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Agenda item

Internal Audit Annual Opinion

Purpose

To present a summary of the work undertaken by Internal Audit during 2022/23 and to give an overall opinion on levels of assurance resulting from this work.

 

Recommendation

To note the report.

Minutes:

The Chair invited the Assistant Director of SWAP Internal Audit , Lucy Cater, to introduce.

 

The Assistant Director of SWAP introduced the 22/23 Annual Opinion and the following points were highlighted:

 

-       The report highlighted on page 16 the comparison with the 21/22 report.

-       It was noted on page 22 the significant corporate risks that require action, which come to the Committee on a regular basis and to the Deputy Chief Executive.

-       It was highlighted on page 28, which was a summary of the audit plan, the audits conducted and the number of agreed actions.

 

 

It was noted that page 35 mentioned the recovery of housing benefit payments and invoices not being raised. It was noted by Mandy Fathers that recovery stopped during Covid-19 in addition to the Civica system and that other areas did take priority. It was further noted that technical delays had caused problems, but there was assurance given that recovery had started. It was noted that out of 458 accounts 308 (67%) of these had been invoiced. £283,000 of the total debt had been invoiced and this was work should be completed by September. It was noted that any new debt had been invoiced.

 

The Deputy Chief Executive highlighted that that the lack of invoicing was not acceptable. It was outlined that a lessons learnt exercise was being undertaken by the Internal Audit team following this issue. It was outlined that all councils did stop recovery due to Court Procedures being halted, but the recommencement of debt recovery wasn’t as timely as it should have been.

 

The Committee commented on the cash flow monitoring and whether monthly meetings were better than quarterly. The Deputy Chief Executive highlighted the detailed model that Publica provides. The quarterly meetings were more strategic with Arlingclose to examine longer term options, and there were daily officer meetings to ensure the Council met cash requirements.

 

The Chair asked about recommendation 4 from 2021/22 report and the need for a liquidity indicator. The Deputy Chief Executive noted that the Council had not set what the minimum level of liquid cash is on a daily basis as picked up in this report and in the external auditors’ report. It was noted that with the Council’s finances tightening in the medium term, it would be desirable to set a realistic indicator for minimum cash requirements. This would be followed up in subsequent reports. 

 

Councillor Angus Jenkinson as an observer member noted that a system map was not available for the technical and operational systems and a process map. The Deputy Chief Executive noted the performance indicators in the quarterly service performance reports demonstrated  how well services were being delivered. It was noted that regularity audits were being done to build up a process map where there were gaps.

 

The Committee asked about the communication of billing for Council Tax and how this can be done to avoid anxiety amongst residents. The Business Manager for Environmental, Welfare and Revenue Services reiterated that the calculations would be provided in the invoices. It was also noted that support was available such as payment schedules and Council Tax support which residents could use to facilitate the payment.

 

In response to a supplementary question regarding the amounts, it was also outlined by the Business Manager that some of the amounts could be quite high, but the average amount tended to be in hundreds of pounds but it depended on the individual circumstances.

 

The Chair invited the Assistant Director of SWAP to comment on the Wellbeing Support report in the light of the public reaction to the ‘Diddly Squat’ Farm application involving Publica colleagues. The Assistant Director of SWAP noted that there would be implications for Publica officers across all of the partner councils. It was noted that the report was created to see how the Council responded to events like this and how officers were supported.

 

The Chair thanked officers for their contributions to this item.

 

RESOLVED: The Committee NOTED the report.

 

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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