Issue - meetings

To consider the Internal Audit 2019/20 Quarter 1 progress report and to make any observations.

Members considered the Internal Audit 2019/20 Quarter 1 progress report. The Chair welcomed the two representatives (Natalie Jerams and Neil Pitman) from the Council’s new Internal Auditors (Southern Internal Audit Partnership). He said he was pleased that they would be attending every meeting. Work had just started on this year’s internal audit.

·        Key messages ­– the Internal Auditors outlined the key messages in the report. The purposes of the report was to give the status of ‘live’ internal audit reports as well as an update on progress and to raise any significant issues that may have an impact on their annual opinion. A performance dashboard set out the delivery of the performance plan: six per cent were completed; one out of 17 audits was completed. All programmed audits were underway and delivery of the plan was therefore on schedule. There were no ‘live’ reports with management actions outstanding. The first report on Decision Making and Accountability was reported as ‘Substantial’ which meant there was a sound framework of internal control so there were no management actions. The customer feedback was based on an annual survey which the Council would be able to take part in next year.

·        Work programme – Page 31 of the report onwards set out the rolling work programme for the year and the status of each review. The auditors reported that the programme was on track for year. It was noted that staff had co-operated very well and the auditors were happy with progress at the moment. It was noted that there had been some adjustments to the plan. It had brought forward the Main Accounting audit at the request of the Interim Head of Finance and Assets to provide earlier assurance on the operation of core financial systems and processes. Fraud and Irregularities and Information Security had been added this year at the request of the Committee. Supporting Families, IT Business Continuity, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and Housing Benefits had been deferred to 2020/21 as a result.

The Chief Executive said he was pleased a good start had been made and thanked the Internal Auditors for their work so far.

There were no further questions from Members.

RESOLVED – that the Internal Audit 2019/20 Quarter 1 progress report be noted.