Agenda item

The Chief Internal Auditor to submit a report updating on progress made by Internal Audit on plan delivery and outcome of assignments.

Appendix B is exempt.

Rachel Ashley-Caunt, Chief Internal Auditor introduced the report, the purpose of which was to update Members on progress made by Internal Audit on plan delivery and outcome of assignments.

The Chair highlighted that appendix B was exempt and that any discussion on this appendix would need to take place in private session.

Ms Ashley-Caunt drew Members attention to appendix 1 of appendix A (Internal Audit Plan), which detailed a list of audits due to be delivered this year and their current status.  2 audits had been finalised (Housing Voids Management and Landlord Health and Safety).  A number of other audits were progressing to the latest stage of the process and would be reported to the Committee at its next meeting on 16 January 2024:

·       Housing Voids Management – Internal Audit were satisfied that the Council had controls and a well embedded framework in place.  There were a number of areas highlighted for potential improvements to policies and the processes being applied (around the use of data to manage and report performance, the pre-termination process etc).  A moderate assurance opinion over the control environment, a good assurance opinion over compliance and a low organisational risk had been issued.

·        Landlord Health and Safety – This was reviewed regularly and covered key areas such as gas safety inspections, electrical installations, asbestos reports, passenger lift servicing, smoke detection and carbon monoxide.  Some properties were not currently compliant but were known and subject to ongoing work.  A good assurance opinion over control and compliance had been issued.

Concerning the implementation of audit recommendations.  26 audit recommendations had been completed and closed and 34 recommendations remained overdue.  Of those overdue, four were high priority and over three months overdue:

·       Effectiveness of Case Management Arrangements 2019-20

·       Housing Repairs 202.21

·       Business Continuity Management 2022/23.

·       Exempt Recommendation (appendix B)

These were detailed at appendix 3 of appendix a and appendix B.  Further progress would be reported to Member at the next Committee meeting.

Appendix 4 detailed the customer satisfaction results for Internal Audit’s delivery of Audits, showing all as either good or outstanding to date.

Ms Ashley-Caunt concluded by assuring the Committee that good progress was being made on delivery of the Audit Plan for completion by the end of March. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

·       Members thanked the Ms Ashley-Caunt for her work.

·       Dawn Garton, Director for Corporate Services advised that there were no concerns over the contract for the Leicestershire Resilience Forum (for Business continuity support), other than the delay in being able to action the recommendation to fully complete the Plans.  Proposals and agreements for the support role were relatively new but arrangements were progressing.

·       Members noted the improvement in the average void re-let times from 149 days to 54 days.

·       Mrs Garton advised that a Performance report would be submitted to Cabinet on 13 December, which would provide information on housing voids management targets etc.

·       Ms Ashley Caunt confirmed that some of the Housing Voids Management policies reviewed by Internal Audit were in draft.  Internal Audit would like these policies to be approved and there be operating procedures aligning with those policies in place.  Members suggested revisiting this to ensure the policies and operating procedures were formally in place and Ms Ashley-Caunt highlighted that the Committee could prioritise this as an area to revisit when considering the Audit Plan 2024/25 (item 8 on the agenda).

RESOLVED that the Committee NOTED the progress made by Internal Audit in delivery of the Internal Audit Plan for 2023/24 and the outcomes of the finalised audit reviews.