Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Internal Audit (copy enclosed) updating members on Internal Audit progress.

 

The Chief Internal Auditor, Bob Chowdhury introduced the report (previously circulated).

 

The report provided an update for the Governance and Audit Committee (GAC) on Internal Audit’s latest progress in terms of its service delivery, assurance provision, reviews completed, performance and effectiveness in driving improvement.

 

Appendix 1 provided an update on Internal Audit work carried out since the last update report to the Committee in March 2024.

 

Since the last GAC update in March, 10 internal audit reports had been completed with 6 being awarded a high assurance rating and 4 receiving a medium assurance rating.

 

On June 3, the Council’s waste service rolled out a new waste collection and recycling service across the whole of the county. The new service moved away from comingled recycling waste to kerbside collections via a trollibocs system. The roll out encountered several issues which had resulted in the service requiring support from services across the Council. As a result, three members of the Internal Audit team were seconded over to support the waste service initially on a part time basis, two members of staff then went over on a full-time basis for a short period. This had resulted in the Audit Plan falling behind schedule. The Internal Audit team were now fully staffed and were working towards completing the plan again.

 

Since April this year (2024) there had been two special investigations that had been very challenging and demanding on Internal Audit resources. Neither investigation had been completed. The first investigation related to a whistleblowing complaint and the second investigation related to a service request.

 

The Chief Internal Auditor was pleased to inform the GAC that the two Career Pathway Senior Auditors had passed the level 2 qualification with the Association of Account Technicians (AAT) and had enrolled onto the level 3 qualification which was due to start on the 11 September 2024. The Principal Auditor continued to be on target to complete and pass her level 4 qualification with the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and the third Career Pathway Senior Auditor was due to commence study for the Institute of Internal Auditors qualification at the end of the year.

 

Internal Audit monitors performance to address actions arising from audit reviews. It was management’s responsibility to address these actions and record progress on the performance management system (Verto). Internal Audit continued to perform a ‘follow up’ and reports on progress with implementing action plans arising from low assurance audits to ensure that necessary improvements were being made.

 

Members noted there was only one Town Council that had been audited and concerns were raised as to whether Denbighshire County Council (DCC) were receiving information from audits completed within other Town Councils. The Chief Internal Auditor explained that any Town Council could be audited by an independent body, the Town Council audit referred to in the report had opted to be audited by the Denbighshire County Council Audit team and the piece of work was carried out on an annual basis. If other Town Councils requested this service from Denbighshire, it would need to be considered around issues of availability and resources.

 

The Audit Manager explained that Town Councils were audited and the findings following those audits were reported back to the Town Council. The findings would not ordinarily be reported back to DCC.

 

The Monitoring Officer explained that members of the Standards Committee regularly attend meetings held by Town and Community Councils and are sent feedback of good practice or any training that could be offered if there were any concerns.

 

Members referred to the closure of the Caledfryn building noted within the report and questioned the future of the building. The Chief Internal Auditor stated that an opening meeting had been held to discuss a review of the closure of Caledfyrn and work on this had already commenced. It was hoped that feedback on this piece of work would be available at the GAC November meeting.

 

Members questioned the impact the three members of staff being deployed to help with the roll out of the new Waste Service had on the Internal Audit Team. The Chief Internal Auditor explained that a meeting was held to discuss members of the Internal Audit Team being deployed to help with the waste service. The members of the team deployed were there for a set period of time on the basis that Audit Work could continue, and they could be called back if they were needed. In total due to the deployment of the team, 40-50 days of audit work were lost.

 

The Monitoring Officer clarified that the numbers of volunteers deployed to help with the waste service was relatively low with the average being less than three volunteers per day.

 

Members requested if saving trackers could be included in the report in the future. The Chief Internal Auditor stated that there was a review of the saving trackers process currently ongoing, with the anticipated outcome that there were saving trackers in place and that they were working correctly. If any concerns were raised regarding the results of the saving trackers, a report would be taken to the relevant Committee. The Chief Internal Auditor stated that he would try and bring this piece of work forward to enable a report to be brought to the GAC meeting in November. (BC to action)

 

Members asked for an update on Christ the Word Catholic School in Rhyl which was currently under Special Measures. The Chief Internal Auditor stated that the Council was involved, and that action was been taken at an appropriate level.

 

The Chair referred to the Special Investigations noted in the report and requested an update. The Chief Internal Auditor explained that the Special Investigations were ongoing and a training session for members of the GAC would be scheduled to give details of the Special Investigations, and the process followed.

 

Members expressed concerns regarding the time a Special Investigation took to complete, and the extra resources needed. The Chief Internal Auditor explained that his team did not take on all the investigations that were requested. Discussions were undertaken with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and the HR Manager to determine if an investigation was conducted internally or externally taking into consideration factors such as the familiarity of the systems used. Members were also informed that the planned audit of Project Management would consider the findings of the investigation into the Waste Collection roll out if necessary.

 

The Chair thanked the Chief Internal Auditor and his team for all their work and was pleased that members of the team had achieved numerous qualifications.

 

RESOLVED:  that –

·       The Committee notes the pressures on the Internal Audit Team and the need to prioritise audit work in the future and -

·       the Committee considered the content of the report and did not need further assurances on any of the audited areas to follow up progress on implementing the improvement action plans.

At this juncture in the meeting there was a break 11.05am – 11.15am