Agenda item

To provide the Audit Committee with a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter three of the 2021/2022 financial year. 

The Committee considered the Risk Services Quarter Three report which provided a summary of the work completed by Risk Services in quarter three of the 2021/2022 financial year.

Ms Tracy Greenhalgh, Head of Audit and Risk, outlined the Internal Audit Plan and noted that 58% of the plan had been completed at the end of quarter three. This was primarily due to a number of recruitment issues, however by the end of the quarter the team was up to full establishment and this would result in gains being made on the Audit Plan over the next three months to bring completion to around 90%. This would give Ms Greenhalgh an adequate level of assurance to write the Annual Opinion.

The Fraud Team’s progress against Fraud Prevention Charter had been hampered by resourcing issues and the pre/post assurance work required for the Covid-related Government business grants. Although inroads were being made in relation to the Fraud Prevention Action Plan, the new omicron business grants would require the team to commit their time to carry out the required pre-assurance checks to ensure businesses received the financial support as soon as possible.

With regards to risk management, the team had seen an increase in requests to facilitate project risk registers which was a positive step in the Council’s journey to embed risk management.

The insurance market was currently extremely hard which was making it difficult to enable the Council to transfer property risks in particular to insurers. Work was continuing with the Council’s insurers and project managers to put the best risk mitigations in place to secure the appropriate levels of cover.

It was reported that with regards to the Health and Safety Team, support continued to be provided in relation to Covid secure services throughout the pandemic, alongside the usual health and safety matters and Ms Greenhalgh noted that there had been no new Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) reportable cases during the quarter.

Updates to Business Continuity Plans and Risk Registers had improved since Ms Greenhalgh’s last report to the Committee and work was ongoing with service areas to refresh and bring plans up to date.

In response to questions from the Committee regarding Fraud Awareness Training and the falling numbers of completion, particularly within Children’s Services, Ms Greenhalgh confirmed that downward movement was usually as a result of staff turnover and new staff being appointment who would require training. Chief Officers were provided with a quarterly report that identified employees who had not yet completed the training

The Committee questioned the number of emergency response volunteers and that this seemed low at 27. Ms Greenhalgh clarified that the Council had changed its approach to emergency response and the target of 50 did not reflect this move. The Council had moved to a county-wide approach and mutual aid agreements were in place with Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council. Reports undertaken in the new financial year would reflect the revised numbers and include overall numbers from the pan-Lancashire footprint.

Mr Neil Jack, Chief Executive, noted that the original target of 50 did not reflect the fact that many services had duty officers who would respond during a particular crisis and the emergency duty team. The 27 volunteers were those who would support the emergency team to carry out duties such as staffing a community centre if an area had to be evacuated. A review of the number of volunteers that was necessary along with their genuine availability and capacity would be carried out.

Members requested clarification on fraud statistics and the impact of the pandemic. Ms Greenhalgh confirmed that the proactive work had been paused for lower risk fraud risks to ensure that assurance work on business grants could be carried out. In addition it had been difficult to carry out fraud investigation work such as interviews under caution in a Covid-secure manner. As restrictions lifted the Team would be able to carry out more of the fraud prevention work.

In respect of the National Fraud Initiative, it was confirmed that the main programme ran every two years and the 2020 programme was currently ongoing. The Council Tax single person discount data was refreshed on an annual basis and the team was due to receive new data within the next few months. Once it had been received then this would be a priority area for work, which would show some improvements for future reports. Clarification was given to the Committee regarding a specific fraud that had turned out to be a payroll overpayment error and it was confirmed that a repayment plan was in place.

An overview was given of the assurance work that had been carried out within the quarter and an overall positive assurance had been given for a number of areas. The exceptions to the positive assurance were outlined by Ms Greenhalgh to the Committee in more detail.

In respect of Care at Home, training completion had been deemed Inadequate, however the management response within the report detailed work carried out by the service to address risk and reduce the risk since the audit had been carried out. Work was also being carried out regarding corporate arrangements to ensure a more consistent approach to compliance.

In respect of energy management, inadequate assurance had been given around billing and reconciliation. A further review would be included within the Internal Audit Plan 2022/23 to ensure that those areas had been fully addressed.

Mr Steve Thompson, Director of Resources, updated the Committee on the work being carried out within the service area to address the issues and assured the Committee that this would be prioritised.

The Committee agreed:

1.      That a further review in respect of energy management would be included within the Internal Audit Plan that would be brought to the next meeting of the Audit Committee.