Agenda item

To provide to the Audit Committee a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter three of the 2015/2016 financial year.

Ms Greenhalgh, Chief Internal Auditor, presented the Committee with an overview of the Risk Services Report for the third quarter of 2015-2016. 

Ms Greenhalgh reported on the benchmarking exercise with other local authorities in Lancashire that had recently been undertaken and summarised the findings to Members. Members raised questions relating to the indicators and challenged the reason for Blackpool Council having fewer audit days per million turnover than other local authorities in Lancashire. Ms Greenhalgh advised that it highlighted the efficiency of the audit service and that many of the other authorities were district authorities with a reduced number of responsibilities. She noted that she would have expected Blackpool’s figure to be slightly higher, but that she did not currently have concerns regarding the level of resources available.

Members also raised questions relating to the distributions of costs for the audit service for Blackpool, compared to the Lancashire average. Mr Jack, Chief Executive, noted that the main cost (80%) was in relation to staffing costs, which was considered to be appropriate. He explained that Blackpool had traditionally had high accommodation costs, but as a result of the programme of property rationalisation, accommodation costs would reduce in future as the Council would have fewer buildings.

The Committee was provided with details of service developments with regards to Corporate Fraud and Risk and Resilience. Ms Greenhalgh also reported on the key performance indicators for the service, advising that most indicators were on course to meet targets. However, it was considered that the percentage for Risk Services staff holding a professional or technical qualification was below target. Ms Greenhalgh explained that this was as a result of a staff member with professional qualifications leaving. She assured Members that training would be provided to staff still in post where required.

Members raised questions relating to the percentage of the audit plan completed, which was currently 64% against the target of 90%. Ms Greenhalgh advised that the target was an annual target and that she expected the percentage of the plan completed to be approximately 89% by the end of the 2015/2016 year.

Ms Greenhalgh advised Members that 95 percent of risk registers had been revised and were up to date at the end of the quarter. However, Ms Greenhalgh reported that the risk registers for Central Support Services and Community and Environment required further updating. She advised that she would be working with service managers in order to complete the updates of all risk registers.

Members requested further information in relation to the risk management review of the Highways Service. In response, Ms Greenhalgh advised that the review had been undertaken by the Council’s claim handlers and had suggested a number of recommendations for improvement. She added that most were best practice recommendations and the Highways department had agreed to al recommendations. Ms Greenhalgh also advised that an audit of the Highways service had just been completed, details of which would be presented to a future meeting of the Committee.

The Committee also raised questions in relation to the i-pool training course relating to risk management and business continuity planning. Members were advised that the course would not initially be mandatory, however the take up levels of the course would form the basis of a 2016/2017 performance indicator and if take up proved to be low, the course could potentially become mandatory for some tiers of staff.

The Committee noted the improvements made by departments in relation to ensuring business continuity plans were up to date and expressed its satisfaction with the improved performance.

The Committee also considered the Internal Audit reports issued during the third quarter and Ms Greenhalgh informed Members of the outcome of the audit into Anchorsholme Coastal Protection Work. She advised that the project was found to have effective processes in place to manage contract performance. However, an area of concern had been found relating to payments being authorised by project assurance without sight of all relevant information. Ms Greenhalgh advised that the issue had been resolved since the publication of the audit review.

Ms Greenhalgh advised Members that a review into Compliance with Corporate Procedures had found the controls currently in place to be inadequate, with a number of material risks identified and significant improvements required within some departments in a number of areas. It was explained to Members that in response to the inadequate assurance statement, the Monitoring Officer would be providing a training session at the next Senior Leadership Team meeting relating to the audit review and the importance of adherence to corporate procedures. Members requested that further details of the work being undertaken to improve controls in this area be provided for a future meeting of the Committee.

The Committee was also advised that an inadequate assurance statement had been issued in relation to the audit of Purchase Cards, with testing revealing a number of lapses in compliance.

The Committee agreed:

1) To note the report;

2) To request that details of the work being undertaken to improve controls in Compliance with Corporate Procedures be provided at a future meeting.

Background papers: None.