Agenda item

Internal Audit Progress Report for the period: April to June 2021.

Minutes:

The Head of Internal Audit presented a report which provided an update of the work undertaken by Internal Audit for the period 1st April, 2021 to 30th June, 2021 and showed this in the context of the Audit Plan for the year. The report also included progress on the implementation of management actions arising from Internal Audit recommendations and performance information, as detailed in Sections 3 and 4 of the report.

 

A query was raised regarding two high risk actions in relation to the review undertaken on the Corporate Information Governance Audit current CCTV procedures, as detailed in paragraph 2.5 of Appendix 1 of the report. It was noted that with regard to CCTV, there was an ongoing work programme of actions required to achieve accreditation which was progressing well, however, there were still outstanding issues that required attention and needed finalising before accreditation which provided assurance regarding CCTV arrangements and also linked to Cyber Security.

 

In relation to a question raised regarding Internal Audit’s involvement in supporting the Council’s Covid response work and future related work, it was reported that whilst Internal Audit continued to provide support, the work had been considerably less than previous periods and mostly related to Covid grant work.

 

Arising from a further question regarding the high risk level management outstanding actions within the Trading Standards service area, it was reported that a further update had been received earlier today confirming that some of the outstanding actions had been completed. It was anticipated that the remaining actions would now be achieved in a shorter timescale as the pandemic impacts on the team lessened. However, it was noted that whilst some of the actions may still take some time to address, from an Annual Governance Statement perspective, they would be less significant. Internal Audit would continue to monitor and manage the situation.  Members welcomed the progress made.

 

In answer to a question regarding the review of the risks of all management actions awaiting implementation, the Head of Internal Audit assured Members that the position was stable and was not a cause for concern. The Chair was pleased to see a reduction in the overdue management actions and hoped that this would continue.

 

The Chair requested an update in relation to Internal Audit performance, particularly, in view of reduced performance information being made available during last year due to the impact of Covid-19. It was noted that work was still progressing in developing more meaningful performance indicators regarding the work of Internal Audit. In terms of customer satisfaction, a Pulse survey had been recently been carried out with key stakeholders and the findings of this would be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee and proposals to develop the future delivery of the Internal Audit Service having regard to the Internal Audit Strategy.

 

It was noted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Internal Audit team had undertaken lighter touch reviews in some areas, taking assurance from the outputs from Corporate systems. Moving forward, the Internal Audit team would continue the development and utilisation of technology to provide smarter, more efficient ways of working, in particular, by using data analytics and automated testing. The Internal Audit team would also undertake reviews as identified in the Audit Plan to build up assurance.

 

The Head of Internal Audit confirmed that his audit opinion was a snapshot of the current position and would be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the AGS was finalised.  This would allow any issues of concern to be flagged up at an early stage and included on the AGS, where appropriate. The External Auditor was supportive of this approach.

 

PROPOSED that:-

 

(1)       the position of the Internal Audit Plan, be noted;

 

(2)       the Internal Audit work completed in the period, be noted;

 

(3)       the position with regards to the implementation of management actions arising from Internal Audit recommendations, be noted; and

 

(4)       the current position regarding the ability to deliver the annual opinion over the Council’s risk, governance and control arrangements, be noted.

 

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