Agenda item

This report provides an update on progress against the internal audit plan and summarises the results of our work.

The purpose of this report was to provide details of the audit work during the period 1 December 2022 to 28 February 2023 and advise on progress of the 2022/23 plan and to raise any other matters that may be relevant to the Governance & Audit Committee role.

Since the last update report presented to the Governance & Audit Committee in December 2022, the following audits had been completed:

Programme Management – consultancy review

Housing Void Management – substantial assurance for control design and framework.

                                             Limited assurance for operation/implementation of controls and framework.

Health & Safety – substantial assurance

All remaining audits were scheduled for completion by the end of March 2023. The key focus over the next month was to include:

• Key Control Testing – Debtors, Creditors and Capital Monitoring – fieldwork stage

• Combined Assurance – fieldwork stage

As part of the quality assurance process, feedback was received from clients to help support continuous improvement.  Whilst Assurance Lincolnshire were on track to deliver the plan, reflecting on the first year of service there was an acknowledgement that some areas of the audit process could be improved:

• Keeping in touch during the audit

• Communicating results – better debrief and clearance of reports

• Contemporary reporting

The quality assurance improvement plan was to be shared and monitored as part of regular liaison meetings. The Head of Internal Audit would oversee this plan.

The Acting Director of Housing and Property welcomed the split in assurance decisions on the Housing Void Management as it acknowledged that progress had been made.  Further positive results were expected in the coming months.

Members raised the following points during discussion:

·       As the action plan ratings were broad – rated as green, amber and red, could a ‘direction of travel’ be indicated so progress could be clearly measured?  An amber rating could be almost green or very nearly red.

·       How many corporate projects were there currently and how many non-corporate projects?

·       A suggested area for improvement was ‘the Council should actively promote and monitor compliance with the new framework.’  Shouldn’t this practice happen as a matter of course?

·       Was the recommendation of initial risk assessments for projects to be monitored?

·       Clear agreed actions to strengthen the risk assessment process were welcomed.

·       What was the remit of the Health and Safety Working Group and who would sit on it?  Was it expected to report to Governance and Audit Committee?

·       Why was there no rating for the findings from the consultancy?

The Auditor informed Members that within the action plan was a current rating and a target rating.  Recommendations made gave the extent of what was required to achieve a green rating.  The recommendation to actively promote and monitor compliance was added as part of the new framework following the consultancy review.  This was to ensure more active governance of compliance as a process.  Management had taken the recommendation for initial risk assessments forward and progress was to be reported at a future meeting.

The Head of Corporate Projects, Policy and Performance confirmed there were approximately 20 – 25 projects currently on the Corporate Projects list.  These included capital projects and some revenue projects.  There were some reputational projects also included.  The amount of non-corporate projects was not measured or monitored on a monthly basis as they consisted of smaller projects below a level of financial threshold and were managed by the relevant Head of Service as part of a departmental service plan.

The Auditor confirmed that the consultancy review consisted of giving guidance and advice on new processes, without rating, where suggesting improvements was common practice

The Health and Safety and Emergency Planning Officer confirmed that the Health and Safety Working Group would consist of officers from all service areas across the Authority.  The initial meeting had seen the agreement of Terms of Reference which the officer was happy to circulate to Members.  The Corporate Team would receive feedback and these findings would be shared with the Corporate Health Committee.

ACTION:

Members were to receive a copy of the Terms of Reference from the Health and Safety Working Group

It was proposed, seconded, and AGREED:

a)    That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the Internal Audit Progress Report