Issue - meetings

[To note the contents of the internal audit report].

Peter Farrow, Head of Audit presented the report on the progress made against the 2020 - 2021 internal audit plan and provided information on recent work that had been completed.

The Committee were reminded that due to a significant amount of audit resources redeployed to focus on critical work surrounding the impact of covid-19, there had been a need to revisit  the internal audit plan and how the remaining resources could be focussed in the most effective and risk based manner. Senior management across the Council had been consulted and some audit reviews had been deferred and would be included in the next internal audit plan where appropriate. However, assurance was given that there would still be sufficient audit coverage in key areas such as the key financial systems and across a range of operational areas. Also, many of the areas that the audit team had been working on in response to Covid-19 were naturally part of a wider assurance role – such as in business support grant checking and validation, and in verifying Covid-19 related returns.   The Committee were advised that a number of audits from the current internal audit plan had already been completed and were pleased to report that no limited assurance reports had been issued.

Following questions around the fire safety checks within schools, Peter Farrow advised the Committee that an issue had been identified in a previous audit report whereby schools were not necessarily submitting their returns to the Council in a timely manner. Since the review this had improved, but would also be revisited in the future, and where appropriate reported back to the Committee.

Resolved:

1. That the contents of the latest internal audit update be noted.