The Chief Internal Auditor presented a report, the purpose of which, was to inform the Committee of actual Internal Audit performance against the 6 months of the audit plan year covering April to September 2015.

She confirmed that the 2015/16 Internal Audit Plan was submitted to the Committee for consideration and approval in April 2015, and outlined the assignments to be carried out and their respective priorities. The Plan provided for a total of 1,296 productive days to cover the period April 2015 to March 2016.

The Chief Internal Auditor advised that a summary of audits commenced/ongoing and completed during the period April to September 2015, were detailed in Appendices A and B of the report.

The Table in paragraph 4.2 of the report, showed an analysis of work completed in relation to the plan (1,296 available days).

In respect of the issues set out in paragraph 4.4 of the report, ie outlining the vacancies in the Internal Audit Section presently that were not being filled due to savings that were required under the MTFS, it was inevitable explained the Chief Internal Auditor, that the commitment to deliver the above number of days for the financial year for 2015/16 will not be achieved, with a shortfall in this year being circa 90 productive days.

Referring to the attached Appendix A, the Chief Internal Auditor advised that a total of 22 reviews had been completed so far to date, 20 (91%) of which had been closed with either a substantial or reasonable assurance opinion level. Of the remaining 2 reviews (9%), although necessary, they did not culminate in an overall audit opinion.

With regard to performance and Performance Indicators that the joint service compiled annually as part of the Welsh Chief Auditors Group benchmarking exercise, these portrayed that the service was operating in the top quartile of local authorities that took part in this exercise.

The Chief Internal Auditor concluded her report, by advising that due to the issues outlined immediately above, there was likely to be an underspend in the budget of circa £25k for the year.

RESOLVED:                         That Members gave due consideration to the Internal Audit Outturn Report covering the period April to September 2015, to ensure that all aspects of their core functions are being adequately reported.