Agenda item

(a)       That the report be accepted; and

(b)       That the responsible officer for Maes Gwern contractual arrangements be invited to attend Committee to provide reasons for overdue actions.

The Internal Audit, Performance & Risk Manager presented the regular update on progress against the Plan, final reports issued, action tracking, performance indicators and current investigations.

Since the last report, one Amber Red (some assurance) report had been issued on Planning, Environment & Economy - Domestic Energy.  On action tracking, outcomes were shared from the Chair and Vice-Chair’s meeting with the Chief Officer team in July, which included the option to request relevant officers to attend the Committee to explain reasons for overdue actions.  Further work to reduce overdue actions to 38% was welcomed by the Committee.  On performance indicators, progress was overall positive with the two red ratings (including the average number of days from end of fieldwork to debrief) coinciding with the holiday period.  The report also detailed changes to the audit plan to reflect current capacity within the team.

In response to a question from Rev Brian Harvey on risk management of overdue actions, the officer explained that in most cases, services had failed to update the system after completing their actions.

On the areas for improvement within the Amber/Red report, Allan Rainford raised concerns about the use of two separate processes to validate information.  The Internal Audit, Performance & Risk Manager agreed to liaise with the auditor in order to assure the Committee that work was not being duplicated.

In welcoming progress on overdue actions, Councillor Andrew Parkhurst questioned whether some of the reasons for high and medium overdue actions were up-to-date, in particular reference to the response to the pandemic.

On the same matter, the Chair sought updates on red reports for the O Licence and Maes Gwern contractual arrangements which had been previously considered.  The Internal Audit, Performance & Risk Manager reported that there was no progress on the former report due to staffing issues and that this was being monitored by the Chief Officer.  On the latter, no further progress had been made and the matter was being prioritised by the Chief Officer.

The Chair requested that the responsible officer for Maes Gwern be invited to the Committee to provide explanation.

The Chief Executive acknowledged that more improvement was needed to close outstanding actions.  He thanked the Committee for its support and gave assurance that this continued to be prioritised within the Chief Officer team.

In response to a question from Councillor Glyn Banks, clarification was given on the reasons for the two deferred high priority audits.  Whilst a follow-up review of progress with implementing actions on the Amber/Red report could not be accommodated this year, the Committee would be kept updated as part of regular reporting.

The recommendations, as amended, were moved by Allan Rainford and seconded by Rev Brian Harvey.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report be accepted; and

(b)       That the responsible officer for Maes Gwern contractual arrangements be invited to attend Committee to provide reasons for overdue actions.