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A report was presented to
members of the Audit & Governance Committee was sought to
provide the committee with a progress update on the work of the
Internal Audit team and the key findings from audits completed to
date. 
 
It was noted that during the
2023/24 financial year to date, 53% of the planned audits had been
delivered to at least draft report stages and a further 46% was in
fieldwork stages.  This reflected that
delivery was on track for this stage in the year. Since the last
meeting of the Audit & Governance Committee, finalised reports
had been issued in respect of six audit assignments. 
 
One update in relation to
procurement compliance was provided to members. Compliance against
contract procedure rules was undertaken and a number of sample
tests were completed. In terms of compliance, testing of purchases
made in the financial year to date noted that for 16 out of 25
purchases (64%) there was evidence of compliance with the
requirements of the CPRs. In relation to new contracts and contract
extensions, for a sample of 15 commencing in the financial year
2023/24 there was evidence available to demonstrate the procurement
processed followed in 14 (93%) of cases. In all non-compliant cases
noted, the value of the purchase / contract was less than
£100k and therefore had not been subject to checks by the
Procurement Team, who currently only review purchases over
£100k. Actions had been agreed in relation to training,
inclusion of procurement training in officer inductions and checks
on new contracts added to the register. Based upon the fieldwork
completed, a moderate assurance opinion had been given
for
Control Environment and
compliance with a medium organisational impact.
        
The second audit update was
provided in relation Revenue and Benefits system implementation. A
good level of assurance was provided for control environment and
compliance with a low organisational impact.  
 
In relation to complaints and
compliments management the review found that an effective framework
existed to support compliments and complaints.  This was based around clearly defined expectations
in the Customer Compliments, Comments and Complaints Policy;
mechanisms in place to receive compliments and complaints; and the
role of the Complaints team in co-ordinating and overseeing the
correspondence. However, key areas had been identified, where
further action is required to manage associated risks and actions
had been agreed in relation to policy review; improvements to
reporting to track trends on complaints and learning outcomes;
strengthening escalation processes for overdue complaints;
improving record keeping on remedies; and clarifying processes for
compensation payments.
Based upon the fieldwork
completed, a moderate assurance opinion had been given for Control
Environment and compliance with a medium organisational impact. A
number of the recommendations had already been
implemented
 
An audit report was then
provided in relation to Home to School transport It was noted that
the disaggregation process had created challenges, where further
action is required to manage associated risks:
 
The review had found that the
Council had a clearly defined Home to School Education Transport
Policy, that is reflective of statutory guidance. To support the
policy, appropriate systems were found to be in place to support
the administration of applications, procurement activity and
payments. Additionally, arrangements were in place to assess
whether providers are meeting the Council’s expectations
around child safety and welfare through the work of
Inspectors.
The review identified a lack of
documented procedures covering most of the activity undertaken
currently by the Council in support of home to school transport.
Additionally, in terms of current working practices, there was
limited evidence of the role of management in monitoring, reviewing
and approving activity. A review of working practices covering
inspections highlighted that the master record provided limited
details about the outcome of such activity, and there were concerns
over the accuracy / relevance of information included in this
record. Based upon the fieldwork completed, a moderate assurance
opinion had been given for Control Environment and compliance with
a medium organisational impact.
 
Members then received an audit
report in relation to Early years providers. Internal Audit visited
a sample of 15 early years settings to conduct spot checks against
claims that had been submitted for the last period.  All of the settings visited had a means of
recording attendance (i.e. registers and records of times attended)
which were readily available at the time of audit.  Testing found that, overall, the majority of
claims processed were evidenced as accurate, based on parental
contracts and attendance records – but this was not
consistent for all children in each setting.  In testing, 9 of the 15 settings (60%) were able
to evidence that all of the children selected for testing had
attended the number of hours claimed for the period - and any
exceptions related only to safeguarding or Special Educational
Needs and Disabilities (SEND) cases, for which provision is made in
the provider agreement.  In the other
40% of settings visited, cases were identified where the full
claimed hours were not being regularly attended by the named
child.
The testing also highlighted
that in 13% of settings claims had been submitted for children for
whom there was no signed, valid parental contract on file for the
period; and 47% of settings had gaps in evidence of identification
checks for children in the sample. 
Furthermore, only 38% of settings had evidence on file of checks on
eligibility for two-year-old funding.
Actions had been agreed in relation to resolving discrepancies
highlighted in audit testing; promoting lessons learnt with
providers; and supporting on ensuring transparency of voluntary
contributions across the range of providers.
Based upon the fieldwork
completed, a moderate assurance opinion had been given for Control
Environment and compliance with a medium organisational
impact.
 
An audit report update was then
provided to members in relation to the Public Health grant. In
overall terms, the audit confirmed that there was an appropriate
governance framework in place to regulate and monitor expenditure
against the PHG, however work remained ongoing to establish a
financial coding structure that clearly identifies PHG spend
against the categories outlined in the Revenue Outturn
document.
Sample testing of expenditure
totalling approximately £4.23m back to source documentation,
which included costs such as payroll, agency staff, contractors,
professional fees/hired services and equipment, confirmed
eligibility of spend against PHG terms and conditions.
Actions have been agreed in
relation to the coding structure; retention of supporting
documentation; and clarifying disaggregated spend. A good level of
assurance was provided for control environment and compliance with
a low organisational impact.
 
Since the last Audit and
Governance committee meeting, 49 open actions had been confirmed as
implemented There were 89 recommendations overdue for
implementation as at 30th January 2024. 
 
The Council had recently
introduced new spend review processes and this is an area where
Internal Audit assurances had been requested.  The cancellation of the Planning Service
Transformation audit would provide a timely opportunity to
reallocate audit days to this priority area.  It was, therefore, recommended to member that the
Planning Service Transformation audit be cancelled from the 2023/24
plan and that the 12 days be reallocated to support on the spend
review processes and assurances over compliance with these new
controls in the last quarter of the financial year.
 
Following debate it
was
 
RESOLVED           
That the Audit and Governance Committee noted the progress report
and approved the proposed amendment to the Internal Audit Plan, to
remove the planned audit on Planning Service Transformation and
replace this with assurance work on the Spend Management Review
process.