Agenda item

To provide the Audit Committee with a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter two of the 2020/2021 financial year.

Mrs Tracy Greenhalgh, Head of Audit and Risk provided the Committee with a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter two of the 2020/2021 financial year. She reported a pleasing improvement on the completion of risk registers, with 98 per cent having been updated. In relation to the percentage of the audit plan completed, Mrs Greenhalgh advised that although progress was behind schedule this was as a result of the diversion of internal audit resources in response to the demands of the pandemic. She reported that the revised target of 70 percent would provide sufficient assurance to the Council.

The Committee sought clarification around the performance data showing the percentages of agreed Council employees who had completed mandatory fraud awareness training, noting that the Communications and Regeneration directorate had achieved only 56 per cent. Members questioned if any plans were in place aimed at improving this figure. Mr Alan Cavill, Director of Communications and Regeneration advised that due to the high percentage of temporary seasonal staff within the directorate, this led to difficulties in ensuring all staff completed the training. He acknowledged that due to the nature of the seasonal roles, fraud awareness training was particularly relevant to many of the employees and as such Mr Cavill assured the Committee that efforts would be made to improve compliance. He noted that approximately a third of employees across the directorate were employed on temporary contracts and as such suggested that a target of 70 per cent would be more achievable.

The Committee questioned whether the reported corporate fraud statistics provided an accurate reflection of fraud in Blackpool, as well as seeking clarification over the reported figures for General Financial Fraud and NFI 2018. Mrs Greenhalgh confirmed that in her opinion the reported figures provided an accurate picture of fraud and explained that the NFI figure related to the National Fraud Initiative and included fraud or error resulting from data matched against other Local Authorities. With regards to the reported figure of £89,200 for General Financial Fraud, Mrs Greenhalgh advised that any type of fraud which fell outside the standard fraud categories would be reported within the general category.

Mrs Greenhalgh informed the Committee that the results from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting (CIPFA) benchmarking exercise, as well as the recently launched Fighting Fraud Strategy would both be reported to future meetings of the Committee.

The Committee considered the quarter two performance and summary tables which outlined the internal audit reports and findings for the period. An ‘Inadequate’ assurance statement had been issued in relation to the review of CCTV which Mrs Greenhalgh advised was as a result of the concerns identified regarding the provision of cameras previously purchased and maintained via ward budgets; the robustness of the inventory and the need to obtain procurement advice for the CCTV development project.

Mr John Blackledge, Director of Community and Environmental Services reported that CCTV was a challenging area which had previously experienced underinvestment. He outlined the response to the audit’s findings which included an exercise to remove or replace redundant or non-functioning equipment to be undertaken; a full assessment of the condition of all CCTV signage; an exercise to undertake a full survey of the current CCTV provision in order to update the inventory; advice to be sought from the Procurement team regarding the tender of all aspects of the CCTV project; an appropriately experienced dedicated project manager to be resourced to ensure that the CCTV project would be effectively managed; advice from the Information Governance Team to be obtained regarding a Data Protection Impact Assessment which would incorporate changes to be made to the CCTV provision as part of the project and the possibility of providing neighbouring local authorities with CCTV provision would be explored. Mr Blackledge acknowledged the scale of the project and advised that work would span a period of 18 months. Due to the amount of work involved, the Committee agreed to make a recommendation to the Tourism, Economy and Communities Scrutiny Committee to offer support and assistance to the CCTV review.

The Committee sought further clarification around the issue of the pursuit of Traffic Regulation Orders as identified within the audit of Parking Services, asking specifically about the potential consequences of not bringing them up to date. Mr Blackledge advised that a full cost benefit analysis was to be undertaken to determine the benefits and consequences, the results of which he would report back to a future meeting of the Committee.

The Committee noted that the liability claim reports indicated good performance and questioned whether a sufficiently robust financial plan was in place to protect against any future increase in claims. Mrs Greenhalgh acknowledged the possibility of insurance claims rising and as such the Council’s insurance reserves and levels of exposure were regularly reviewed in conjunction with the Director of Resources.

The Committee agreed:

1.     To recommend that the Tourism, Economy and Communities Scrutiny Committee consider assisting in the review of CCTV across Blackpool; and

2.     To receive an update report on the cost analysis findings of Traffic Regulation Orders at a future meeting of the Committee.