The Audit Client Manager presented a report, that provided Members of the Committee with a position statement on progress being made against the audit work included and approved within the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2020-21.

She advised, that in accordance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, the Head of Internal Audit was responsible for developing a risk-based annual audit plan which takes into account the Council's risk management framework.  Within the Standards there was also a requirement for the Head of Internal Audit to review and adjust the plan, as necessary, in response to changes in the Council's business, risks, operations, programmes, systems, controls and resources.

The Internal Audit Plan for 2020-21 was submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee for consideration and approval on 10 September 2020.  The Plan outlined the assignments to be carried out which would provide sufficient coverage to provide an opinion at the end of 2020-21, whilst having regard to the unprecedented impact of the COVID pandemic.

The Audit Client Manager confirmed, that progress made against the plan for the period 1st April to 31 December 2020 was attached at Appendix A to the report. This detailed the status of each planned review, the audit opinion and the number of any high or medium recommendations made to improve the control environment. It should be noted that some reviews listed had no audit opinion, for example advice and guidance, Audit Committee and Corporate Management Board (CMB) reporting. This was because the audit work carried out in respect of these items though planned, the nature of the work did not lead to testing and the formation of an audit opinion.

Appendix A illustrated that as at 31 December 2020, 16 items of work had been completed, of which 12 audit reviews had resulted in an opinion being provided. A further 3 reviews had been completed and draft reports issued and these were awaiting feedback from Service Departments. A further 15 reviews were currently on-going with another 5 having been allocated to commence shortly.

She added, that based on the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the areas examined through testing of the effectiveness of the internal control environment, an audit opinion of substantial assurance had been given to 1 completed review and an opinion of reasonable assurance to 10 completed reviews.  The remaining completed audit review was given an audit opinion of limited assurance. This latter area had been the subject of debate at the last meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee, the Audit Client Manager reminded Members.

Appendix A also identified that a total of 16 medium (significant) recommendations had been made to improve the control environment of the areas reviewed. The implementation of these recommendations would be monitored to ensure that improvements are being made.

It was recognised that some service areas are currently under intense pressure and where possible, planned audit work does get re-arranged to accommodate any service requests. Appendix A also reflected that many of the planned audit reviews had now been allocated and it appeared that sufficient coverage will be completed by the year end to form an audit opinion.

The Audit Client Manager concluded her submission, by giving a resume of some of the key details contained in Appendix A, for the benefit of members.

RESOLVED:                              That Committee noted the content of the report and the progress made against the 2020-21 Internal Audit Annual Risk Based Plan.