Issue - meetings

     I.        That the Audit Committee note the Q3 2021/22 internal audit progress report available at annex 1; and,

    II.        That the Audit Committee make any comments and/or observations on the report to the Council’s Chief Finance Officer.

Natalie Jerams, Deputy Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership (SIAP), gave the Committee an overview of the quarter 3 progress report on the internal audit plan and an update on delivery of the 2021/22 plan.  It was noted that all audits were currently on track for delivery to date, with 59% of the work currently complete.

Page 56 of the report provided an update on management actions, with 16 currently registered as overdue (of which 2 were low priority, 12 were medium priority and 2 were high priority); the detail of these were shown in annexes 1 and 2.

It was noted that in quarter 3 there were no reviews that that concluded with a ‘limited’ or ‘no’ assurance opinion.

Concern was raised by the Committee that there were several low/medium rated management actions that remained overdue for two years and that some revised dates showed as ‘to be confirmed’ while others had slipped by six months.

In response to Member questions SIAP confirmed that they monitored and followed up all management actions through to completion.  The Interim Head of Finance also confirmed that senior management regularly reviewed progress and the reasons for delays.

The Committee requested a progress update on all overdue actions. A commitment was given to provide this before the next meeting including the background and context and where responsibility for progressing them lay.

RESOLVED that:

(i)            The Committee note the Q3 2021/22 internal audit progress report available at annex 1; and,

(ii)          that Committee’s comments and/or observations on the report be fed back to the Council’s Chief Finance Officer.