Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director, Corporate Governance, to advise the Committee of the work undertaken during the third 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 considered the progress report for Internal Audit for quarter 3, 2013-14, as circulated. It was noted that this was the last internal audit report from Deloitte and Touche, who had been sold to Mazars with effect from 1 February 2014 – in the short term, it was reported that this would have no impact on the delivery of the internal audit service, however it was confirmed that additional contract monitoring and review would be undertaken in order to ensure that there was no impact on performance and this would be reported on as part of the Head of Audit’s Annual Report. With regards to the investigation of benefit fraud, Anne Woods, Head of Audit and Risk Management, advised that, with the introduction of the DWP’s single fraud investigation service that was proposed for introduction within the next two years, there would be a gap created as the Council lost its right to investigate benefit fraud, but retained the responsibility for administering benefits until such time as the Universal Credit system was implemented.

The Committee asked about the issues identified regarding the procurement audit. Jacquie McGeachie, Interim Head of HR and Organisational Development, advised that, prior to her joining the organisation, there had been little progress made on the Hays Resource Management project, however the project was now at the testing stage, and was due to go live next week. In response to a further question from the Committee, it was confirmed that the contract with Hays included a penalty clause, but that the issues identified were the responsibility of the Council, and not Hays. In response to a question from the Committee regarding the Data Quality Policy, it was confirmed that the updated policy had now been approved. It was agreed that a copy of the updated policy be circulated to all Committee Members.

The Committee sought assurance that there had been no incidents that Members should be aware of with regards to the public mortuary, and it was agreed that the Head of Audit and Risk Management would ask the Assistant Director to confirm this to the Committee.

The Committee asked about 14-19 Provision 2013/14 audit, and noted the small sample size. It was reported that the nature of this audit was a system check, working through every stage of the process, which was why sample sizes were relatively small. It was agreed that the Head of Audit and Risk Management would confirm with the service what follow-up action had been undertaken, and would include this within the follow-up audit report.

In response to a question regarding the performance statistics for benefit overpayments recovered, it was reported that while the actual amount recovered so far this year was well below the £150k target, there was sometimes a time delay in recovering assets. This year, a number of people had been issued by the courts with deadlines for the settlement of amounts owed, including one payment amounting to £250k, and if these were received, the target would be achieved. It was noted that the target had been exceeded in the preceding year. The Committee questioned the value of targets in this area, however it was felt that having targets did help to focus attention on those who had deliberately set out to defraud the benefits system in a criminal manner.

With regard to the data on consultants, the Committee sought clarification on the use of ‘as and when’ to describe the number of days per week worked. It was reported that this related to staff occasionally called on for ad hoc pieces of work, for example the additional testing required in relation to the Housing and Council Tax benefit claim, as reported earlier in the agenda. The Committee asked about the two positions in Children and Families which stated ‘waiting for confirmation of new end date’, and it was reported that these two contracts had now been extended for an additional year, as part of the work on the transformation of the adoption and fostering service.

The Committee noted that appointment to a number of senior posts would be taking place over the next few weeks.

RESOLVED

i)             That the Committee note the audit coverage and counter-fraud work completed and the actions taken during the quarter to ensure audit recommendations are implemented and address the outstanding recommendations during the third quarter, 2013/14.

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