Agenda item

The Committee received a report from the Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service regarding the Internal Audit Annual Report for the period 1^st April 2021 to 30^th September 2021 against the performance indicators agreed.

The following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

·       Page 18 - detailed the reports that had been completed since the last progress report.  The outcome of these audits were detailed at Appendix 3 to the report. 

·       Pages 18/19 - detailed the 2021/2022 audits taking place as at 30^th September 2022.  The Projects review had been finalised and was detailed at Appendix 3 to the report.  

·       Two further reviews – Worcester Regulatory Services and Strategic Acquisitions would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee.

·       With regards to the high priority recommendations for:

o   Council Tax

o   NNDR 2020/2021

o   Health and Safety Training Records

o   Payroll

Members were informed that the new system would address these, once fully implemented and embedded.

·       The medium priority recommendations were all clear, with management action plans and implementation dates provided.

·       The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) work would continue.

·       Appendix 5 to the report detailed the Quality Assurance Improvement Plan.

The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service responded to questions from Members with regard to implementation dates being missed, and in doing so stated that, implementation dates that had passed would be checked and any actions taken would be reported back to Committee Members. Officers usually followed up any recommendations and implementation dates when they revisited that service area and would follow up on any particular areas if needed.

Officers were now going into a period of undertaking a further review and would expect items to have now been implemented. The review would be looked at in some detail, to see how the plan was looking going forward, to ensure protection of the Borough’s position.

The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service responded to further questions from Members with regard to the Critical Review – Use of Agency staff and consultants 2020/2021.  Members were informed that the Council had used Matrix for a number of years to provide certain agency staff. 

Agency staff had been used outside of Matrix due to the technical/specific skills required for certain staffing positions.  

With regards to questions on the Council’s Dashboard, the Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service commented that the Dashboard was looked at from an audit perspective.  Officers would not be looking to influence the measures to be shown on the Dashboard, they would look at the comparison/delivery for the future.  A lot of work had been done and he would expect the Dashboard to reflect this and that the data entered was accurate. 

The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service responded to further questions in respect of the Risk Register showing both operational / tactical risks being detailed.  Members were informed that Officers used the Risk Register as a basis for service areas to identify potential areas where there may be a risk.  The Risk Register was the responsibility of the management team and risks were considered prior to an audit taking place.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.