Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit and Assurance Service (HoIAS) submits a report to the Audit and Risk Committee, which provides an indication of internal audit work planned to be conducted during 2022-23, and information about a recently issued report ‘Internal Audit: Untapped Potential’, following extensive research by CIPFA.

The Committee is recommended to receive the plan, note its contents, and seek clarification on any areas as they and then approve the plan, make any recommendation or comments it sees fit, and note the CIPFA report and support the HoIAS and Deputy Director of Finance working together to make improvements to the service and arrangements.

The Head of Internal Audit and Assurance Service (HoIAS) submitted a report to the Audit and Risk Committee, which provided an indication of internal audit work planned to be conducted during 2022-23, and information about a recently issued report ‘Internal Audit: Untapped Potential’, following extensive research by CIPFA. The Committee was recommended to receive the plan, note its contents, and seek clarification on any areas and then approve the plan, make any recommendation or comments it saw fit; and note the CIPFA report and support the HoIAS and Deputy Director of Finance by working together to make improvements to the service and arrangements.

The HoIAS presented the report, and it was noted that:

·         A risk-based plan had been developed, with a reasonable span of audits across the three components of the control environment.

·         Nothing had changed in the methodology, and there had been very good engagement with Directors on emerging risks.

·         There was still some uncertainty with Covid moving forwards, and the plan would be fluid in case it needed to be changed, and conversations to be had with colleagues at the City Council on where to divert resources.

·         The plan at Appendix 1 was split into components of Governance, Risk Management and Internal Control, but there were areas that would overlap. The grant audits were included, but the time spent on those was being reduced, and there was a contingency for anything additional that required attention during the year.

·         Paragraph 22 in the report was highlighted for Members of the Committee for its importance and provided the HoIAS with an opportunity to remind Members of their help and support to the internal audit function to push through the plan. Any major changes to the plan would be brought back to the Committee.

·         CIPFA undertook a major research project around internal audit in the public sector and subsequent report ‘Internal Audit: Untapped Potential’ was summarised at Appendix 2. Appendix 3 was an article written by CIPFA’s governance advisor. The Chair of Audit and Risk Committee and Deputy Director of Finance had both contributed to the research. It was planned that the HoIAS would meet with the Deputy Director of Finance to go through the report and look at areas of potential improvement and would bring an action plan back to a future Committee meeting.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following responses were provided:

·         It was asked if the remit of Internal Audit included to look at the operation of HR in dealing with employment issues. It was reported that Internal Audit would look at the process but not necessarily individual cases but would ensure good governance was monitored and followed. It was further noted it was not included as a key risk by HR representatives, but a note was made to speak with managers to see if there were any underlying problems they might want assurance on.

ACTION: It was reported that a report had been taken to Overview Select Committee on workforce and equalities. The Head of Finance would circulate the report to Members.

·         The operation of the public phone lines at the Council was considered by Members to be an issue. The HoIAS stated the issue had not been brought to his attention but would likely form part of an audit of Customer Services if one took place. The Deputy Director of Finance stated that the answering of phones had been recognised as a problem, particularly during Covid, with people calling for grants, Council Tax, Housing Benefits and Housing Repairs, with call lines covered by the same pool of staff, and occasional technical problems. It was noted that call wait times had reduced to an average of five minutes (dependent on the time of day) and was being tracked closely with the aim of reducing the wait time further with the employment of more staff.

·         It was questioned how effective Audit and Risk was as a committee, how was it currently measured, and did it need its own audit. The HoIAS informed the meeting that there was a lot more focus on Audit Committees, and in terms of working with the regional audit committee chairs there was further work ongoing in the form of an East Midlands Regional Audit Forum. Out of that could come training and CIPFA has revised its Audit Committee guidance documents, part of which was a self-assessment of audit committees effectiveness.

·         The effectiveness of the Committee was also noted in value for money work. It was further noted that recruitment of the Independent Member was being progressed to add knowledge and expertise. Training was also scheduled for Committee Members throughout the year to enhance skills and knowledge of Members. The result of the self-assessment would be undertaken following recruitment of the Independent Member and reported back to the Committee in due course.

The Chair thanked the officers for the report and responses. The Chair asked with regards to Appendices Two and Three that Members contact the Deputy Director of Finance and/or Head of Finance with any improvements that they wished to see.

RESOLVED:

That:

1.    The Audit and Risk Committee received the plan, noted its contents and approved the plan.

2.    Noted the CIPFA report and supported the HoIAS and Deputy Director of Finance in working together to make improvements to the service and its arrangements, with a future plan of action to be brought to a future meeting.

3.    The Head of Finance to provide to Members a report taken to Overview Select Committee on the workforce and equalities in relation to the audit of HR.