Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SHARED INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE

To receive an update on the Audit Committee Progress Report.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the Internal Audit Progress Report for the period to 18 November 2020 be noted; and

(2)       That the implementation status of High priority recommendations be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To update the Committee on the progress against the 2020/21 Audit Plan.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager presented the report entitled SIAS Update on Progress Against the 2020/21 Audit Plan, including:

·                Directed Members to the Table at Paragraph 2.2 on page 53 within the report and advised that the table detailed all final reports that had been issued since September 2020;

·                As part of the Annual Audit Plan, a review of the effectiveness of the FAR

Committee was completed. The Final Report was issued to Members and had

been added at Appendix E;

·                The Community Engagement Audit had been reduced to 10 days from 15 days in order to release days for an investigation in relation to a complaint received; and

·                SIAS were requested to investigate part of a complaint received in relation to the award of a Community Facilities Capital Grant in May 2020.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager reported that there were some updates to be made to the information contained in the Table at paragraph 2.8, as follows:

·                187 (64%) planned days had now been deliver;

·                13 out of 24 planned projects had now been completed; and

·                7 Client Satisfaction with Conduct of the Audit questionnaires had been returned.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager advised that they expected to achieve the annual targets.

The SIAS Client Audit Manager directed Members to the appendices A-D and provided further information in relation to those reports still outstanding in Appendix B. He further advised that Quarter 3 in Appendix C, some of those audits should be completed before Christmas.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Sam North

In response to the question raised, the SIAS Client Audit Manager advised that:

·                In relation to the investigation, the report had been issued to the Deputy Monitoring Officer and Section151 Officer.

Members entered into a discussion around ‘North Herts District Council – Review of the Effectiveness of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee 2019/20 - Section 4 – Looking Ahead’ and the 4 actions that had been set out.

Councillor Kate Aspinwall and Councillor Adem Ruggiero-Cakir posed some questions in regards to the actions detailed at Section 4.

In response to questions, the Service Director – Resources provided the following information:

·                ‘The Independent Member’ action detailed in Section 4 ‘Looking Ahead’ was a matter for the Council’s Constitution;

·                Committee Independence was a matter for nominations at Annual Council but now was the time for Members to put their views forward in relation to that;

·                In regards to Deputy Executive Members, from a practicality point of view, if 14 members of the Joint Administration  were taken out, there would potentially not be a sufficient number of people. Therefore, not all Members could be excluded; and

·                It was a good idea to compile a work plan at the beginning of the civic year with the Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and the Chair of Overview & Scrutiny to ensure that the remit of FAR did not overlap with that of Overview & Scrutiny.

Councillor Kate Aspinwall, in relation to action 4.6 – Learning and Development, stated that Learning and Development should be a priority for Members in the next Civic Year.

The Committee were in agreement with the ‘’Looking Ahead’ Recommendations outlined at Paragraphs 4.3-4.6 on page 70 within the report.

It was:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the Internal Audit Progress Report for the period to 18 November 2020 be noted; and

(2)       That the implementation status of High priority recommendations be noted.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To update the Committee on the progress against the 2020/21 Audit Plan.