Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit introduced the report.  Members were requested to note the progress against internal audit recommendations and work completed to date on the Internal Audit Plan 2021-22 and critical, high and medium priority internal audit recommendations. 

The Head of Internal Audit noted that the Operations Director for Re, Mr Alun Parfitt was in attendance virtually to make a representation.  The Chairman duly welcomed Mr Parfitt to the meeting and invited him to provide comments.     Mr Parfitt gave an overview of the progress that had been made against the actions and recommendations in the report into Local Land Charges – Review of Planning Data Controls and Policies.   As a result of this Councillor Alison Moore requested that the Committee received an update on the progress at the April meeting.

The Head of Internal Audit noted the detail in the report in regard to Danegrove School.  She added that the Council’s internal Audit team were in regular contact with the School.   Members noted that the School had undergone a number of changes including the appointment of a new Headteacher and an imminent change to the post of the School’s Business Manager.    The Committee noted concerns on this matter and said that they looked forward to receiving an update on this at a future meeting.    The Head of Internal Audit stated that the report had been discussed by the School’s Governors but not until November.  It was agreed that enquiries would be made as to the support that Council Finance Officers may be able to provide to the School.

Mrs Geraldine Chadwick noted that a number of the outstanding actions should have been implemented and she questioned why such actions had not been completed considering the length of time it had been since the audit in May, she therefore noted her concerns and requested that a School representative be invited to a future meeting.  The Chairman noted these concerns and agreed that in advance of the February 2022 Committee meeting he would discuss progress on actions with the Head of Internal Audit, following which a decision would be made as to whether a school representative should be invited.

The Council’s Assistant Director HR and OD was in attendance virtually and was able to answer questions relating to agency staff, system access and the process involving DBS checks.    Members sought to understand what sectors agency staff were being employed in and questioned if this was in connection to services that experienced national shortages. 

Councillor Alison Moore noted that good governance was a vital component to a successful organisation and therefore she said it was important that the Council delivered robust governance arrangements across the Council.

The Committee had the opportunity to consider and comment on the report. With respect to the implementation of agreed audit actions, the head of internal audit agreed to report on the arrangements being considered to encourage a higher implementation rate at the February 2022 Committee meeting.

Having considered the report the Committee:

Resolved

That the Committee noted the work completed to date on Internal Audit Q2 progress report - 1st July to 30th September 2021 as summarised in Appendix 1.