Issue - meetings

3.25pm

Report from Director for Finance.

This report presents the Internal Audit progress report for 2019/20.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the progress with the 19/20 Internal Audit Plan and the outcome of the completed audits.

Recommendation agreed.

Sarah Cox introduced the report.  The performance achieved as shown on Agenda Page 30 is not where she wants it to be but the recruitment problems have eased and the percentage has increased since the report was drafted.

Officers responded to points raised by members of the Committee as follows:

·         Audits are only deferred for the right reason.  So for example, “Contract Procurement – Decision Making” has been deferred because the provision cycle is being reviewed so there is no value in conducting an audit now.

·         Similarly, the Growth Board is under review so the audit for “Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal – Accountable Body” has been deferred.

·         With the Oxford City Council Agency Agreement, the problems are not all about resources but include wider corporate issues not only related to this agreement.

·         Technology for ICT Disaster Recovery Planning will only be in place by March 2020 and this audit will be prioritised in the next financial year.

·         The schools being ‘defederated’ (Agenda Page 36, Q1 Advice to schools) are council-maintained schools.

·         The threshold of 616 potholes to be completed (Agenda Page 43, second last paragraph) is not a cap – it is a budgetary calculation.  There is a risk that additional funds may be requested or delivery will be reduced for the remainder of the year.  High risk potholes are being prioritised.  KPIs will be more robust and performance meetings will be more rigorous.

·         There will be greater engagement in locality meetings.  Although the Oxford locality meeting has been cancelled, a dedicated briefing on highways will be set up.

·         The Value for Money review is with the Assistant Director Community Operations at the moment.

·         With regard to the red rating for Data Processing under “Call Confirm Live IT Application Audit”, an action plan and timescales have been agreed.  It will be flagged with the Audit Working Group if there are any problems.  In Quarter 4 client charging and payments will be revisited.

RESOLVED: to note the progress with the 19/20 Internal Audit Plan and the outcome of the completed audits.