Issue - meetings

That the report be noted.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the update report on progress of the Internal Audit department.  An increase in the number of investigation referrals and the departure of a member of the team had resulted in a delay to the completion of the Plan this year.  To address this, authorisation had been granted to recruit a replacement member of staff and two other team members employed on a part-time basis had agreed to temporarily increase their hours.

The Internal Audit Manager responded to a number of queries from the Committee on the reports on School Closures, Income from Fees and Charges and Waste & Minerals Planning, which had been finalised since the last update.  He went on to report that 80% of the recommendations due for implementation had been completed and that those outstanding (for which management comment had been provided) would continue to be tracked to their revised due dates.

On Performance Indicators, it had not been possible to indicate statistics for the days taken for departments to return draft reports to Internal Audit due to a change in practice which would simplify this process.  These figures would be available for the next quarterly report.

In response to queries raised by Councillor Haydn Bateman on an ongoing investigation, the Head of Legal & Democratic Services explained the Council’s obligations towards its employees which meant that discussion on individuals would require a move to closed session.

Councillor Arnold Woolley suggested it may be helpful to include the commencement date for those investigations carried over to the next report.  The Internal Audit Manager agreed to include this on future reports.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.