Issue - meetings
Quarterly Internal Audit Assurance Report
Meeting: 27/09/2017 - Audit Committee (Item 4)
4 Quarterly Internal Audit Assurance Report PDF 348 KB
Minutes:
Minesh Jani, Divisional Director for Risk Management presented the Quarterly Internal Audit Report covering the period of July 2017 to August 2017.
The report set out the assurance rating for each audit finalised in the period and gave an overall assurance rating. He made reference to page 186 and the table which showed the total number of audit’s conducted and the assurance level they had achieved. He also referred Members to the table on page 187, 6.1 which showed how the internal audit service was performing against KPI indicators and the targets achieved.
Minesh Jani informed the committee the Council would cease using Mazars, for auditing council services and this would lead to a slight dip in performance over the next quarter. However he was hopeful to recover the position before the end of the financial year.
He said 30% of services had achieved ‘limited’ assurance and Officers from the services’ were present to answer questions from Members.
Members of the Committee asked the following questions in relation to the report itself.
· Are recommendations classified as Priority 1, reported to the Corporate Leadership Team?
The Audit Committee heard further from Officer in the following services:
Control and Monitoring of Declarations of Interests by Council Staff
Zena Cooke, Corporate Director for Resources on behalf of Heather Daley, Divisional Director for HR and Transformation informed Committee Members the control weaknesses identified by Internal Audit had been addressed. She said all staff had been made aware of completing the Declarations form via the HR self-service system and Managers had received training on identifying potential conflicts of interest. Inaccuracies and relationships between officers had to be declared, so to safeguard the organisation.
Members made the following comments:
· Did the 23 declarations tested, page 191 uncovered any conflict of interest or family relationships?
Zena Cooke responded saying the irrespective of where staff were working, declarations of interest had be completed, ensuring the procedural record was correct and each individual had been risk assessed against the criteria. Declarations were part of the HR process and staff including interim staff, are required to update the record.
· Do members of staff understand why they are asked to complete the declaration of interest form?
Street Lighting
Roy Ormsby, Service Head of Public Realm stated the service had undergone a restructure and vacancies within the service had been advertised. The new PSI system had been procured and was bedding in. Two Performance Boards had been set up with the respective Portfolio Leads, which would look at performance management issues. Policy and procedures were looked at as part of the restructure and as such he was confident that with the resources identified the team would be compliant against the assurances identified.
Roy Ormsby offered to come back to the Committee in six months to report on the progress made.
Members made the following comments:
· Members of the Committee AGREED to review the service in six months.
Highways, Repairs and Maintenance
Roy Ormsby, Service Head of Public Realm informed Members not ... view the full minutes text for item 4