To provide the Committee with a periodic report on the Internal Audit function for the period December 2017 to February 2018.

The Committee had before it a periodic report (A.1) on the Internal Audit function for the period of December 2017 to February 2018. The report also set out the key findings and appropriate actions required going forward from the External Quality Assessment (EQA) of the Council’s Internal Audit function.

The Council’s Acting Audit and Governance Manager (Craig Clawson) informed the Committee that the Internal Audit function had been assessed in three areas by the EQA namely -

Resource - Business Vision and Mission, Governance arrangements, Recognition of standards, Guidance, Procedures and Supervision, Terms of Engagement, Ethics and business conduct

Competency - Charter, Internal Audit Manual, Planning and Allocation of staffing, Recruitment (Numbers and skills), Training (Professional and Technical), Appraisal and Development

Delivery - Client engagement and relationship, Directed led service, Terms of Engagement (Audit/Assignment Brief), Discussion of assurance and advisory opinions, Reporting at assignment and strategic levels

The categorisation of recommendations used by the EQWA to understand the level of priority needed for each action were as set out below -

The Committee was informed that the majority of the EQA’s recommendations had been graded as “Consider” and only one recommendation had been graded as “Enhance”.

Appendix A to the report provided an action plan which included all the EQA’s recommendations that had been categorised as “Review” and “Enhance” for review by the Committee. The action plan detailed how the Internal Audit Team would incorporate each recommendation into working practice together with an estimated implementation date.

Members were informed that the EQA reported that the Internal Audit Team were excelling in the area of ‘Resource’ and were established in the areas of ‘Competency’ and ‘Delivery’. The report also stated that: “The internal audit service has responded to the new standards in recent years and has moved towards a common approach that is consistent with the PSIAS [Public Sector Internal Audit Standards].”

The Committee was made aware that the common theme within the report was one of alignment between Internal Audit processes and Risk Management processes in order to provide consistency across the Council in its approach to, and tolerance of, risk.

The Council’s Acting Audit and Governance Manager (Craig Clawson) also informed the Committee that six audits had been completed in the report period of which five had achieved a satisfactory level of assurance and one had received an ‘Improvement Required’ opinion.

Mr Clawson also informed the Committee of the current position in relation to:

(i)         Internal Audit Plan Progress;

(ii)        Quality Assurance;

(iii)       Outcomes of Internal Audit Work;

(iv)      Walton-on-the-Naze Lifestyles; and

(v)       Management response to Internal Audit Findings.

RESOLVED that –

(a)     the actions to be taken by the Internal Audit Team to incorporate recommendations made by the External Quality Assessor be noted; and

(b)     the Internal Audit Plan progress to date be noted.