Agenda item

The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service presented a report updating the Committee on progress with the work of the service for the Council.

Plan delivery to the end of January 2024 in days was 56 per cent, with 4 audits complete and 9 in progress. Delivery was currently behind profile, which was due to a number of vacancies in the team. However, the structure of the service had been reviewed and advertisements had been placed for senior auditor posts. Additional resource had been obtained for 3 months to endeavour to complete the 2023/24 plan and minimise any impact on the 2024/25 financial year.

At its last meeting, in relation to the National Fraud Initiative, the Committee had asked for that future iterations of the internal audit progress report include reporting of statistics on matches and frauds identified. The Head of Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service reported that the National Fraud Initiative was one element of the Council’s counter fraud, bribery and corruption framework.  Officers could bring an annual report about fraud aligned with the required publication of the Council’s fraud data which would include this information and details of proactive work undertaken by the service.

During consideration of the report the following were the main points discussed:

·       In response to a member query, the Head of Service advised that a critical review referred to a deep dive into an area of work where changes were being made and advice given. This would usually be followed up with a formal report a year after implementation.

·       How likely it was that all the planned reviews would be completed by the end of the financial year. The Head of Service responded that additional resource had been secured by extending the contract of an interim employee, and the service was seeking another employee to complete the work in the Plan. Whilst it was not unusual for some work to roll into the first couple of months of the new financial year the intention was to be able to report completion in time for inclusion in the Annual Opinion. 

·       A Member suggested that the detail in Appendix 2 of the report did not give an accurate position in terms of the stages that each audit had reached. The Head of Service responded that he was reviewing the content of the report and could amend the information around each audit to indicate the level of complexity and when it was due to be completed.

·       Further to a request for further detail relating to the GDPR review, the Head of Service would circulate a written answer to set out what this covered and when it was due to be complete.

·       The Chairman referred to the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy and how a member of the public would raise concerns since the topic was not on the Council’s website. It was responded that the Council would be updating its website shortly and the Policy was also being reviewed as part of the Council’s HR policies. It would be uploaded to the refreshed website once the review process had been completed.  

RESOLVED that the report be noted.