Agenda item

The Head of Internal Assurance and Audit submits a report providing:

a.    Summary of progress against the 2021-22 & 2022-23 Internal Audit Plans including:

                                          i.    summary information on progress with implementing high importance recommendations.

                                        ii.    summary of progress against the Internal Audit Plans

                                       iii.    commentary on the progress and resources used

b.    Progress with developing the Internal Audit Plan for 2023-24

c.    Planning for an external assessment of Leicestershire County Council’s Internal Audit Service

The Head of Internal Audit & Assurance Service submitted a report providing:

a.    Summary of progress against the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Internal Audit Plans including:

                      i.        Summary information on progress with implementing high importance recommendations

                    ii.        Summary of progress against the Internal Audit Plans

                   iii.        Commentary on the progress and resources used

b.    Progress with developing the Internal Audit Plan for 2023-24

c.    Planning for an external assessment of Leicestershire County Council’s Internal Audit Service.

The Audit Manager introduced the report providing a summary of progress with implementing high importance recommendations noting that management responses were generally positive and there was recognition that some recommendations  required more time to fully comply.

Members noted the current position as at 31^st January 2023 showed 37 audits (including prior year) that were work in progress, since then 5 more audits had been finalised and 13 were at draft report stage, another 8 were progressing well. It was noted delays in obtaining information and client responses had caused a number of audits to be delayed and some cases were postponed during the year.

Members were also updated on progress with developing the Internal Audit Plan for 2023-24 as well as plans for an external assessment of Leicestershire County Council’s Internal Audit Service to ensure overall conformance to the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS).

Members discussed the report which included the following points:

In terms of schools, it was clarified the audits only related to maintained schools not academies as they had slightly different arrangements and were governed by the Academies Financial Handbook although many of the principles were the same.

Members sought assurance around the grading of audit opinions and members were informed that once a case becomes partial assurance that’s when it is reported to this committee. The position in time here was 31^st January 2023 and more audits will have progressed since that time, but officers won’t have the final detail at the moment.

Members were pleased to see the recommendation regarding emergency repairs and the programme of sample based evidence produced and looked forward to seeing the conclusions on that. The Audit Manager advised they would continue to follow that up until satisfied that the actions had been implemented and it was noted that it was important that the repairs team were taking action already to put things right.

As regards the number of audits postponed, replaced or cancelled it was confirmed that 5 were cancelled and a number of these were grant audits so might have originally been identified as an area that needed covering but it later came to light it doesn’t require a grant audit.  The Director of Finance also advised that a number were where the projects had been delayed or not happened and so an audit could not be done. However, if any audit was cancelled in this cycle and the project then went ahead the audit could happen on the next internal audit plan.

There was a brief mention of the audit around ward funding and whether members would have sight of those outcomes. The Director of Finance advised that a report on ward funding expenditure was submitted to the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission during the year so that information was already in the public domain.

RESOLVED:

                        That the contents of the report be noted.