Agenda item

Report of Internal Audit Manager.

The Internal Audit Manager presented a report to inform the committee of the results of the Internal Audit work and provided an update on the levels of assurance issued for areas audited since they were last considered by the committee on 20 January 2010.

Appendix A to the report provided an updated position on all those audits where the level of assurance had not yet reached ‘reasonable’.

The group were informed that the audit report on ‘Investigation RMS’ had issued an assurance opinion of ‘minimal’. The committee discussed this report in detail, there was some concern that some issues had been highlighted by third parties and questioned whether they should have been picked up by the audit process. The Head of Financial Services advised that since the issue in question had been identified the council had improved its Performance Management Framework, and it was not expected that a similar issue could arise in the future.

The Internal Audit Manager advised the committee that in accordance with the resolutions passed at the previous meeting of the committee on 20 January 2010, the Head of Council Housing had been invited to the meeting to provide a further update and assurance on ‘Income Management (Housing Rents Direct Debit Payments)’, and the Human Resources Manager had been invited to been invited to report on the progress of the Payroll/HR system. Both officers were in attendance at the meeting and the Head of Council Housing was accompanied by Council Housing Services’ Principal Administration Officer.

The Head of Council Housing provided an update to the committee regarding Income Management (Housing Rents Direct Debit Payment), a briefing note on direct debits was provided to the group. It was reported that there had been some issues with the systems used by the service which were outside of the council’s control. It was anticipated that the service would be upgrading to release 45 of Anite in the near future, and that work to introduce automated direct debit payments would commence as soon as possible.

The chair thanked the Head of Council Housing and the Principal Administration Officer for attending the meeting.

The Head of Council Housing and the Principal Administration Officer left the meeting at this point.

The Human Resources Manager reported to the committee on the Payroll/HR system project and on the review of the recruitment policy and procedures. The committee were informed that a “limited” assurance opinion had been provided regarding payroll, reflecting weaknesses in the existing manual system used to manage employees’ changes in circumstances and update payroll records. The audit had recognised that the inefficiency of the manual system was a significant factor and that the implementation of an integrated Payroll/HR system could significantly improve control. Until this system was in place both Payroll and HR had reviewed procedures with a view to improving the accuracy of the records and efficiency of the manual system. The effectiveness of these procedures would be evaluated at a follow-up review scheduled for November 2010. The Human Resources Manager advised the committee that he fully supported the findings of the report.  The Human Resources Manager referred to his previous experience of managing a combined HR and payroll service in explaining the issues to the Committee and outlined how it was proposed to address these in procuring an integrated system.

The Human Resource Manager provided members with a briefing on the council’s approach to workforce planning, a topic on which, under the Use of Resources assessment, the council had been judged as weak.  The briefing made reference to the cultural and managerial aspects of achieving successful workforce planning as well as referring to the associated information and system requirements.

Members felt that the briefing would be interesting and useful for all Councillors and would make a suitable topic for a member briefing session. The Principal Democratic Support Officer agreed to look at incorporating Workforce Planning into the programme of member briefings later in the year.

The Human Resources Manager left the meeting at this point.

The committee were pleased with the progress made regarding Williamson Park, it was reported that a further audit review would be carried out during 2010/11 to assess the effectiveness of the committee in the near future.

The committee were advised that a full report regarding Markets would be presented to the next meeting of the committee.

Resolved:

(1)               That the report be noted.

(2)               That, provided all pending appeals had been completed, Audit Committee request a follow up report for ‘Investigation RMS’ to be presented to the next committee meeting.

(3)               That the Audit Committee request Internal Audit to track progress with systems implementations relating to the ‘Income Management (Housing Rents Direct Debit Payment)’ audit and that this be reported to the next meeting of the committee.

(4)               That the Audit Committee request Internal Audit to track progress with the Payroll/HR system project and that this be reported to a future meeting of the committee.

(5)               That the Audit Committee request Internal Audit to track progress with regard to Workforce Planning and that this be reported to a future meeting of the committee.

(6)               That the Audit Committee recommend Workforce Planning be put forward as a potential topic for one of the member briefing sessions arranged by Democratic Services.