Agenda item

This report informs Members of the Audit and Counter Fraud work completed during 2018-19 and presents the opinion of the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service, as Chief Audit Executive, on the Council’s internal control environment.

Discussion:

Members considered a report regarding the Audit and Counter Fraud work completed during 2018-19 and also the opinion of the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service, as Chief Audit Executive, on the Council’s internal control environment.

In response to a query about how the implementation of high priority recommendations was managed, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service advised that implementation was a matter for the relevant service manager. Internal Audit followed up on progress and asked for evidence to demonstrate that high priority recommendations had been implemented. The Corporate Management Team also monitored outstanding recommendations on a quarterly basis and anything that had not been actioned after 6 months was reported to the Committee.

A Member queried whether Gravesham Borough Council had expressed any wish to change the Internal Audit shared service arrangement following the recent elections and a change in control at the council. The Chief Finance Officer commented that his recent discussions with Gravesham had not indicated any such wish and in fact Gravesham had pointed to a willingness to enter into further shared services with the Council.

Noting the increase in the proportion of time spent on fraud work in 2018/19 a Member asked if this gave rise to any grounds for concern and also asked for an assurance that the use of internal audit to carry out internal HR investigations was an effective use of their time. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service advised that only one of the revisions to the Audit Plan had been due to a lack of resources in the team. The team had assisted HR with a number of disciplinary investigations but only when they had the capacity to do so and the use of trained investigators working on more complex cases had helped the authority.

Referring to the findings of the audit review of Luton Juniors, a Member asked if this information had been shared with those responsible for the proposed amalgamation of Luton Infant and Junior Schools. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service advised that the audit had started before the proposal to merge had been announced.

A Member requested an update regarding on the implementation of the recommendations following the audit review of corporate credit cards and it was agreed a briefing would be sent to all members of the Committee.

A Member referred to recent finding from a CIPFA survey which showed that 50% of local government senior accountants across the country had stated they had been placed under pressure to act in an unethical way. These findings were hopefully not replicated in Medway but gave rise to a question whether enough was being done to raise awareness of the whistleblowing policy. Details of this survey would be shared with Members.

Decision:

Members agreed to:

a)     note the work undertaken by the Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service for Medway during 2018-19 in providing an effective service to the Council;

b)     note the opinion on the Council’s internal control environment provided by the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service, and;

c)     request a briefing note on the implementation of the recommendations following the audit review of corporate credit cards.