Agenda item

Consideration was given to a report presented by Louise Ivens, Head of Internal Audit, which provided a summary of Internal Audit work completed during 1^st May to 31^st July, 2024, and the key issues that had arisen.

The plan attached as part of the report showed the position up to the end of July 2024 on the completion of the audit plan for 2023/24, commencement of the 2024/25 audit plan, the reports finalised between May and July 2024 and performance indicators for the team.   

Internal Audit provided an opinion on the control environment for all systems or services which were subject to audit review. The report detailed the audit opinions and a summary of all audit work concluded in the last quarter. 14 audits had been finalised since the last Audit Committee, 12 of which had received either Reasonable or Substantial Assurance and one Partial Assurance and one a No Assurance opinion.  One audit had been removed from the 2023-24 audit plan due to a comprehensive review of procurement governance and, therefore, a corporate audit was no longer required. 

A review of the current performance indicators and changes proposed were detailed in Appendix C and client satisfaction survey responses attached at Appendix D.

Historically, progress against the Quality Assurance and Improvement Plan had been reported on an annual basis.  This would form part of the quarterly Internal Audit progress report and was attached at Appendix E of the report.

A summary of a completed investigation was summarised in exempt Appendix F.

The status of all open recommendations was highlighted as part of the submitted report with 2 recommendations having been deferred due to the original due date not being achievable.  It was noted that since publication of the report one of those two recommendations had now been completed.  

The effective date of the new material developed by the UK Public Sector Internal Auditing Standards Advisory Board (IASAB) would be 1^st April 2025 to align with requirements for annual opinions and other relevant aspects of UK public sector governance which lined up with the financial year.  In accordance with the Public Sector Internal Auditing Standards and the new Global Internal Audit Standards, Internal Audit Services would require an external assessment against the standards every 5 years.  For Rotherham this would be due during the 2025-26 financial year.  A report would be submitted to a future Audit Committee setting out the options available and the preferred option for discussion and approval.

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised: -

-         The presentation of information relating to the status of open recommendations would be considered to show the direction of travel of recommendations to highlight where areas were making positive progress. 

-         As part of the extensive work being undertaken to strengthen Asset Management and Capital Programme arrangements a clearer understanding of costs and values would be established prior to inclusion on the Capital Programme.

-         Contractual details relating to the information provided in Appendix F were clarified.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Internal Audit work undertaken since the last Audit Committee, 1^st May to 31st July, 2024, and the key issues that have arisen from it be noted.

(2)  That the performance objectives of Internal Audit and the actions being taken by audit management in respect of meeting the performance objectives.be noted.

(3)  That an update on the Audit Areas detailed in Appendix B (Asset Management Estimates and Capital Programme and Trading Standards) that had received a Partial or No Assurance rating be provided to the November meeting of this Committee, with officers from those services in attendance.

(Appendix F was Exempt under Paragraph 7 (information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime, of Part 1 of Schedule 12A))