Agenda item

Report of the Director of Corporate Resources to advise the Committee of the work undertaken during the first quarter by the Internal Audit Service in completing the 2013/14 annual audit plan together with the responsive and housing benefit fraud investigation work, and to provide details of the work undertaken by Council’s Human Resources business unit in supporting disciplinary action taken across all departments by respective Council Officers and consultants employed by the Council.

The Committee received the Internal Audit update report for 2013/14 Quarter 1. With regard to the limited assurance report provided in respect of the Alexandra Palace Regeneration Programme, it was reported that all recommendations of the audit report had been accepted by the Alexandra Palace and Park Board and that progress was being made in the implementation of these recommendations. A follow up audit would undertaken, and the outcome reported back to the Corporate Committee.

The Committee asked about the performance against targets as set out in Table 1 of the report, and it was reported that the Quarter 2 report to the Board would demonstrate that progress was being made against the targets, and that it was expected that all targets would be achieved by Year End.  It was noted that while recovery of benefit overpayments was not always possible, prosecution was very important in terms of acting as a deterrent.

The Committee expressed concern regarding the length of time of some of the cases of suspension as set out in appendix C. Jacquie McGeachie, Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development, advised that the four cases with very long periods of suspension had all now been resolved, and that from now on, a case review would be triggered as soon as a suspension period reached 30 days, in order to identify how to progress the case more quickly.

The Committee asked about the increase in Interim Head positions and other consultants, and asked for an explanation of how the Council was acting to reduce its reliance on these types of post.  The Chief Executive advised that some of these posts were as the result of recent restructures, but that he had been concerned with the overall level of consultants reported, and had asked the Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development to look into certain areas where numbers appeared particularly high. As a result, the number of consultant positions within CYPS had reduced by 6, and an action plan was in place to address the remainder of these posts. It was noted that a further 12 consultant positions were due to come to an end by the end of October.

In response to a request from Cllr Allison for a more detailed report into the audit for St Michael’s Primary School, it was agreed that the Chief Financial Officer would look into whether it was possible to release this information and would respond to Cllr Allison outside the meeting. With regard to schools’ audits in general, it was reported that progress on Priority 1 recommendations would be expected as quickly as possible, and certainly by the time of the follow up audit arranged with the management of the school. It had previously been agreed that the Chair of Governors and Headteachers of schools where there did not appear to be adequate progress with audit recommendations would be summoned to answer questions from the Corporate Committee.

RESOLVED

i)             That the Committee note the audit coverage and counter-fraud work completed during the first quarter 2013/14.

ii)            That the Committee confirm that managers’ actions taken during the quarter to address the outstanding recommendations are appropriate.

iii)           That the Committee note the information received from the HR business unit.