Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager which informed members of the work carried out by Internal Audit during the period April to June 2016 ( for copy see file of Minutes).

The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager highlighted the movements in the plan, removed audits and unplanned reviews added to the plan. The Committee were advised that 27% of the total plan had been delivered, exceeding the target of 23%. There had been 5 audits finalised in the quarter that had been given a limited assurance opinion.

Members were informed that an e-mail had been received and there had been an article in the press about the outcome of an Employment Tribunal regarding the accuracy of the investigation.  The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager assured the Committee that his report was accurate.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services had wrote to the complainant and provided her with a copy of the report.  Members were advised that this report was severely redacted.

Members were assured that lessons had been learnt and a number of controls were in place to mitigate the risk of a similar case happening again in the future.

The Chairman thanked the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager for his report and congratulated the team for being ahead of target.

Referring to the Employment Tribunal Mr Beavis asked if mediation had been considered as could not find any reference to it.  He was advised that this was included in the full report and attempts had been made through ACAS however, it was noted that engagement in this process was not carried out quickly enough and therefore relationships had deteriorated to a point where mediation was not considered appropriate.  The Interim Corporate Director of Resources added that after the initial award there was an attempt to use mediation to bring the complaint to a conclusion however this was unsuccessful.

Mr Robinson asked if the same levels of additional control and training had been applied to the whole Council and not just the school and governing body, so that the whole management team were aware of their responsibilities to apply policies and procedures.

The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager advised that this was absolutely the case and training, policies and guidance were available for all.  The Interim Corporate Director of Resources added that controls had been strengthened and the lessons learnt had been applied to all.  The disciplinary and grievance procedures had all been tested as part of the Audit Plan and an extra step had been added to the process.  A schedule of live grievances and issues had been produced from HR and the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager has sight of this on a monthly basis and could offer help and support if the issues were dragging.

Councillor C Carr felt that the biggest risk was not having the skills to deal with these issues on school governing bodies.

Councillor Temple accepted that lessons had been learnt however referred to the recent communication from the complainant whereby she disputes the accuracy of the report.  He asked for assurances that this would be investigated.  The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager advised that dates had been offered to meet with the complainant with the legal and HR teams to discuss the issues raised.  He re-iterated his point that the complainant had received a severely redacted report and some of her issues had already been addressed.

Councillor Temple asked that an update be provided at the next meeting.

Resolved:

(i)            That the amendments made to the 2016/2017 Annual Audit Plan, be noted.

(ii)          That the work undertaken by Internal Audit during the period ending 30 June 2016 and the assurance on the control environment provided, be noted.

(iii)         That the performance of the Internal Audit Service during the period, be noted.

(iv)         That the progress made by service managers in responding to the work of Internal Audit, be noted.

(v)          That the outcome of the review of the arrangements surrounding an Employment Tribunal, reported to County Council on 20 July 2016, be noted.