Agenda item

This report informs Members of the Audit & Counter Fraud work completed during 2020-21 and presents the opinion of the Head of Audit & Counter Fraud Shared Service, as Chief Audit Executive, on the Council’s internal control environment.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the audit and counter fraud work completed during 2020-21 and presented the opinion of the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service, as Chief Audit Executive, on the Council’s internal control environment. The Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service highlighted a number of matters within the report including the impact of the pandemic and sickness absence on the service and confirmation, as Chief Audit Executive, that in his opinion, Medway Council’s framework of governance, risk management and system of internal control was adequate and effective, and contributed to the proper, economic, efficient and effective use of resources in achieving the Council’s objectives in respect of the Council’s internal control environment.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments which included:

Pandemic – in response to a question on the potential impact on the service of the ongoing pandemic, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that there were no current plans to redeploy any of his team to support the Council’s response to the ongoing pandemic but he could not confirm that this would remain the case going forward.

Purchase cards – in response to a question on purchase cards (page 32 of the Agenda refers) and the ability to suspend staff, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that he was not sure whether any staff had been suspended and that he would check and confirm this outside the meeting.

Caldicott Guardian – in response to a question on the Caldicott Guardian (page 53 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that a new member of staff was now responsible for performing this role.

Commercial Property Review – in response to a question on when the review would be finalised (page 59 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service confirmed that the final report had now been issued and would be sent to Members soon.

Medway Adult and Community Learning Service – In response to a question on who was responsible for the administration of the loans (page 21 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Corporate Performance and Business Intelligence confirmed that this lied with Department for Education.

Foster Care payments – In response to a question on the review of the payment structure being conducted and implemented by March 2021 (page 29 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that he would check this outside the meeting.

Disabled Facilities Grants – In response to a question on why there was no policy in place (page 55 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that he would check and confirm this outside the meeting.

Whistleblowing – In response to a question on the implementation of recommendations (page 75 of the Agenda refers), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that he would check this outside the meeting although progress was sought on a regular basis.

HRA capital repairs and maintenance work allocation – in response to a question regarding the contractor (page 52 of the Agenda refers) which had entered administration and whether due diligence could be improved, the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that the contractor had entered administration after the review had been completed and that he would have to check with the Head of Housing regarding the current status of work being carried out.

Adult Social Care – assessments and reviews of care packages – in response to a question on whether the testing sample was adequate (page 44 of the Agenda), the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service stated that he had to balance what could be undertaken against the available resources.

Decision:

a)    The Committee noted the work undertaken by the Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service for Medway during 2020-21 in providing an effective service to the Council.

b)    The Committee considered and supported the opinion on the Council’s internal control environment provided by the Head of Audit and Counter Fraud Shared Service, as set out in Section 2 of Appendix 1 to the report, that Medway Council’s framework of governance, risk management and system of internal control is adequate and effective, and contributes to the proper, economic, efficient and effective use of resources in achieving the Council’s objectives.