Issue - meetings

Members heard from the Principal Auditor regarding the Internal Audit Quarter 1 Progress Report for 2020/21, the purpose of which was to give Members an update of progress, by the Audit partner, against the 2020/2021 annual programmes agreed by the Audit Committee in March 2020, and amended in June 2020. She highlighted that, owing to the pandemic, it had been agreed that no new Internal Audit work would be completed during quarter 1 and as such, focus was on finalising the 2019/20 audit work which had not been completed as a result of Covid 19. During this time, three reports had been issued and four audits were at draft report stage. It was also highlighted that there were no overdue audit reports.  

The Chairman enquired what confidence there was that the audit plan for 2020/21 could be completed given the changeable circumstances. The Principal Auditor stated that they were confident the plan would be met. They were monitoring resources on a monthly basis and, should there be any concerns, these would be raised as they arose.

There were questions as to why the Internal Audit report gave limited assurance to the ‘Golden Thread’ which was in contrast to the findings of the Peer Review. It was explained that there was a difference in timings and in who had been spoken to with regards the Golden Thread. It was acknowledged that there were services where the information was not cascaded down by Team Managers and also work areas where it was not immediately obvious to the staff where their work might fit in with the Corporate Plan. This was being addressed and would be seen in future progress reports.

It was noted that it was positive to see no outstanding actions and it was also confirmed that the audit plan for another area of ICT ‘to be agreed’ would have a clear indication by the October meeting.

            RESOLVED that the content of the report be noted.