Agenda item

The Head if Internal Audit and Assurance Service submits a report to the Audit and Risk Committee, which provide a summary of progress against the 2021-22 & 2022-23 Internal Audit Plans, and an annual report on internal audit work conducted during 2021-22.

The Committee is recommended to note the contents of the routine update report.

The Head of Internal Audit and Assurance Service submitted a report to the Audit and Risk Committee, which provided a summary of progress against the 2021-22 & 2022-23 Internal Audit Plans, and an annual report on internal audit work conducted during 2021-22. The Committee was recommended to note the contents of the routine update report.

Neil Jones, Head of Internal Audit and Assurance Service (HoIAS), Leicestershire County Council presented the report, during which it was noted that:

·         Part 1 of the report provided a summary of progress against the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Internal Audit Plans, and a summary of resources used to close off and progress audits.

·         Part 2 of the report was the annual report on internal audit work conducted 2021-22.

·         Members were informed that the City Council had delegated its internal audit function to the County Council in November 2017, and the HoIAS was the head of internal audit for both Council’s.

·         Appendix 1 to the report listed individual audits that were closed off and those that were work in progress. It was noted that anything in bold font reflected a change since the previous Committee Meeting in March 2022. It was reported that good progress was being made into the current year of audits.

·         Commentary on resources used reported there had been a period with the team carrying vacancies, but the team had pushed forward and was a lot more stable, producing a number of audits. It was noted a number of recruitment exercises had been undertaken, and another team member was planned to start in October.

Councillor Cassidy left the meeting at 6:29pm

·         A key part of the report was progress with implementing high importance recommendations. Appendix 2 to the report provided a short summary of the issues. It was noted that high importance recommendations would continue to come to the Committee until the HoIAS was satisfied that it had been implemented properly.

·         The report pointed towards recommendations that continued to be extended. Pressure would be put on those areas with support from the Deputy Director of Finance and Head of Finance to implement recommendations to close those audits down.

·         Part 2 was HoIAS requirement to present an annual report and completed the cycle of internal audit work undertaken in 2021-22.

·         There were specific requirements within the report, the most important was for the HoIAS to look at all the audit work undertaken, experiences and evaluations, and to give a formed opinion on the control environment.

·         Despite some vacancies and some absences, the team had managed to conduct a programme of work that was sufficient for the HoIAS to give a positive opinion, which was explained at Paragraph 17 in the report.

·         Annex 1 to the report explained the types of audits undertaken and things evaluated, including reviewing other committees and looking at key documents, which all helped the HoIAS to form an opinion.

·         The remainder of the report covered Internal Audit performance over the year, and how the performance of the team conformed against standards and the effectiveness of that. It was reported there were a couple of areas in the quality programme that needed a push forward.

·         It was noted that the Internal Audit service was trying to push back on the length of time spent on grant certification, many of them Covid-related, as it used valuable resources.

The Chair thanked the officer for the report.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Committee note the contents of the routine update report.