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Agenda item

Internal Audit Progress Report

Purpose

To present a summary of the audit work concluded since the last meeting of this Committee.

 

Recommendation

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1)    Note the reports at Annexes A and B

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Assistant Director for SWAP introduced the item, and addressed the errors in the listing of the annexes on the report front page, as had been pointed out by the Chair, but that the report contained the correct annexes.

 

The purpose was to present a summary of the audit work concluded since the last meeting of the Committee.

 

Members discussed FOIs throughout the item, and the following points were made;

 

  • Members stated that the Freedom of Information rating, which was only rated as reasonable and expressed concern. The Assistant Director reassured members that there will be a follow up on agreed actions.
  • Members discussed whether the different Channels that FOIs could be submitted through had the potential to be consolidated.
  • An instance from April was raised where a Councillor had submitted an FOI through email, and an officer had responded to state that the online form had to be filled out. The Councillor in question asked that this be investigated, as this wasn’t the correct procedure in their view, with the officer implying that email requests could not be processed. The Business Manager for Corporate Responsibility responded that the form could not be mandated.

 

The Business Manager for Corporate Responsibility added that the unpublished statistics were prior to their arrival, and a robust approach was being taken, with a good team in place. They were confident in their ability to deliver improvements.

 

Members asked whether the Committee had access to the Council’s risk appetite scaling. The Deputy Chief Executive explained the rationale behind how the risk grading takes place. The Assistant SWAP director explained that a risk management audit would be undertaken, and a risk checklist included in future audits.

 

Members made reference to overdue actions in the report, and asked whether these remained deliverable, and whether any should be closed down. The SWAP Assistant Director stated that they were seeking advice on how to close these down and asked the Committee for their opinions. The Chair stated that further reflection was needed on this, and the Deputy Chief Executive stated that officers could review the annex in question and take an updated version of the annex to a future Committee meeting, and potentially close some of them, but this would depend the priority.

 

Members took the opportunity to thank the revenues and benefits team for their work.

 

Members expressed concern over the Climate Change Survey, the discussion included;

 

  • The fact that 75% of survey respondents (6 officers) did not have any climate change key performance indicators, measures, or milestones to track the operational work being undertaken.
  • Member concerns over the low survey response rate.
  • The Deputy Chief Executive highlighted the improvements that were being made, including a commitment to resurveying staff, and ensuring that Climate Change issues are being dealt with. They stated that it was clear more work was needed.
  • Members discussed that a cultural shift was needed to enforce climate change as a priority, and that processes will need to be promoted. The Chief Finance Officer agreed, stating that although Climate Change had been embedded at the top end of the organisation, there had yet to be a shift in how people behaved, and more work was needed.
  • There were hopes that the follow up survey would reflect an improvement.
  • It was stated that the Cabinet Member for Climate Change should review this, and be invited to a future Audit Committee meeting.

 

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee note the reports at Annexes A and B.

Supporting documents:

 

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