The report of the Head of Audit is attached.

Contact:  Ceri Pilawski 01743 257739

113.1  The Committee received the report of the Head of Audit – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided members with an update of work undertaken by Internal Audit in the four and a half months since the beginning of the financial year and the start of Shropshire Council’s approved audit plan implementation.

113.2  The Head of Audit advised Members that 35% of the revised Plan had been completed however, due to the impact of Covid there had been a significant adjustment to planned audit activity, however, the team were on target to achieve 90% completion by year end.   The Head of Audit drew attention to the proposed significant reduction of 643 days and the slight reduction of resources overall from 2,237 days to 2,157.  She confirmed that these changes had been discussed with and agreed by the Director of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer). 

113.3  The Head of Audit drew attention to paragraph 7.3 of the report which detailed the adjustments which had been made to the original plan.  Paragraphs 7.4 and 7.5 gave a more detailed example of the Audit Team’s response in supporting the Council in administering the Governments Covid-19 Business Support Grants.  The Head of Audit reported that three fraudulent claims were identified however full recovery had been made and these cases reported to the Police and the Government Task Force.

113.4  The Head of Audit drew attention to the assurance levels and reported that three good, four reasonable, five limited and five unsatisfactory assurance opinions had been issued and that the 17 final reports contained 313 recommendations, four of which were fundamental.  The good and reasonable assurances accounted for 42% of the opinions delivered which represented a significant decrease in the higher level assurances for this period, compared to the previous year (64%).  This was offset by a corresponding increase in limited and unsatisfactory assurances (58% compared to 36% the previous year).

113.5  In relation to the four fundamental recommendations set out in paragraph 7.17 of the report, a brief discussion ensued in relation to whether, for fundamental problems within a department identified by the Head of Audit should they be brought consistently before Committee or should the Chairman in consultation with the Head of Audit decide whether to invite the relevant Service Manager and Portfolio Holder to a future meeting.  For example, it was proposed that the Service Manager and Portfolio Holder with responsibility for the Pensions Payroll Interface be requested to attend the first meeting of the Committee in the new year.  The Head of Audit explained the process undertaken for fundamental recommendations and she suggested that the Committee could be updated by email prior to the meeting once the date for implementation had passed. 

113.6  RESOLVED

a)    That performance to date against the 2020/21 Audit Plan set out in this report be noted.

b)    That the adjustments required to the 2020/21 plan to take account of changing priorities set out in Appendix B, be approved.

c)    That for those fundamental recommendations where the date of implementation has expired, the Head of Audit will email the Manager requesting written assurance of where they were at with regards to implementation for Members to then assess whether they were satisfied with progress and to consider any further action.

d)    That an update on the Pensions Payroll Interface be provided to the first meeting of the Audit Committee in the new year.