Agenda item

To consider the Internal Audit work undertaken and the assurance given on the adequacy of internal controls operating in the systems audited for the period September – November 2015.

32.1           The report of the Corporate Services Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 19-47, was the second monitoring report of the financial year and summarised the work undertaken by the Internal Audit team during the period September to November 2015.  Members were asked to consider the audit work completed and the assurance given on the adequacy of internal controls operating in the systems audited. 

32.2           Full details of the work undertaken in the period was attached at Appendix 1 to the report and a list of audits within the 2015/16 Audit Plan and their progress to date could be found at Appendix 2 to the report.  It was noted that all audit opinions issued had been either ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’.  The Corporate Services Group Manager explained that Internal Audit was a small team of two full-time equivalents, once of whom was currently on maternity leave.  She would be returning on 1 February 2016 on a part-time basis and would share that post with the other current full-time member of staff.  As such, he would be advertising for a full-time equivalent post with an audit contractor being used in the interim.  It was noted that no incidents of fraud had been reported during the period.  As reported at previous meetings, the Internal Audit team had been commissioned by Tewkesbury Town Council to undertake their internal audit.  During the period, Tewkesbury Town Council had identified two Councillors who were to act as ‘auditors’ and help the Town Clerk to improve internal control.  In order to support this, Internal Audit had developed a set of checklists to be used in undertaking the role.

32.3           Attention was drawn to the treasury management audit, set out at Page No. 22 of the report.  A good level of control had been found to be operating in line with previous years.  Each investment was made with due regard to the Council’s short to medium term cash flow requirements, investments were supported by appropriate documentation and there was adequate segregation of duties with the investment register reconciled to the main accounting system on a monthly basis.  In terms of debtors, there was good control in invoices raised for income, with debt requests created by services being raised promptly and accurately, there was an audit trail for payments and a monthly reconciliation process.  The Leisure Centre was being delivered within budget and on time and payments were being made in accordance with the contract.  Furthermore, the project management arrangements were sound and there was a good reporting process between the Asset Manager and Members.  In terms of budgetary control, the 2015/16 budget had been formally approved at Council and the general ledger reflected the overall budget.  The Council’s Financial Procedure Rules had been updated to reflect the current organisational structure and Officers’ roles.  They were currently in draft form and awaiting ratification by Council.  It was noted that the scheme of budget delegation had not been updated for 2015/16; this was a procedural matter which needed to be addressed.  There was good reporting between Managers and Members with monitoring by the Transform Working Group and quarterly reports to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  In respect of creditors, the payment of supplier invoices was satisfactory, there was a signatory list in place and amendments were adequately controlled.  With regard to the corporate improvement work which had been carried out, the Internal Audit team had been tasked by the Corporate Governance Group to conduct an assessment of the Council’s overall fraud arrangements and the outcomes would be reported at Agenda Item 10.  Internal Audit had also provided advice in relation to the Environmental Health and Development Control service review.

32.4           Appendix 3 to the report contained a summary of all audit recommendations and their status.  The Corporate Services Group Manager advised that the implementation date for the recommendations around tree inspections had been changed to March 2017.  A transformational project had been launched to resolve the issues identified and progress would be monitored in 2016.  There were a number of outstanding recommendations in relation to food control which could be attributed to the recent structure review of the Environmental Health Team.  Members were advised that the lead officer for food safety was now in the process of putting together a plan to address the recommendations.  A garden waste audit was currently being undertaken and the audit opinion would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.  The recommendations around safeguarding had been implemented and good progress had been made to embed safeguarding arrangements.  The Council Tax Reduction Scheme Fraud Policy had been presented to the Audit Committee in September, and had subsequently been approved by the Executive Committee, therefore the recommendations arising from the housing benefit fraud audit had now been implemented.  With regard to the Local Transparency Agenda audit 2015/16, the Finance Manager had verbally confirmed that the documents had been published in accordance with the requirements of the Local Transparency Code but a follow-up audit would be carried out during quarter 4 to check that they were in place.

32.5           A Member congratulated Officers on the new leisure centre build which was on time and within budget.  Another Member queried whether the Committee would be provided with details of any financial discrepancies in order to identify where money may be lost and, in response, the Corporate Services Group Manager clarified that such details were included in the Officers’ working papers but anything material would be reported to the Committee.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          That the Internal Audit Plan Monitoring Report be NOTED.