Agenda item - Annual Internal Audit Report 2017/18

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Agenda item

Annual Internal Audit Report 2017/18

Report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources

Decision:

1)           That the Committee note that reasonable assurance has been given on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control for the year ended 31 March 2018.

 

2)           That the Committee note the assurances and improvement actions detailed on audits finalised since the last progress report to this Committee in March 2018.

Minutes:

9.1         The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources that provided the Head of Internal Audit’s opinion on the council’s control environment and governance arrangements, a summary of the results of audit work for the year and an assessment of the effectiveness of internal audit against the UK Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

 

9.2         Councillor Sykes noted that 45% of audits had been given partial assurance and green RAG scores had slipped. Councillor Sykes asked how comfortable the Audit Manager was with the opinion provided and what assurance could be provided that Directorates would address and improve performance.

 

9.3         The Audit Manager replied that partial assurance did still mean that adequate risk controls were in place and equal weighting could not be attributed to each audit given partial assurance. The Audit Manager stated that the number of high priority audit actions was of concern however, he did believe that the appropriate mechanisms were in place and that opinion was extended by the knowledge gained from his own work and his trust in the Risk Management Framework.

 

9.4         Councillor Sykes asked if any problems had been posed by the diminishing resource across the council and whether the right amount of resource was in place in Internal Audit, why the report had not provided the number of audit hours as had been the case in previous versions of the reports and whether there was a compliance audit of HROD in the areas of peer reviews and people management.

 

9.5         The Audit Manager explained that audits of HROD were undertaken in areas such as sickness management, recruitment processes and agency staff but these were not carried out on an annual basis. The Orbis Chief Internal Auditor explained that the Internal Audit Strategy Plan received to a previous committee meeting had published the proposed number of audit days and Internal Audit performance was monitored on a quarterly basis.

 

9.6         Councillor Janio asked if there would be audits undertaken on the Shelter Hall and Valley Gardens projects.

 

9.7         The Audit Manager answered that there would be a follow up report into the Shelter Hall project and the previously agreed actions as well as those relating to the Valley Gardens project.

 

9.8         RESOLVED-

 

1)           That the Committee note that reasonable assurance has been given on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control for the year ended 31 March 2018.

 

2)           That the Committee note the assurances and improvement actions detailed on audits finalised since the last progress report to this Committee in March 2018.

Supporting documents:

 


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