Agenda item

The Chair outlined to Members that an external Peer Review of the Internal Audit Service had been carried out in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. This had been carried out by the Head of Audit and Risk at Kirklees Council, Martin Dearnley, who was in attendance at the meeting to present his findings. The Chair welcomed Mr Dearnley to the meeting and thanked him for his work on this.

Members noted that the conclusion of the review was that Doncaster’s Internal Audit Service complied with prescribed Audit Standards, and had achieved the highest level of compliance ‘general conformance’.  Mr Dearnley informed the Committee that in undertaking the review a great deal of work had been carried out, and a number of senior officers interviewed from both DMBC and St Leger Homes, as well as the Chair of the Audit Committee, Councillor Austen White, in order to obtain a clear and truthful picture.  Internal Audit held a key role within the Local Authority in providing advice and insight to all departments and were required to be objective and competent, work carefully and with integrity and trust.  A number of pieces of work had been looked at in undertaking the review, and strong, positive feedback was provided on the service who were deemed to be a team of high quality and good work.

Members noted that there were several areas of good practice highlighted within the report, as well as a number of observations. The observations were not however areas of compliance, but simply points that the reviewers felt that Doncaster could consider adopting to make further improvements and benefit from the comments.

The Head of Internal Audit, Colin Earl, thanked Mr Dearnley for undertaking the review, and added that it provided a good base on which the Team could move forward. In response to a question from Kathryn Smart to skills mapping and where the Council was with this, he reported that a skills assessment was currently in place and a priority now would be to look at how the service would need to change and adapt in the medium to long term if the way in which the Council worked and the services it provided changed. This was something that would be factored into the Team Development Plan.

Following presentation of his findings, Mr Dearnley invited any questions Members of the Committee in relation to his review. Members raised concerns regarding the reduction of resources and how this would affect the Council and what risk this would cause. Members were reassured that this would be dealt with case by case and where necessary resources could and would be found in order to provide the necessary level of assurance to the Council in order to ensure that there were sound Governance controls in place.

The Head of Internal Audit passed on his personal thanks to Mr Dearnley, adding that Doncaster Council was grateful for the rigorous review and they were extremely pleased with the judgement they had received. The observations that had been made would be included within Doncaster Council’s Audit Action Plan in order to make further improvements and adaptations in the future.

            RESOLVED that:-

1)    The content of the assessment and the Action Plan be noted by the Audit Committee; and

2)    Further information and updates be provided when required.