Agenda and minutes

Apologies for non-attendance were received from Councillor Mark Pengelly and Adele Wylie. It was noted that Councillor Valerie Anslow was acting as a substitute for Councillor Pengelly.

The Chair invited those who wished to do so to declare interests in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations received.

Updates on the following minutes were noted:

Minute 95 – Audit Plan 2020- Corby Borough Council

Members noted that the original aim was to complete the audit by the end of April 2023. However, was taking longer than originally forecast for the Council and the auditors to work through necessary checks to finalise the audit report. It was hoped to bring the report to the meeting of the Committee to be held on 12^th June 2023.

Minute 98 – Presentation of Northamptonshire children’s Trust Audit Reports 2021-2022

Follow-up relating to the Intelligent Client Function (ICF) recommendation was provided in item 04 of the agenda. 

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) had agreed that the Head of Internal Audit would attend the meeting as frequently as required. Feedback from WNC was expected but had not yet been received. 

It was agreed to request the attendance of Jen Morris (Head of Audit and Risk Management WNC) at the next meeting of the Committee to be held on 12^th June 2023, specifically in relation to the following key points:-

• Update on 2022/23 programme
• Progress and current position on 2023/24 programme
• Clarification of inconsistencies in identifying the relevant 2021/22 Head of Internal Audit opinion, as conflicting statements were made at the last meeting regarding three separate audit reports.
• An expected date for the 2022/23 Head of Internal Audit opinion. This was a source of assurance as it would feed into North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) Chief Internal Auditor opinion.
• Progress on the development of a risk management approach and methodology and the “inadequate” report from Ofsted which needed to feed into the significant overspends. The Audit report was directed towards payments when it should have been fostering.

RESOLVED  that the minutes of the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 20^th February 2020 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

A report was submitted which provided the Committee with a progress update on the work of the Internal Audit team and the key findings from audits completed to date.

            93% of the audit plan assignments for delivery by the in-house audit team were completed to at least draft report stage.  The remainder were in advanced delivery stages and all outcomes would be reflected in the Annual Internal Audit Report for 2022/23.

            Five further audit reports had been finalised since the last meeting.  Key findings were summarised by the Chief Internal Auditor. These five audit reports were:-

·       Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) – Advisory

·       Contract Extensions – Good Assurance

·       Planning Fee Income – Satisfactory Assurance

·       Housing Repairs – Limited Assurance

·       Housing Voids Management – Satisfactory Assurance

            Housing Repairs and Voids Management

            The Committee received a presentation from David Watts, the Executive Director of Adults, Communities & Wellbeing, Evonne Coleman-Thomas, the Assistant Director for Strategic Housing, Development and Property Services and Dan Hannam, the Interim Strategic Lead for Housing Property Services. The presentation gave information to members on reducing the responsive repairs backlog. It was noted that the presentation would also be delivered to Scrutiny.

            During the ensuing debate on Housing Repairs, members raised the following issues, with the responses summarised in the table below:

A report was submitted which provided the Committee with the draft Internal Audit Plan for 2023/24 for review and approval.

            It was noted that members of the Audit and Governance Committee had met with the Chief Internal Auditor and Section 151 Officer last month, which was felt to be a useful exercise in relation to the internal audit development process and the areas that would be highlighted as part of the audit plan.

The Internal Audit Plan had been developed in accordance with the planning process presented to the Committee in November 2022 and in line with the requirements of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.  The plan would remain subject to ongoing review to ensure it remained focused on the Council’s key risks and continued to add value.  Preparatory work undertaken was outlined.

Resourcing the new Internal Audit service was ongoing with new staff appointments being made. Arrangements to ensure flexibility and specialisms within the team were outlined.

The following points were raised during the debate:-

·       Time and budget allocated for audits, from planning to conclusion, particularly in relation to the review for the Children’s Trust

·       The reserve list and the potential inclusion of absence management on the audit plan for the year to give this topic more priority

·       Embedded assurance was welcomed and clarification on output expected was sought

·       Adequacy of resources and future recruitment

·       Right to buy applications, buy backs and discounts of up to £87,000 offered

It was noted that time allocated for individual audits was considered adequate.  The Council was only required to look at the governance around the Children’s Trust, and so was not a full audit of the Children’s Trust itself, which was subject to their own audit plan. The Chief Internal Auditor felt there was sufficient time and budget allocated to this audit.

In relation to inclusion of absence management, based on conversations with management, this was not felt to be a significant risk area at this time. Absence management would be a comprehensive review and something would need to be taken out of the audit plan if absent management was prioritised for inclusion.

