Agenda item

The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service presented the Internal Audit Progress Report.

During consideration of this item members’ attention was drawn to the following:

·       Three reports had been completed since the last meeting of the Committee. These were Health and Safety Training Records 2020/21, Critical Review – Use of Agency staff and consultants 2020-21 and Benefits 2020/21. A high priority recommendation had been identified as part of the Health and Safety Training Records 2020 – 2021 Audit linked to the implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. It was reported to Members that once the Health & Safety area of the new ERP system was rolled out the recommendation would be addressed. Members were assured that there was a clear understanding from officers as to what was required to mitigate any risks and that an action plan was in place.

·       It was confirmed that a number of the Audits included in the report had progressed since the report was produced and that all were returning a moderate or above assurance.

·       A recommendation from the previous year’s Benefits 2019-2020 Final Audit had been rolled over to the current year and was being monitored carefully. This recommendation was regarding the reconciliation between BACS documents and the Benefits system, and an implementation date of 31^st April 2021 had been given in order to resolve this recommendation.

·       The Quality Assurance Improvement Plan included in the report outlined progress at the end of Quarter 3. This would continue to be monitored and an update provided to the Committee at each meeting.

·       That the Annual Report was due to be presented at the July 2021 meeting for consideration by the Committee and that the Audit Plan for 2021-2022 was already drafted and would include some areas that had not been completed in the 2020 – 2021 municipal year.

Members questioned the number of Audit days that had been delivered in 2020-2021 and were informed that the number of days that were likely to be delivered by the end of the year was approximately 230. It was noted that this was just under half of the expected amount, despite 16 reviews being carried out. There had been a number of reasons why the number of Audit days was lower than expected which included, challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic and that two of the reviews with significant budgets associated with them that were due to take place could not be undertaken as it was considered not to be the most appropriate time to carry out this kind of audit and present accurate Value for Money conclusions.

During detailed discussion regarding the Performance Indicators included in the report, Members were keen to understand the metrics that were used to measure the performance of the Internal Audit Service. It was clarified to Members that the Performance Indicators included in the report were in respect of the original numbers that had been decided when the Audit Plan 2020-2021 was agreed during the previous municipal year and had not been revised. This provided a transparent overview of the indicators and the baseline of the original Audit Plan. Members were keen that performance indicators provided in the future be amended and remain consistent for reports due to be considered by the Committee. In addition to this, it was requested that if any revisions were made to a future Audit Plan during a municipal year, then these changes should be reflected and included as part of any performance measures in order to provide more meaningful data. The Executive Director of Resources reassured Members that Internal Audit was being utilised effectively and in the correct priority areas within the Council and with the appropriate resources.

The Chair thanked the Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service for his detailed presentation.

RESOLVED that

the Internal Audit Progress Report be noted.