Issue - meetings

That the report be accepted.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the update on progress of the Internal Audit department including changes to the audit plan, action tracking and investigations.

No limited (red) assurance reports had been issued since the last meeting.  As requested at the Chair’s briefing, the reviews with Red and Amber/Red assurances would be indicated on the overall summary of opinions (Appendix C) on future reports.  The concerns about delayed responses to action tracking had been raised with Chief Officers and had impacted positively on the figures; this would continue to be monitored.

On resources, the Committee was informed of the impending retirement of a Principal Auditor within Internal Audit.

The Chief Executive spoke about the value of advisory work undertaken by the team in addition to the core work, for example providing independent verification on the accuracy of method statements and assumptions which helped to provide additional assurance on complex matters.

Sally Ellis thanked the officer for raising the importance of Chief Officers providing updates on action tracking.  She referred to the challenges of recruiting senior auditors and asked about capacity within the team.  The Internal Audit Manager provided explanation on the recruitment process to date and the options available.  The vacancy had been accommodated within the Audit Plan until July and the situation would be closely monitored with any concerns reported back to the Committee.

The Chief Executive said recruitment challenges across the professional sector in general meant that succession planning was an increasing risk.

In response to questions from Councillor Johnson, the Internal Audit Manager advised that Pensions administration formed part of audit work which provided further assurance to the Clwyd Pension Fund Committee.  The Chief Executive spoke about the increased resources in the Pensions team to respond to complex changes and new statutory requirements.

On procurement, the Chief Officer referred to measures introduced on the contract register to provide controls and compliance, and the follow-up audit on contract management to ensure that the system was being used effectively.

Councillor Dolphin raised concerns about some of the reasons given for delayed actions and highlighted the importance of setting realistic deadlines, for example in Planning Enforcement where he felt additional resources were needed to meet workload.  In acknowledging the various reasons for deferring actions, the Chief Executive said that those in Planning Enforcement were in progress and required a longer term resolution whilst Greenfield Valley involved an issue outside the Council’s control.

RESOLVED:

That the report be accepted.