Issue - meetings

To consider the Internal Audit Plan 2021/22 Progress Report.

Josie Griffiths, Head of Audit and Risk introduced the report to the Committee and Michael Todd, Acting Internal Audit Manager jointly answered any questions the Committee had.

The report covered the period April 2021- end of February 2022 and contained a summary of the audit work undertaken, the performance of the audit function against its performance measures, and details of the work which will be carried forward to 2022/23.

The Committee was advised that the Internal Audit performance was above, or in line with targets, implementation of actions was positive and then given the opportunity to ask questions.  There was some discussion about:

• Assurances with regard to the resilience of the Internal Audit Team;
• The mix of opinions on reports received, some of the previous sources of assurances were now not open to the Internal Audit Team but it was not of concern at the moment;
• Recommendations meeting achieved outcomes, this was followed up specifically if there were limited or no assurances;
• Best4Buisness, and the ongoing work with Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) and the assurances with regard to the programme.  Training implementation work had been rolled out, reports had been produced for Finance and HR modules, concerns were raised where criteria had not met sign-off, outstanding issues were caveated, and these were monitored.  Work had started on key controls and these were embedded before the system went live and tests were being carried out to flag any areas of non-compliance within the design;
• The time-line for the review of land transactions, reassurance that improvements, arrangements and recommendations previously outlined were robust and continued to be complied to.  Also to note any work that took place should link back to the audit work started at an earlier point in time.
• The £37k fraudulently claimed covid grants with respect of restart grants for businesses.  The Committee noted these funds were rolled-out at speed and the teams that issued them did adhere to all the robust checks and balances implemented by Internal Audit.  The fraudulent grants related to three applications, and these had been report to the National Anti-Fraud Network and several Government bodies.  In comparison with other Local Authorities, Cheshire East was viewed as robust in terms of checks and balances, the loss of funds whilst regrettable was a small percentage of the overall grant funds rolled out.  Systems did develop and lessons were learned, organised criminals were always a risk consideration with respect to minimised financial losses to the Council;
• Any opinions published as part of the Best 4 Business programme will be done in partnership with CWaC;
• Issued that had occurred in the past between approved use of purchase credit cards.  New measures and guidance had been introduced and the Internal Audit team were reassured these measures would have a positive effect on any future approved use coding and purchasing;

RESOLVED:

That the Internal Audit Update Report be received and noted.