A.41/19
The Committee considered a report that summarised the work
undertaken by the Council’s Internal Audit Team during
2019/20; reviewed the performance of the Internal Audit service;
and provided an audit opinion on the adequacy of internal
control.
In particular, the report sought to inform
Members of the principal activities and findings of the
Council’s Internal Audit Team for 2019/20 by:
-
Providing a summary of the main issues raised by
completed individual audits; and
-
Showing the progress made by Internal Audit against
the 2019/20 annual Internal Audit Plan (as approved by the
Committee in March 2019); and
-
Providing an opinion on the adequacy of the
Council’s control environment.
During the ensuing
discussion, reference was made to:
(a)the Commercial Property and Rents
Audit. Whilst acknowledging the Audit
findings, a Member still wished to emphasise that this Council
function was of critical importance and would be a good indication
of the extent of the economic downturn due to the COVID-19
Pandemic;
(b)the number of management responses
that had mentioned the availability of resources. A Member expressed his concern at the frequency of
management responses that had mentioned a lack of resource
availability and questioned whether there were any measures that
could be put in place to mitigate these responses;
(c)the Insurance Cover
Audit. With regard to the Audit finding
of ‘improvements required’, officers confirmed that the
Council was in the process of considering the use of alternative
external insurance providers in an attempt to review whether or not
there were currently any areas in which the Council was over
insuring. The Committee recognised the
need to keep a close watching brief on this issue;
(d)the Council Tax Audit. A Member questioned the audit finding around
associated procedures to determine when a debt should be written
off. For clarity, the Section 151
Officer informed that this finding related to those small value
debts that were not deemed cost effective to pursue;
(e)the Internal Audit Opinion being
one of ‘substantial assurance’. In light of the tone of some of the conclusions
reached in some of the Internal Audit reports, a Member questioned
whether the overall Opinion of ‘substantial assurance’
was appropriate. In reply, the Internal
Audit Manager advised that a lower judgement of ‘limited
assurance’ would constitute a significant disservice to the
Council and he was firmly of the view that an Opinion of
‘substantial assurance’ was appropriate.
It was then:
RESOLVED
1.
That overall and, based on work performed during
2019/20 and that of our experience from previous year’s
Audit, it be noted that the Head of Internal Audit’s Opinion
is of ‘Substantial Assurance’ on the adequacy and
effectiveness of the Authority’s Internal Control Framework;
and
2.
That the performance and achievements of the
Internal Audit Team during 2019/20 be noted.