Agenda item

To receive a report by the Internal Audit and Risk Manager regarding the annual report and opinion of the Internal Audit Service.

As required by the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) the Panel was provided with an Annual report and opinion (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) by the Internal Audit and Risk Manager on the work undertaken by Internal Audit during the period 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015 to support the opinion statement that the Council’s internal control environment and systems of internal control as at 31st March 2015 provide adequate assurance over key business processes and financial systems. 

The Panel was informed that 21 audits had not been delivered due to the loss of 147 auditor days during the year. The reasons for this were listed in the Officer’s report which included an Auditor post being vacant from mid October 2014 and being unable to recruit a suitable person or source cover arrangements with another authority or the Internal Audit Contractor.

It was highlighted to the Panel that an Audit which had raised particular concern related to the E-Recruitment software system which was managed by LGSS.  The Auditors had ‘read only’ access to the software and therefore could only undertake a limited amount of testing and had to rely on gathering evidence from discussions with Recruiting Managers and successful Applicants.  As no assurance had been received from LGSS that the system was working as intended, and without sufficient testing evidence, it was not possible to issue an opinion on the effectiveness of the E-Recruitment system.

The Annual Report also referred to the previously advised problems encountered whilst migrating the SharePoint based systems and the loss of data stored within the Audit Actions Database.  The system was not currently operational to enable Officers from all services to input data directly into the system and it was unlikely to be in the near future.  Therefore Internal Audit had been advised to source commercial software externally.

The Panel discussed at length issues surrounding the E-Recruitment software system.  The Panel were informed that the Employment Panel were equally unhappy with the performance of the system and had been for some time.  The Corporate Team Manager was currently liaising with LGSS in order to address the various issues.  However, the Council was tied into a two year contract.  It was explained that whilst interviewing a number of successful candidates on their experiences of using the E-Recruitment software, Internal Audit were informed by a number of individuals that they had contemplated abandoning the application due to the software.  The Panel expressed strong concerns regarding the inadequacies of the LGSS E-Recruitment system.

Having to purchase commercial software externally to record Audit Actions would have cost implications and the Panel enquired of the likely costs. The Panel was informed that following cursory investigations the cost was likely to be in the region of £6500.

The Panel were informed that an Auditor had been recruited to the vacant post and was already commencing three of the audits listed within the report as not having been undertaken.  It was expected that the 2015/16 Audit Plan would be delivered if there are no further resourcing issues.

In response to a question the Head of Resources assured the Panel that those audits listed within the Officer’s report as having not been undertaken were not a cause of concern and that the audits had been prioritised correctly.

The Panel referred to the table listed within the Officer’s report that provided information on the audits reports and the assurance opinion issued.  It was explained that there were four different levels of assurance and the definitions were included within the report.

The Panel considered and noted the report having taken account of the Internal Audit and Risk Manager’s opinion when considering the Annual Governance Statement for 2014/2015 and 

RESOLVED

to note the report.