Agenda item

Report by the Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership.

The Committee is asked to note the progress report.

14.1   The Committee considered a report by the Director of Finance, Performance and Procurement and the Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership (copy appended to the signed minutes).

14.2   Mr Harvey, Deputy Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership, introduced the report and highlighted the table in Appendix A which showed the progress the Council were making in implementing the actions agreed to address issues identified through the respective audit reviews.  There were two limited assurance reports relating to IR35 legislation and Residential Care Payments.  IR35 concerned tax assessments for individuals working with the Council.  Internal Audit had identified that processes were not being consistently followed or documentation checks were being missed.  Nine actions had been agreed to address the issues.

14.3   The Committee made comments including those that follow.

•    Queried if it was possible to see audit recommendations.  – Mr Harvey confirmed this information could be made available to the Committee on request.  Mr Hunt confirmed that he has asked for dates to be added against management actions.  Committee members welcomed the addition of dates.  Mr Pitman, Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership, confirmed that slippages would always be brought to the committee members’ attention.

•    Questioned the processes for IR35.  When had the legislation changed and were there outstanding tax liabilities.  – Mr Harvey confirmed that the legislation had changed a couple of years ago.  Mrs Chuter confirmed that issues with HMRC had been resolved.  Mrs Muschamp confirmed that exercises were taking place to analyse all transactions to ensure compliance.  Finance were going back to directors and budget holders to analyse the situation.  The Committee requested to see the recommendations and progress on them.

•    Queried the progress on the audit plan.  – Mr Harvey confirmed that the progress to the end of September was 57% either work in progress or complete and that progress was on track.

•    Sought clarity on the narrative for the health and safety actions.  – Mr Pitman explained that the narrative came from the service and resolved to provide an update for the committee members.

•    Queried the progress of the IT Capita Contract workshop.  – Mrs Muschamp confirmed that the workshop had taken place and that work was on-going.

•    Sought clarity over the concerns with Mosaic User Access Control.  – Mr Pitman explained that weaknesses and risks had been recognized with processes, but confirmed that no breaches had been identified.  Mr Pitman resolved to investigate progress on this.

•    Asked for an explanation over the Home to School Transport concerns.  – Mr Harvey explained the detail on this issue would have been reported previously, but confirmed that the issues related to the recertification of DBS reports.  Mr Harvey understood that management confirmation had been received that correct processes were in place for the new academic year following the audit review..

•    Raised concerns over the identified payments for Residential Care Payments.  – Mrs Chuter gave reassurance that appropriate controls were in place going forwards and that two thirds of the payments had been recovered.

•    Queried the plans for Whole Council Design.  – Mr Harvey confirmed that the support element of the programme was being developed and that the governance arrangements were being considered by the Executive Leadership Team.  Mr Hunt confirmed that transformation was a useful way to maintain efficiencies.

•    Requested information on the £17m for Childrens’ Services.  – Mrs Muschamp explained that the challenge was on value for money consideration.  Officers were aware of the challenges in this area and explained that governance arrangements would be looking into this.  Mr Hunt confirmed that the Children and Young Peoples Services Select Committee would be looking at this.

•    Queried progress on Guardianship issues.  – Mr Harvey confirmed that fourteen actions had been completed and eight were outstanding.  An update on this would be provided in a future report.

14.4   Mr Pitman introduced the Fraud Plan for 2019-20.

14.5   Members queried the plans for the training.  – Mr Pitman confirmed that plans were in place for training for Hampshire and West Sussex by the end of the financial year.

14.6   Resolved – That the Committee notes the progress report for the period to 30 September 2019.