Agenda item

This report informs Members of the Internal Audit work completed during 2023-24 and presents the opinion of the Head of Internal Audit & Counter Fraud Shared Service, as Chief Audit Executive, on the Council’s internal control environment.

Discussion:

The Head of Internal Audit & Counter Fraud introduced the report. A total of 85% of reviews had been completed in the year and 80% of all identified actions had been completed.

The Head of Internal Audit & Counter Fraud reported in his opinion that during the year ended 31 March 2024, Medway Council’s framework of governance, risk management, and system of internal control, were adequate, and contributed to the proper, economic, efficient, and effective use of resources in achieving the council’s objectives.

The following issues were discussed:

Resources - in response to a question whether the team was adequately resourced, the Head of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud stated that audit was adequately resourced and in line with other similar sized authorities.

Performance Measures - it was asked whether the target of £5,000 for the average cost of a review (Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) IA6 Average Cost per agreed assurance review, page 92 of the pack refers) was realistic for the future. The Head of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud agreed this would need to be reviewed in the future, however, the QAIP had been agreed in January 2024 and did not take account of the pay increase agreed by Council in February 2024.

It was asked whether results from previous years QAIP could be included for comparison. The Head of Internal Audit stated that this information could be included however, some performance measures do change as the QAIP is reviewed and updated annually, so direct comparison might be difficult in some areas.

Assurance Reviews – in response to a question how the team were able to review technical issues such as quality of roadworks, the Head of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud explained that the role of the review was to ensure that the proper controls were in place. Consequently, the review would not consider the quality of work undertaken, but rather that processes and controls were in place to ensure that work was undertaken.

Delay in action plans - the delay in completing actions was noted and it was asked at what stage those would be considered by the Committee. The Head of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud stated that bringing all incomplete actions to Committee would be impractical, however, all finalised audit reviews were sent to the Chief Executive, relevant director, assistant director and Portfolio Holder. In addition, actions were reviewed through CMT and DMT prior to their scheduled competition date and actions which were more than 6 months overdue were reviewed by the Audit Committee.

Decision:

a)     The Committee noted the work undertaken by the Internal Audit team for Medway during 2023-24 in providing an effective service to the Council.

b)     The Committee supported the opinion on the Council’s internal control environment provided by the Head of Internal Audit & Counter Fraud Shared Service, as set out in Section 4 of Appendix 1, that Medway Council’s framework of governance, risk management, and system of internal control, were adequate, and contributed to the proper, economic, efficient, and effective use of resources in achieving the council’s objectives.