Agenda item

Amanda Stanislawski, Audit Manager:

a.    presented the Annual Internal Audit Report to the committee for comments.

b.    explained that the purpose of the Annual Internal Audit Report as outlined at Appendix A was to provide a summary of Internal Audit work undertaken during 2021/22, timed to support the Annual Governance Statement by providing an opinion on the organisation’s governance, risk management and internal control environment

c.    highlighted that:

·         The three areas, Governance, Risk, Internal Control and Financial Control were working well having no concerns that significantly affected the governance framework and successful delivery of the Council priorities.

·         Internal control was assessed as performing adequately – some improvements were identified over the Council’s Governance, Risk and Control Framework. This was due to a number of factors which included recovery from coronavirus, similar levels of assurance to last year and there were a number of actions that remained to be implemented.

d.    explained that there had been no restrictions on the scope of the work to be undertaken; the reduction in time due to the Audit Manager leaving had been covered through the employment of consultants and removal of items from the plan due to unsuitable timing

e.    advised that the performance of the Internal Audit Service remained good with 94% of the revised plan being completed and most performance measures were met.

f.     reported that Assurance Lincolnshire conformed to the UK Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, and that an External Quality Assessment undertaken in early 2022 reported that Internal Audit were found to ‘FULLY CONFORM”

g.    invited members questions and comments.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail, raising the following questions and comments:

Question: Were the Council Tax Rebate payments announced by the Government still being made after the deadline?

Response: The deadline for the payment of Council Tax Rebate was the end of November 2022. There were roughly 44,000 properties eligible, not all of whom paid their Council Tax by direct debit. Those households that did not pay by direct debit had to be contacted through the post in order for their bank details to be validated, which was a lengthy process. We were no further behind than other local authorities.

Question: Was it possible to have details of the percentage number of residents in the City who paid their Council Tax by direct debit?

Response: This information would be e mailed to members of Audit Committee under separate cover.

Question: Would residents not on direct debit payment be sent a cheque?

Response: The majority would be paid via bank transfer.

Question: In relation to staffing levels for the Audit Team, were we where we needed to be or were we reliant on external support?

Response: The Audit Manager was satisfied that relevant checks were in place and was happy with how things were progressing. Until recently, we had been fully staffed, however, two resignations had since been received therefore a recruitment process would take place to fill these posts. It was a very difficult climate in which to recruit to Audit roles. There was potential to make use of a pool of internal auditors, although the County Council was suffering from the same problem and was also using this source.

Members commended the Audit Manager on an easy to understand and well written Internal Audit Report.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report and appendices be noted.