Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit presented the Internal Audit Annual Plan for 2019/20, which had been presented in line with the requirements of the UK Public Services Internal Audit Standards, which required Internal Audit’s plans to be risk based and informed by the organisation’s risk management, performance management, and other assurance processes.  The Plan had been created following a comprehensive review of all Council risks and activities. The report provided a summary of last year’s Plan and the proposed Plan for next year, including a breakdown of the Audit Plan by type of work.

The Head of Internal Audit provided an overview of the items that were currently on the Plan, as set out at Appendix A of the report and those lower risk items that were not able to be reviewed with existing resources at Appendix B. The key changes made in compiling the Internal Audit Plan, were set out at Paragraph 6 of the report. There were broad similarities in some areas to that of previous years but in Adults, Health and Wellbeing, there was planned to be more assurance based work rather than the comprehensive service support that had been needed in previous years.

Following the presentation of the report, Members were invited to comment on the report.  It was noted by the Chair that Philip Holmes, the newly appointed Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing would take up his post on 1st July, 2019 and would oversee the delivery of improvements previously managed by Damian Allen, Director of People. The Chair on behalf of the Committee thanked Damian Allen and those Officers in Adults, Health and Wellbeing for their contribution in driving forward improvements in this area over the past two years highlighted by the work of Internal Audit. 

During discussion, Kathryn Smart sought clarity in relation to the Risk Management Policy, which was not explicit in the report and asked whether this was part of a wider piece of work. The Head of Internal Audit advised that following a review of the risk management arrangements last year, there would be no specific review taking place this year.

In response to a further question from Kathryn Smart to as to whether the Bank mandate fraud, which she felt was a substantial issue, would be incorporated in to one of the financial reviews, the Head of Internal Audit confirmed that this was to be included in the scope of one of the data matching initiatives.

During further questions in relation to ‘Responsive Work’, the Head of Internal Audit confirmed that those audits that were most likely to be removed from the Plan, based on their risk rating, were marked with an asterisk. These items would provide additional capacity to work on areas with a higher risk rating if required.

Following further questions from the Committee, the Head of Audit outlined the rationale for Data Quality Arrangements being included in the Annual Governance Statement and remaining a priority in the future, which would help to ensure that good data quality arrangements were in place.  Internal Audit would look specifically at the Doncaster Integrated Peoples System (DIPS) Payment Systems, which was an area of high risk, by reviewing the control processes for payments being generated through the new systems.

In relation to the Internal Audit service, the Chair asked the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Director of Finance whether additional support would be provided if required in the future. He advised that monies in the temporary resource budget were being utilised to appoint to a permanent Senior Auditor post in order to provide stability to the team, which would help to support any additional work and hopefully avoid the need for further funding.  Members were informed that there was more collaborative work across the finance and corporate functions, which should help manage risks and improve governances.

RESOLVED that

(1)       the 2019/20 Internal Audit Plan, be supported; and

(2)       the Committee’s thanks be conveyed to Damian Allen and those Officers in Adults, Health and Wellbeing for their contribution in driving forward improvements in this area over the past two years highlighted by the work of Internal Audit