Agenda item

Report of the Head of Audit and Risk Management to inform Members of the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the system of internal control and risk management operating throughout 2008/09 and present a summary of the audit work undertaken to formulate the opinion, including reliance placed on work by other bodies. The report also fulfils the requirements of the Audit Committee terms of reference.

The Chair reported that he had corresponded with the Chief Financial Officer in advance of the meeting regarding this item, and it had been agreed that the Chief Financial Officer Comments section of the report would be amended to read: “The Chief Financial Officer notes the contents of this report and confirms that the key controls are in place to mitigate risks facing the Council and that they are being appropriately managed under section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972, to provide him with the assurance he has been using the audit, both internal and external, to mitigate risks facing the Council”. The Chair noted that both the Council’s internal and external auditors advised that they did not have responsibility for the management and monitoring of the Council’s internal control systems, but assisted in providing assurance.

The Head of Audit and Risk Management presented the annual audit report and assurance statement 2008/09, which formed part of the terms of reference of the Audit Committee and was required under the 2006 CIPFA Code of Practice. The Committee was advised that the form and general content of the report was recommended by CIPFA, but that the detailed assessment was completed by the Council. A summary of internal audit work over the past year was appended to the report.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the lack of information on the outcome of investigations in the report, Ms Woods reported that these were reported to the Committee on a quarterly basis as part of the Internal Audit Progress Report and that a monthly report was also circulated to Members. The Committee asked about the involvement of external agencies in investigations, and Ms Woods reported that cases were in general referred to the Housing Benefits Service by the Department for Work and Pensions, and that Housing Benefits then passed them on to Internal Audit for investigation. Full details were provided in the quarterly reports.

Concern was expressed that the wording of paragraph 17.2 of the report, referring to other sources of assurance, gave the impression that no issues had been identified as a result of external inspections and it was agreed that this wording would be amended to clarify that this was not the case.

It was noted that as a document referring back to the previous year, no new additions could be made to the key areas covered, but for future reports the Chair requested that child protection and safeguarding adults be added to the key areas of corporate governance, as the CAA assessment depended upon these key areas. The Chief Financial Officer noted the request of the Chair, but reported that the key areas listed in paragraph 19.4 of the report were not specific service headings, but areas that related to every service, and so both child protection and safeguarding adults were already included. It was reported that the new Director of the Children and Young People’s Service would have examined all the key areas listed in the report, and applied these to all CYPS services, including child protection. The Chair requested that the areas of child protection and safeguarding adults be specifically mentioned in the paragraph on the key areas of corporate governance (paragraph 19.4), as these two areas were of particular importance.

The Committee suggested that, if Directors were to report in person to the Audit Committee on a regular basis, Members could ask them for details of how they were addressing the key areas of corporate governance as listed in the report.

The Committee suggested that paragraph 19.4 should include a  reference to the main areas for action, which were listed in paragraph 19.7 below.

RESOLVED

That, with the additional wording under the Chief Financial Officer comments and the comments, concerns and observations made by the Committee, the content of the annual audit report and assurance statement for 2008/09 be noted.