Agenda item

To provide the Audit Committee with a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter three of the 2022/23 financial year.

Ms Tracy Greenhalgh, Head of Audit and Risk, provided an update on the work completed by Risk Services in quarter three of the 2022/23 financial year.

In respect of Service Development, Ms Greenhalgh reported that ongoing work to address recruitment issues within the service was being undertaken, with an additional Auditor having been appointed. Despite this, the Committee was made aware that the delivery of the Internal Audit Plan and all identified reviews would not be completed in 2022/23. The reviews that would not be delivered would be added to the 2023/24 Internal Audit Plan and completed at a later date. Ms Greenhalgh added that it was forecast that as a result of this 89% of the plan would be delivered in 2022/23.

The Committee was also informed that Children’s Services had completed 100% of Business Continuity Plans within the service. This was noted as a significant achievement by Children’s Services with support from the Risk and Resilience Team.

An update on Corporate Fraud work being undertaken was also provided with Ms Greenhalgh explaining that the report contained a summary of assurance work carried out on the Small Business Grant Fund which had operated during the Covid Pandemic. The Committee noted that cases of “potential fraud” had been detected and would be investigated. Ms Greenhalgh explained in response that this section of the report showed applications had been rejected and no grant paid due to issues identified in the application process.

Mr Steve Thompson, Director of Resources, asked that it be noted that out of over three thousand payments made under the scheme only nine had been identified as having being fraudulent or cases of attempted fraud. This was recognised as a significant achievement at a time during the Covid Pandemic when services were experiencing significant pressure to make grant payments. Mr Thompson added that learning from the delivery of the scheme had been captured and would be used in the future if necessary.

Mr Alan Cavill, Director of Communications and Regeneration, provided an update on progress to ensure that Risk Registers were updated and in place for each service within his directorate. The Committee had noted that the report had shown that only 38% had been completed and Mr Cavill explained that since the report had been issued eleven out of sixteen outstanding risk registers had been completed and that Risk Services had been engaged to ensure the remaining five were completed in a timely manner.

It was noted by Members that in respect of the Single Person Discount for Council Tax the report had shown that the figure had risen to £111,322.001 and asked if this had been due to an increase in Council Tax overall. Ms Greenhalgh explained that the figure represented the cases where the discount had been removed and would reset at the start of the 2023/24 financial year.

Progress against the Internal Audit of the Illuminations recommendations was discussed with assurance sought regarding the issues experienced with procurement. Mr Cavill explained that the issue had been experienced due to a procurement exemption being issued for contracts below a certain threshold, but that a contract had subsequently grown to a value above this. In order to ensure that this would not reoccur Mr Cavill informed Members that controls had been put in place and that a new method of procurement was undergoing testing. The Committee asked that an update be provided to its next meeting on progress with the new system.

The Committee also discussed the work taking place to address the recommendations from the Internal Audit of Energy Management. Mr Thompson explained that he had been monitoring progress and that it had been noted that the service had experienced a high level of transactions in relation to billing. It was recognised that many of these could be rationalised to make them more manageable and that a new IT system had been procured to assist with this.

Resolved:

1.         That the report be noted; and

2.         That an update on the new procurement for the Illuminations be provided to the June 2023 meeting of the Committee.