the meeting held on 10 May 2023, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Chief Officer Audit and Risk which provided 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 April to 31 July 2023 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023/24 was detailed in this report.  A total of 6 final Internal Audit reports had been issued.  There were 8 recommendations made associated with 5 of the reports (0 High-rated; 3 Medium-rated; 5 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 to 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 this report to communicate the results of the reviews.    The Chief Officer Audit and Risk presented the report and highlighted that minor tweaks had been made to the internal audit plan as a result of adopting an agile way of working.  Ms Stacey outlined that following the retirement of the Council’s Principal Internal Auditor, Ms Sue Holmes, the recruitment process for a replacement had been undertaken.  An offer had been made to the preferred candidate, with a start date of 20 November identified.  The Internal Audit Team would be fully staffed following that appointment.  Ms Stacey confirmed that standard practice had been followed in respect of internal audit items, with relevant officers expected to use the IDEAGEN system to update progress.  The internal audit team would follow up to ensure that progress had been made and evidence was required.  With regard to the Looked after Children audit work, Ms Stacey confirmed that the recommendation had been rated as low due to the substantial level of assurance provided and the ongoing work being undertaken by Council Management Team. The Council was aware of the high-risk nature of this service area and was taking steps to ensure that the risk was appropriately managed.  Ms Stacey undertook to include the Corporate risk rating (Red, Amber or Green) that identified the overall risk associated with each audit area.  In response to a question regarding line managers ensuring that staff were completing mandatory training on which there were two separate Internal Audit recommendations, Ms Stacey explained that more action needed to be taken by Managers to ensure that staff completed Health and Safety training (medium-rated), but there was a recognition that staff completing updated training modules on Complaints would take time following the implementation of new policies and procedures (low-rated).  The Chair expressed her thanks for the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Team. 

DECISION

(a)       NOTED:

(i)        the Executive Summaries of the final Internal Audit assurance reports issued in the period from 1 April to 31 July 2023 associated with the delivery of the approved Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023/24;

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

(b)       AGREED:

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

(ii)       approve the minor amendments to the Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023/24, as set out in the report.