Agenda item - Internal audit plan 2017/18

Report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources

1)           That the Committee approves the Internal Audit Plan including the Internal Audit Charter and Quality Assurance Improvement Programme.

79.1      The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Finance & Resources that requested approval of the Internal Audit Plan 2017/18.

79.2      Councillor Druitt enquired as to the reason behind the drop in planned audit days for finance.

79.3      The Head of Internal Audit stated that financial systems had regularly achieved reasonable assurance and the audit team were satisfied the number of days allocated were sufficient for a detailed audit. Furthermore, this would give an increase in audit days for areas with limited assurance.

79.1      Councillor Sykes asked if assurance could be provided that 1038 audit days would be sufficient to deliver effective audit work. In addition, Councillor Sykes asked if contract management audits would overlap with the work of the Procurement team and noted the significant overspend on healthcare equipment that may benefit from audit focus.

79.4      The Head of Internal Audit replied that he could give assurance that 1,038 days would be sufficient and that figure only dealt with specific audit days and there was provision of a further 254 days for support, advice and liaison with senior management and recommendation tracking. The Audit team would consider healthcare equipment as part of reviews of integration with health services. He also noted that in relation to contract management, Budget Council had allocated further resource that would provide opportunity for increased examination.

79.5      RESOVLED- That the Committee approves the Internal Audit Plan including the Internal Audit Charter and Quality Assurance Improvement Programme.