Report of: the internal auditor BDO

Purpose of report: to inform the Committee on progress against the 2018-19 audit plan.

Recommendation: to discuss and note the report.

Councillors Gant and Lygo left just prior to the start of this item.

The Committee considered the report of the internal auditor setting out progress made against the 2018/19 internal audit plan and executive summaries of two audit reports. Gurpreet Dulay (BDO) presented the report and the auditors’ findings.

The Committee noted the report.

Report of: the internal auditor BDO

Purpose of report: to inform the Committee on progress against the 2018-19 audit plan.

Recommendation: to discuss and note the report.

The Committee considered the report of the internal auditor BDO setting out progress made against the 2018/19 internal audit plan and executive summaries of three audit reports.

Greg Rubins (BDO) presented the report and answered questions.

The Committee noted that the Fusion partnership report would be finalised and brought to the March meeting. The Scrutiny Committee would be given information on the robustness of Fusion’s usage statistics.

The Committee noted the report.

Report of: the internal auditor BDO

Purpose of report: to inform the Committee on progress against the 2018-19 audit plan.

Recommendation: to discuss and note the report.

The Committee considered the report of the internal auditor BDO setting out progress made against the 2018/19 internal audit plan and the summaries of completed audits.

Gurpreet Dulay, internal auditor, presented the report and he and officers present answered questions on the audit summaries.

Car parking

·         The Committee noted that income would be considerably lower than forecast in their 2018/19 budget.  In case where payment machine faults were not rectified within two hours there was an alternative machine available so no loss of income should result.

Risk Management

·         The process was sound but there were inconsistencies in applying and evaluations risk ratings and there should be more emphasis on managing and mitigating risks.

·         Refresher training would be offered to encourage consistent application of the process and ratings across the council.

·         The risks around major capital projects were reviewed periodically by the relevant project board to ensure these were still relevant and appropriate mitigation was in place. The audit had looked at the processes and management around evaluation of risks on the project and on other areas of the council’s work.

·         Only risks with a very significant impact and which this council could mitigate were listed as corporate risks. Risks associated with the Oxfordshire Growth Deal did not currently meet the criteria and so were not included.

Members’ allowances and individual budgets

·         The Committee supported  having appropriate post –payment checks that awards from ward member budget and CIL were used as intended.

·         A recommendation to stop rolling over unused ward member budget and CIL into the following year had not been accepted, as councillors wanted to have the flexibility to save over several years for larger projects.

Income generation

·         The findings, recommendations and actions taken from this advisory work were noted.

Budget management

·         This reported on the budget preparation and monitoring processes.

·         Adding in the council’s companies greatly increased the complexity of the process.

·         Setting budgets earlier created as many risks as managing the more complex work within the current timetable.

·         No formal training was provided to budget holders and heads of service but advice and assistance was offered on budget setting and management.

The Committee noted the report, the presentation, and the answers to their questions.

Councillor Rush left the meeting before the end of this item.

Report of: the internal auditor BDO

Purpose of report: to inform the Committee on progress against the 2018-19 audit plan.

Recommendation: to discuss and note the report.

The Committee considered the report of the internal auditor BDO setting out progress made against the 2018/19 internal audit plan.

Gurpreet Dulay and Yasmin Ahmed, internal auditors, in presenting the report and in answer to questions reported:

·         The review on staff retention (no 10) would focus purely on retention activities and should be reported to the next meeting.

·         The review of the capital programme management (no 7) would include the ‘capital gateway’ system for managing these projects.

·         The review of payroll admin raised 3 moderate actions. As part of one of these, spot checks on submitted forms would be carried out to ensure accuracy.

The Committee noted the report.