Agenda item

The Audit Manager presented the report to provide the Governance and Audit Committee with a position statement on progress made against the audit work included and approved within the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2022/23. The Audit Manager noted that the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan for 2022/23 was submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee for consideration and approved on the 18^th July 2022. The Plan outlined the audit assignments to be carried out in order to provide adequate coverage to enable an overall opinion at the end of 2022/23.

The Audit Manager directed Members to Appendix A of the report, this detailing the status of each planned review, the audit opinion (where the audit is complete or has reached final report stage) and the number of recommendations made to improve the internal control, governance and risk management environment.

As of 23rd November 2022, 21 audit assignments have been completed, including 17 audits where a final report and audit opinion have been issued. The remaining 4 completed assignments relate to work where no audit opinion is provided, for example Annual Governance Statement (AGS), Annual Opinion Report (Head of Internal Audit) and Internal Audit Planning 2022/23. This is because the audit work carried out in respect of these items was planned but the nature of the work does not lead to testing and the formation of an audit opinion. A further 4 draft reports have been issued and 2 audit assignments are awaiting management review. There are 4 audit assignments currently in progress and a further 10 assignments are at the scoping stage.

Based on the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the

areas examined through testing of the effectiveness of the internal

control, governance and risk management arrangements, the following

audit opinions have been given to the 17 audit assignments completed

to final report stage to date:

The Audit Manager confirmed that there have been no audit assignments completed across the 2022/23 planned areas to date where an audit opinion of limited assurance or no assurance has been placed on the current systems of internal control, governance and risk management.

Members were advised that Appendix A also illustrates that 2 planned audit assignments across the 2022/23 plan have been cancelled as follows: -

-                                         Local Authority Education Grant (LAEG)

-                                         RCT Pupil Development Grant (PDG)

These audits have been undertaken annually in recent years; however no issues have been identified as part of the Internal Audit process for the past 2 years. Therefore, it has been determined that there is no requirement for these 2 areas to be subject to an audit, either from an Internal Audit or Management perspective as no significant changes/issues or risks were identified. Both audits will continue to be included on the schedule for discussion in the audit planning process going forward in case circumstances change and material risks are identified.

Lastly, the Audit Manager advised Members that a further 1 audit assignment relating to an audit included within the 2021/22 plan of work has been finalised during 2022/23 as follows:

Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS)

This audit assignment was finalised on 18th August 2022 and an audit opinion of reasonable assurance was provided, with 2 medium priority recommendations made. The scope of this audit was to provide assurance on the process in place for identifying data omissions/errors, and where patterns of data inaccuracies are identified determine whether guidance and training is given to prevent any instances of reoccurrence. This audit also examined the processes in place for collating the information required for Welsh Government statutory returns and ensuring the veracity of information for submission.

Lay Member Mr Roszkowski requested for future reports provided to include a traffic light system to highlight the progress of all planned audit assignments, for instance: Green, in progress and where we want to be; Amber, behind in progress; and Red, not completed. This will allow the Committee to identify areas to focus on.

The Audit Manager advised that the system can be inserted in future reports in respect of progress of work once its finalised. To add, the Head of Regional Internal Audit Service advised Members that a colour coding system could be applied to specific audits which are encountering delays and some form of colour coding could be incorporated when the next report was produced. 

A Member requested further information on the progress of WCCIS. The Audit Manager advised Members the audit report covered a limited scope rather than a whole overview of WCCIS. To add, the Chief Executive advised Members of discussions with providers of WCCIS and it was noted that performance and stability of the system has improved. The Chief Executive informed Members that a national review of WCCIS was underway and will be reported back in due course.

Lay Member Mr Jehu requested further detail on the order of priority of the 97 recommendations made within the report. The Audit Manager advised Members that in respect on the order of information, this is extracted from the internal audit software system. The order in which the data is presented is a hierarchy of how its organised within the system and not in priority format.

To add, the Head of Regional Internal Audit Service advised Members of the process undertaken in respect of the development of the Internal Audit Annual Plan, noting that the process includes discussions with senior officers at each Authority around areas of risk and comments made by Governance and Audit Committee, this informing an assessment of risk in terms of the highest priorities. The report aimed to highlight to Members the Council’s control environment in relation to governance, risk management and internal control and to inform the Governance and Audit Committee of the work and performance of Internal Audit for the financial year 2022/23.

The Head of Regional Internal Audit Service advised Members that in future the reports will include further information on audits that were delayed.

The Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services also noted that Members can request further reports to provide additional clarification on progress of recommendations.

Following discussions, the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED to:

-         Note the content of the report and the progress made against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2022/23.