Report of the Internal Auditor BDO         [report to follow]

Purpose of report: to inform the Committee on progress made against the Internal Audit work plan and on the outcome of their reviews (including within the executive summary reports on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery and Data Analytics).

Recommendation: to discuss and note the report.

The Committee considered the report of the Internal Auditor BDO informing the Committee on progress made against the Internal Audit work plan and on the outcome of their reviews including executive summary reports on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery and Data Analytics.

The Internal Auditor, Yasmin Ahmed, introduced the report. She reported changes to the operational plan agreed at the July meetings:

Reviews delayed for operational reasons

·         Car park review – given the reduced use of council car parks arising from the pandemic this report would be pushed back until later in the year.

·         Homelessness prevention and temporary accommodation – Deferred to later in the year

·         People and Culture – Considered that considerable work is currently being undertaken in this area by the Council and that thjis audit would be better to look at the impact of this work later in the year

·         Highways audit would not take place- the Highways Agency contract with the County Council is currently under review, which may lead to its termination. It is considered that until this is resolved then this work needs to be delayed and depending on the outcome of the review, removed from the programme

Reviews added to the plan

·         Private Rented Sector (PRS) including income collection controls

·         Academy vs Civica Open Revenues (data migration controls and effectiveness). There had been no issues from the changeover from the Academy system to Civica earlier in the month.  

The Committee noted the auditors would review and make recommendations about cash transactions during the PRS audit. They recommended eliminating anything other than electronic payments to landlords through the private rented sector schemes and sought assurance about the security and audit trail for the remaining few cash transactions. They noted the council did not accept cash but directed people to the pay-points at banks or the post office.

Car parking income remained down by 40% mainly due to underuse of the Park and Ride sites and was not expected to recover until 2022/23. Cashless payment options were encouraged over cash. The audit would be delayed until income and occupation levels recovered to allow a complete appraisal.

The Chair raised concerns that loss of contracts in respect of Investigation Services and potentially Highways Agency and less cooperative working with the County Council could lead to a loss of income for Oxford City Council and poorer outcomes for both councils.

The Committee considered the executive summary reports. On the data analytics report, they noted the number and value and delay of retrospective purchase orders was disappointingly high and that the Head of Financial Services would draw this to the attention of the Heads of Service .  

The Head of Financial Services advised that there would be a ‘lessons learned’ report on the QL implementation although a decision as to who would undertake and when it would completed was yet to be made. The Committee recommended that they consider the proposed ‘lessons learned’ report from the QL Aareon implementation once it was complete.

The Committee agreed to note the report and their recommendations:

·         to eliminate cash payments and use only electronic payments to landlords through the private rented sector schemes

·         that the proposed ‘lessons learned’ report from the QL Aareon implementation be presented to the Committee once it was complete

·         That the Head of Finance would draw to the attention of Heads of Service the poor governance around procure to pay and follow this up in future internal audit work