Agenda item

Report of Internal Audit Manager.

The Committee considered the report of the Internal Audit Manager regarding a summary of the activities of Internal Audit for the third quarter of the financial year 2013/14.

Audit work carried out to date against the audit plan for 2013/14 was set out in appendix A. The Internal Audit Manager made reference to the main points from the appendix. This included the review of void management that was no longer required following discussions with Eastbourne Homes Ltd and the Senior Head of Community, and the review of land charges and searches, which had exceeded the time allocated in the plan. This was due to the time being inadequately allocated and issues with the level of access given to the auditor to the required software. The Internal Audit Manager also reported that no consultancy work had been carried out as planned. This was due to this being a new concept for the authority and discussions would be carried out in the next financial year with the Senior Management on a strategy and procedure on utilising internal audit. Further main points from appendix A were detailed in the report.

A list of all final audit reports issued from 1 April to 31 December 2013 and the level of assurance attained were detailed in the report. The Committee was advised that during this quarter no reviews had been issued with an assurance level of inadequate.

Further information on reports issued in final during the year with an assurance level below excellent was set out in Appendix B, with any issues highlighted in the reviews which informed the assurance level given.

Councillor Belsey enquired why Theatre Recollections was still being given a performing inadequate rating. The original issue had arisen due to a staff member being absent for a sustained period of time due to illness. The Committee was advised that the assurance level should improve in next year’s quarterly report. The Committee agreed that the General Manager, Eastbourne Theatres would be invited back to the Committee if the issues raised continued.

A brief explanation for a number of outstanding high and medium priority recommendations from audits, reasons why they had not been implemented along with the month when the next follow up date was due were set out in appendix C. The comments made by the Corporate Management Team following consideration of outstanding high risks were set out in appendix D. 

The Committee was advised that no frauds over 10K had been reported to the authority’s external auditors in the third quarter of 2013/14. This meant that only one fraud over £10K had been reported this financial year. The Fraud Investigations Manager reported that during the third quarter, the team had identified £180,000 of incorrectly claimed housing benefits but there had been no frauds over £10K noted. This was an indication that the team were working well to spot frauds earlier and that the Benefit Section was identifying potential fraudulent claims quickly.

The Internal Audit Manager reported that audit documents were reviewed annually to ensure that they remain current. The Audit Charter and Audit Manual, both appended to the report had been updated this year to include the new Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and some sections had been added to ensure compliance with the standards.

RESOLVED: (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the updated Audit Charter and Audit Manual be adopted by the Committee.