Embedded assurance was explained as a process that was pioneered with the previous shared service, which gave committee engagement throughout every key gateway of the life cycle of the project. This could be done on an ad hoc basis or at the right time to report.

The Committee noted that the plan was based on the level of resources available and took into account future planned recruitment.

It was noted that right to buy discounts were a national requirement.

The Chair thanked those members of the Committee who had attended the Audit Planning meeting in March.

RESOLVED that:-

             (i)    the Internal Audit Plan for 2023/24 be approved, as provided in Appendix 1 to the report; and

            (ii)    In-year amendments to the Internal Audit Plan 2023/24 be delegated to the Executive Director of Finance and Performance (S151 Officer) as necessary, in consultation with the Chair of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

A report was submitted which sought the Committee’s annual approval of the Internal Audit Charter and Strategy.

            It was noted that the Charter and Strategy was approved by the Committee last year and the content and format had been fully reviewed. The content remained consistently aligned with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards and elements agreed at the last review.

            As part of the review, some changes were proposed in terms of the assurance opinion definitions. It was proposed that the assurance category of “satisfactory assurance” be removed and replaced with “moderate assurance”. This was considered to better reflect the level of findings associated with this category and avoided potential interpretation that the control environment was acceptable without further action.

            A change to the organisational risk categories was also proposed from “major”, “moderate” and “minor” to “high”, “medium” and “low” to better align with standard risk management frameworks and terminology.

            The changes proposed were welcomed by the Committee.

            Discussion was held on consistent delivery against the performance target of reports being issued within 10 working days.  It was noted that this could be factored in, but this target was generally being met and it was agreed that no additional performance indicator was considered of value.

RESOLVED      that the Internal Audit Charter and Strategy as provided in Appendix 1 to the report be approved.

A report was submitted which provided the Committee with a quarterly update on the Council’s Strategic Risk Register entries.

The report gave a brief overview of updates since the last meeting of the Committee in relation to Risks 02, 08 and 13.

Feedback from the Committee was sought on its preference for two risk register entries it wished to prioritise for coverage in the rolling Internal Audit risk reviews over the next six months.

Concern was expressed that OFSTED were being used both as a control and source of assurance in relation to Risk 01.  It was agreed that the Chief Internal Auditor would take this comment back to the risk owners and management.  Further work in respect of the Intelligent Client Function was required, and this may result in a further list of controls.

During debate, the following priorities for rolling risk register reviews were suggested:-

·       Failure to Safeguard Vulnerable Adults

·       Inability to Remain within Budget in the current year

·       Housing (not currently on the risk register but raised by the committee for consideration)

It was noted that the Head of Internal Audit from West Northamptonshire Council would be invited to the next meeting in relation to the Children’s Trust Audit for 2022/23. Safeguarding had been the subject of Committee training prior to the meeting and would be continued prior to a future meeting and was therefore ongoing.

Members acknowledged that high interest rates, inflation and the global economic situation impacted all authorities, organisations and individuals across the country which could not have been planned for when the Council’s budget was set.  In terms of controls and mitigations, the Scrutiny Committee provided internal arrangements to look at the authority’s finances and in-year mitigations to ensure spending was reduced as much as possible whilst ensuring services were delivered to residents and organisations. These would then be built into next year’s budget.  There had been surprises this year and the Children’s Trust was a significant issue for the Council. There was a need to ensure the Council was operating in line with the contract and also ensure it safeguarded children’s wellbeing as well as safeguarding the child. The Council was working with Trust and West Northamptonshire Council on looking at placements and the overall wellbeing of children.  The number of cases of children in need and looked-after children were rising.

Forecasting children’s services was problematic, but the Council was also working with the Children’s Trust around its forecasting model. There needed to be a better understanding of services and costs to make sure the forecasting was clear.

Members also raised the question of legacy legal claims at item 13, but subject to clarification by the Head of Legal Services, it was thought these were not major claims.

It was agreed that the Committee’s concerns regarding the Budget should be noted at this time.

It was noted that it would be useful for officers to have a steer on specific areas of risk in relation to Adult Social Care as this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

Items 08 and 09 on the agenda were withdrawn and would be considered at the meeting to be held on 12^th June 2023. A verbal update was given by the External Auditor and the S151 Officer on topics and issues that were scheduled for discussion at the June meeting.

Items 08 and 09 on the agenda were withdrawn and would be considered at the meeting to be held on 12^th June 2023. A verbal update was given by the External Auditor and the S151 Officer on topics and issues that were scheduled for discussion at the June meeting.