Agenda item

(a)       That the report be noted;

(b)       That the current format and detail of Final Reports to Audit Committee continue;

(c)        That a report be made to a future meeting with suggested new Performance Indicators; and

(d)       That the Internal Audit Manager prepare a note for the Chair and Vice-Chair and meet with them and Legal on whether to inform Cabinet of risks arising from implementation date of April 2013 relating to Traffic Management.

The Internal Audit Manager introduced a report to advise of final reports issued since the last Audit Committee meeting and of Directorates and Internal Audit’s performance for responses against target.

On Procurement, Mr. P. Williams referred to the use of Equifax to confirm the financial viability of suppliers and asked how the Council would proceed if any adverse data was flagged up.  The Internal Audit Manager agreed to follow this up and provide a written response.  Councillor I.B. Roberts referred to a case where a contract had to be re-let due to the preferred contractor getting into difficulties and said that this situation could have been avoided if it had been flagged up by Equifax.

Councillor R.B. Jones pointed out that many of the implementation dates had passed and it was explained that when this point was reached, recommendation tracking commenced.

On Traffic Management, Members asked if a review was required to ensure that there were sufficient resources.  The Internal Audit Manager said that the recommendations in the report were intended to introduce improvements to the service and would be tracked.  Mr. Williams was concerned at the implementation date in April 2013 and felt that the Audit Committee should be informed of key risks identified together with action plans.  The Head of Legal & Democratic Services explained that the new Cabinet would be determining its own priorities on services and that if the Audit Committee had any concerns on risks, a recommendation could be made to the Cabinet for these to be considered.  The Internal Audit Manager agreed to check with Streetscene and report back on the reason for the implementation date and that he would prepare a note and meet with the Chair, Vice-Chair and Legal officers to discuss the latter query.

On the format of reports received, Mr. P. Green of RSM Tenon said that the approach was to reduce paperwork by providing a summary of the report together with the action plan to show monitoring and that if the Committee wished for further details this could be passed back.  Members were consulted on this and agreed to receive reports in their current format.  The Chair said that this could be reviewed at a later date if required.

On Performance Indicators, the Internal Audit Manager gave an overview and reported that the outstanding report FD0080R1 on financial systems listed on Appendix C had now been received.  He added that during the Audit Committee training, Members had been asked to consider what they wished to see in the content of these reports.

Councillor Jones felt that indicating the number of target days on reports was not beneficial and that showing the quality of output from each department was an improved method of measurement.  Councillor A. Woolley shared concerns on how activity was translated into outcomes.

Mr. Green said that Members’ points would be taken on board and consideration would be given to Performance Indicators with a report back to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report be noted;

(b)       That the current format and detail of Final Reports to Audit Committee continue;

(c)        That a report be made to a future meeting with suggested new Performance Indicators; and

(d)       That the Internal Audit Manager prepare a note for the Chair and Vice-Chair and meet with them and Legal on whether to inform Cabinet of risks arising from implementation date of April 2013 relating to Traffic Management.