Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager which informed Members of the work that had been carried out by Internal Audit during the period as part of the 2019/20 Internal Audit Plan (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Audit Manager highlighted progress against the Plan for each Service Grouping, and informed Members of the amendments to the plan and the unplanned audit reviews in the quarter.  The report also provided a summary of the survey response rate, progress on actions due, implemented and overdue, and the finalised audit that had been issued with a limited assurance opinion.

In response to the question from Councillor J Shuttleworth relating to Beamish, the Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager noted that whilst  work had been undertaken the Museum is a separate client of the Internal Audit Service and as such he could not comment on the result of the work undertaken.  The Corporate Director of Resources agreed to discuss the Council’s involvement with the Museum directly with Councillor J Shuttleworth.

Councillor O Temple noted the Committee would find it useful as regards information relating to Internal Audit in terms of how they were operating in the COViD-19 environment.  The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager noted that the section had been “agile working” for around the last two years and working from home had not significantly impacted Internal Audit, other than the inability carry out audit work on site at places such as leisure centres.  He added that the impact was more so on the services Internal Audit provided support to and there was a response within the 2020/21 Internal Audit Plan on issues such as procurement and business rate grants, areas where Internal Audit have become involved.  He noted the use of technology to work remotely and noted temporary redeployments that had provided help to commissioning for a period of time.

Resolved:

(i)     That the amendments made to the 2019/20 Annual Internal Audit Plan be noted;

(ii)   That the work undertaken by Internal Audit during the period ending 31 March 2020 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.