Agenda item

The Chief Internal Auditor presented this report. The annual report is based on two elements- assurance that we have effective internal controls, governance arrangements and risk management process in place and also the performance of the team. This report is looking back over 2020/21.

The overall opinion is set out in the report as Reasonable. This means we have adequate controls, although there are risks present requiring improvement. The 2020/21 opinion was based on 6 months of audit work due to Covid-19 impacting on the ability to carry out audit work. Although Audit Committee previously agreed a plan for 1200 days of audit work, the revised plan was 600 days’ worth of audit work. The team did a fantastic job of getting as many opinion ratings out as possible. For 2020/21, it has also been necessary to rely on previous years’ audit work, as there have been very few changes regarding systems or staff, meaning we have assurance that we can rely on this opinion.

The other aspect of the report is the performance of the team, which has completed 78% of the agreed plan, and this was revised based on a half year of work. It was hoped that the team would get back out to schools and other site visits, but due to Covid-19 this was not possible.

The overall opinion is based on 6 months work, and the team identified 29 opinions to give an overall Reasonable level of assurance, also relying on previous knowledge and audit work, to identify that there are no significant issues.

Comparing year on year, paragraph 6 outlines the number of opinions given in the past 4 years.

2020/21: similar number of opinions issued in 19/20 which was for a full year. This shows the team really focused on the opinion work.

It was pleasing to note there were 5 good opinions. There were 23 reasonable opinions, and 1 unsatisfactory opinion (Newport City Dogs Home).

The team have also taken on an additional resource, taken on an external internal audit expert provided by South West Audit Partnership. This report would normally report on the implementation of the 2019/20 agreed management actions, but due to the covid pandemic, this information has not been fully received. This will be reported back to the Committee later on in the year.

The team are in another 2-year cycle of the National Fraud Initiative, and they are currently working through the data matches from the Cabinet Office.

The team are getting draft reports out within 8 days, and final reports out within 3 days, which is commendable.

The Chief Internal Auditor then outlined the appendices of the report, which summarised the items being reported on; this was regarding internal controls and the performance of the team. 

Discussion included the following:

·         Members commented that the dogs’ home has come up a number of times in audit. Do we need to address this as a committee?

o   The Chief Internal Auditor explained that there has only been one unsatisfactory report, so it doesn’t seem necessary to call them in yet. If there is a second unsatisfactory opinion, his advice would then be to call them in.

Agreed:

The report is duly noted and endorsed.