Agenda item - Internal Audit Progress Report 2012/13

Report of the Acting Director of Finance (copy attached).

53.1    The Committee considered a report of the Acting Director of Finance.  The report informed Members of the progress made against the Internal Audit Plan 2012/13 including the outcomes of specific audit reviews completed, agreed management actions, and Internal Audit Key Performance Indicators. It was noted that good progress was continuing to be made in the delivery of the Internal audit Plan 2012/13.

53.2         Councillor Sykes referenced paragraph 4.2 in the report and asked if there were any budget implications through potential out-sourcing of audit reviews, and in response the Head of Audit & Business Risk explained that this statement was designed to give assurance that any shortfall in internal resources could be met through the framework contract on a call off basis. In response to a query from the Chair, the Head of Audit & Business Risk stated that he was confident that the plan could be completed without the need to use additional resources.

53.3         Following a further query from Councillor Sykes it was explained that the Council would be focusing on fraudulent subletting of council housing in the future which may also result in financial benefit to support further fraud investigation.

53.4         Dr Horne asked questions in relation to paragraph 8.2 on counter fraud work, and it was explained that as the Council did not explicitly budget for any level of fraud loss it was difficult to directly identify ongoing budget savings, but effective fraud prevention and detection ensures that the Council did not incur additional costs and could ultimately result in ongoing savings.

53.5         Councillor Ann Norman pointed to paragraph 9.3 and expressed concern that the service was ‘juggling’ several areas of work and asked for assurance that this would not be to the detriment of the quality of work. In response the Head of Audit & Business Risk explained that all the work was absorbed as part of the normal workload. Following a query from Councillor Ken Norman it was highlighted that any critical work would be given a higher priority.

53.6         RESOLVED - That the Committee notes the progress made in delivering the Annual Internal Audit Plan 2012/13, outcomes achieved and current arrangements going forward to 31 March 2013.