Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Finance (DF/22/55).

The Committee reviewed and considered the Report of the Director of Finance (DF/22/55) of the Annual Internal Audit Report for 2021/22, which provided the end of year opinion of the Council’s Internal Audit Service (Devon Audit Partnership) and described the progress against the internal audit plans for 2021/22 that were approved by the Audit Committee in February 2021 and as subsequently revised.

Overall, the Head of Internal Audit was able to issue an opinion of Reasonable Assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control framework within the County Council.

Responses to Members’ questions included:

·         Following the 2021-22 audit, Learn Devon now had an assurance opinion of Reasonable Assurance, as against the No Assurance opinion in 2020-21.

·         The risk area of ‘Highways – Well maintained highways infrastructure – follow up’ would be reported on at the next Committee meeting, following further audit work.

·         Key concerns to be followed up in 2022-23 included Direct Payments in both Children’s and Adult Services; and SEND in Children’s Services.

·         Cyber security remained a concern, but close working between internal audit and the Council’s IT team took place on a regular basis to ensure mitigation of risk.

·         The Advisory work undertaken on ‘Embedding Mental Health – Prevention Concordat’ had now concluded, therefore, Public Health were now in a position to take this forward.

·         Future reports would include a new format to state how long an area had been ‘red’.

Members noted the report.

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/247)

RESOLVED that

a)    the overall annual assurance opinion be reviewed and considered by the Committee;

b)    the performance of Devon Audit Partnership be reviewed and considered by Members during the year;

c)    the outcomes of the work completed be reviewed and considered; and

d)    the ongoing commitment to counter fraud activities be reviewed.

The Committee considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/47) of the Internal Audit Annual Report for 2020/21 which provided the end of year opinion of the Council’s Internal Audit Service (Devon Audit Partnership) and described the progress against the internal audit plans for 2020/21 that were approved by the Audit Committee in February 2020 and as subsequently revised.

The Report offered an update on the overall impact of COVID-19, namely that the internal audit plan for the Council had been altered to take account of the refocusing of service staff on COVID pandemic response activity.

Two areas had been highlighted as having No Assurance. These were:

·         Community Equipment Budget, where the Assurance Opinion indicated Fundamental Weaknesses (with a green Direction of Travel Assurance); and

·         Learn Devon, where the Assurance Opinion indicated No Assurance owing to a systemic problem of ongoing poor practice that needed to be addressed.

These areas, alongside Limited Assurance areas, were to be followed up on to ensure improvements, and reported on at a later date.

Overall, the Head of Internal Audit was able to issue an opinion of Reasonable Assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control framework within the County Council.

Members’ discussion focused on the impact of COVID-19 on the work of the Devon Audit Partnership. It was explained to the Committee that, by necessity, extensive testing of business continuity plans and reviews of incident plans had been undertaken to prevent future disruptions akin to those that had been caused by the pandemic.

It was MOVED by Councillor Berry, SECONDED by Councillor Roome and

RESOLVED that

a)    the overall annual assurance opinion be reviewed and considered by the Committee;

b)    the performance of Devon Audit Partnership be reviewed and considered by Members during the year;

c)    the outcomes of the work completed be reviewed and considered; and

d)    the ongoing commitment to counter fraud activities be reviewed.