Agenda item

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

Mrs Tracy Greenhalgh, Head of Audit and Risk presented a report summarising the work of Risk Services, including the overall assurance statements for all audit reviews completed in quarter four. Mrs Greenhalgh noted the ongoing support of the verification of business grants undertaken by her team. Details of the national risk register were provided, with Mrs Greenhalgh reporting that the Lancashire Resilience Forum had reviewed the national risks via the Risk Assessment Working Group and its various supporting sub-groups to assess pan-Lancashire impact.

The Committee was informed that the Health and Safety team continued to play a key role in providing advice, support and guidance to all Council services and schools with regards to safe working practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. This involved reviewing government and Health and Safety Executive guidance in relation to working safely during the pandemic and implementing any necessary changes or systems to ensure that the Council continued to be compliant. The team had been undertaking unannounced workplace inspections at some Council buildings to continue to ensure compliance with Covid-secure arrangements.

Mrs Greenhalgh provided an overview of the year-end position of the Risk Services performance indicators, reporting that she was pleased with the overall level of performance across Council departments. She noted that 80 per cent of the audit plan had been completed against a target of 90 per cent but that due to the increased demand on the internal audit team because of the pandemic this was a pleasing result and reflected a higher level of completion in comparison to other local authorities. Mrs Greenhalgh highlighted the disappointing percentage of risk registers which had been revised and updated, with 74 per cent having been completed by the end of the financial year. As a result, she advised that compliance would be managed via the Risk Management Group going forward.

In response to the question of whether the eight Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) reportable employee accidents had highlighted any trends, Mrs Greenhalgh confirmed that whilst a full accident investigation report had been completed on each incident, no trends had been identified.

Mrs Greenhalgh summarised the internal audit reports completed during quarter four, reporting an overall positive picture with only one area of concern highlighted as being that of the household waste recycling centre. She assured the Committee that a new service manager was now in place who would be addressing the resulting recommendations. The Committee noted that the identified Priority One recommendations would be addressed, but questioned whether the eight Priority Two and six Priority Three recommendations would also be followed up. Mrs Greenhalgh agreed to add follow-up of the Priority Two and Three recommendations to the Audit Committee’s plan. The Committee questioned the specific amount of income lost as a result of the identified lack of invoice generation for waste streams, which Mrs Greenhalgh agreed to circulate to Committee Members following the meeting.

In response to the reported completion of fraud awareness training for 2020/2021, the Committee questioned why Children’s Services and Communications and Regeneration had reported significantly less compliance than other directorates and how this was going to be addressed in order to reach 100 per cent completion for all directorates. Mrs Greenhalgh reported that whilst the two cited directorates continued to report lower completion rates, she noted a significant improvement on previously reported figures and advised that both directorates were working towards improving compliance.

In relation to the internal audit review of school meals, the Committee sought further information around the findings that only schools which had retained the Council’s in-house catering service were meeting the desired food standards and requested details around when the Public Health team planned to address this. Mrs Greenhalgh advised that the work had commenced pre-pandemic and it was anticipated that Public Health would resume work on the improvement of school meals in the new financial year. Mr Neil Jack, Chief Executive assured the Committee that Blackpool schools which used the in-house catering service met Public Health’s food standards, including the provision of free school meal packages to pupils’ homes during lockdown. He advised that private catering providers were less likely to meet the standards and informed Committee Members that Public Health was keen to raise awareness amongst school governors of the food standards, particularly when making decisions around catering provision contracts.

Further to the reported information detailing insurance claim payments, the Committee asked whether any trend had been identified with regards to the cost of sensitive claims. Mrs Greenhalgh advised that sensitive claims could be large in value and were often historical in nature. As a high risk area, such claims were monitored and reported to the Corporate Leadership Team and the Audit Committee as well as provisions being in place to ensure adequate insurance funds.

Resolved:

1.     That follow-up of the Priority Two and Priority Three recommendations from the internal audit review of the household waste recycling centre be added to the Audit Committee’s plan;

2.     That the specific amount of income lost as a result of the identified lack of invoice generation for waste streams be provided to Committee Members following the meeting.