Agenda item

Andy Cox, Head of Audit and Assurance introduced the report and drew attention to the following:

1.  The Terms of Reference of the Corporate Audit Committee included the approval of the Internal Audit Plan which was currently brought to members at the beginning of the financial year.

2.  Internal Audit planned work during 2022/23 included:

a.  34 audit reviews

b.  Follow up reviews

c.  Annual governance review

d.  Counter fraud work

e.  Grant certification work

f.  Financial assessments

3.  Of the 34 reviews:

a.  24 were complete

b.  15 final and 3 draft ‘assurance’ audit reports had been issued

c.  6 ‘briefing’ reports had been prepared

d.  3 reviews were ongoing

e.  7 reviews were remaining of which 5 were agreed to be carried forward into the 2023/24 Audit Plan

4.  There were 5 levels of assurance - all but 5 of the audits completed had an overall audit opinion of satisfactory to excellent (between ‘Level 3’ and ‘Level 5’)

5.  There were 5 areas with “limited assurance”

a.  Section 106 use of funding within timescales – as reported to November meeting

b.  Community Equipment Store asset management – as reported to November meeting

c.  Avon Pension Fund Systems Access Controls – now implemented and green RAG rating

d.  Payroll – processing of timesheet generated pay – actions had been agreed for implementation.

e.  Payroll – “Travel perk” system – this system for booking travel/accommodation for staff had been incorrectly used to book accommodation for homeless people.  The spend was not improper but should have not been included as part of the Travel Perk system and had resulted in the cost of staff travel/accommodation appearing higher than it was.  Actions had been identified for implementation.

6.  Follow up reviews:

a.  14 follow up reviews

b.  9 reviews - significant progress had been made in implementing recommendations

c.  5 reviews - partial implementation of the recommendations but further enquiries in May / June 2023 identified further progress in implementing recommendations

7.  Annual Governance Review: there were 2 issues in 22/23:

a.  Financial Challenge – e.g., inflationary pressures

b.  Children’s Services – pressures e.g., SEND.

8.  Counter Fraud work - Work was carried out to update the Council’s Counter Fraud Strategy and associated policies.

9.  Grant Certification - Assurance work had been carried out for 25 grant funded projects/activities to provide assurance that the Council had complied with grant expenditure terms and conditions.

10.The Chief Audit Executive was required to give an opinion on the internal control framework and the opinion provided did not raise any significant concerns. 

Members raised the following comments/questions:

1.  It would be useful to know what an internal audit felt like for those being audited.

2.  Concern that those affected by the processing of timesheet generated pay were likely to be those in lower paid jobs and would be expected to pay back money for overpayments caused by a system failure.

3.  Request that Members be given the opportunity to scrutinise the Travel Perk figures for this year and previous years in more detail as it was not clear how much money was spent on staff travel/accommodation and how much on accommodation for homeless people.  It was agreed that this would be followed up after the meeting.

It was moved by Cllr Sam Ross, seconded by Cllr Malcolm Treby and:

RESOLVED that the Internal Audit Annual Report 2022/23and formal opinion on the internal control framework be noted.