To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenue and Risk and the Audit Manager.
Minutes:
Submitted - the report of the Senior Revenue and Risk
Manager and the Audit Manager.
The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that the
Public Sector Internal Audit Standards requires him to submit his opinion on
the Council’s internal control framework annually. On the basis of the work
that had been completed during 2014/15, the officer was satisfied that Gwynedd
Council had a sound framework of internal control.
It was reported that 87 out of 91 audits in the final
amended internal audit plan had been completed by 31 March 2015, which
corresponded to 95.6% of the plan, against a performance target of 95% for
2014/15.
It was noted that the Controls Improvement Working
Group, that had commenced during 2013/14, had continued with its work of
strengthening the Council’s arrangements to respond to internal audit
reports.
The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that
discussions had been held with the relevant officers following submission of
the draft internal audit plan for 2015/16 at the last meeting on 17 February,
and that the final plan had been included as Appendix 3 of the report.
Attention was drawn to the fact that 3 targets of the
Internal Audit performance indicators for 2015/16 had been reduced for the
following reasons:
·
Real audit days provided for Gwynedd
Council. The number of auditors had reduced from 10 in 2014/15 to 7 in
2015/16. This was agreed by the Council as part of the efficiency savings
schemes.
·
Real audit days provided for external
customers. A service agreement with the Cynefin Group had come to an
end, and there was no security whether a contract with an external customer had
been successfully secured instead.
·
Percentage of the internal audites that
received a category “B” opinion or better. As the number of Council
staff was decreasing, it was anticipated that some internal controls would
weaken. However, it was anticipated that this would be a temporary reduction,
before the Gwynedd Way principles were developed within all the Council's
services.
A member noted regarding the 'Use of Consultants'
audit that would be held in 2015/16, that the ways in which consultants were
appointed should be considered, along with their relationship with officers and
that it should be ensured that the appointment procedure conformed with OJEC
standards. In response to the observations, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager
noted that the work had commenced and that if a member had any concerns in
terms of the appointment of a consultant, they should contact the Audit
Manager.
In response to a member’s observation regarding the
number of days noted for conducting the 'National Fraud Initiative' audit, the
Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that the initiative of comparing the data
of public bodies to prevent fraud had been in operation for several years and
that more time commitment was required from Internal Audit in 2015/16 than in
previous years as the Benefit Fraud Prevention Unit had transferred to the
Department of Work and Pensions since November 2014.
In response to an observation regarding a recent
article in the Daily Post which noted that the Council had written-off debts of
£428,606 after overpaying £1,748,740 in housing benefits between 2012-15, the
Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that every effort was being made to
receive the money that the Council was owed.
The Head of Finance Department added that the Council
had a regulatory procedure to write-off debts, which perhaps could mean that
the proportion was higher than other councils that did not undertake the
exercise as frequently. He noted that the procedure of regularly writing-off
debts was good practice.
RESOLVED to
accept the report as the formal annual report of the Senior Revenue and Risk
Manager and the Audit Manager in accordance with the requirements of the Public
Sector Internal Audit Standards for the 2014/15 financial year.
Supporting documents: