Agenda item

To note the annual assurance report for 2008/09.  Under the CIPFA Code of Practice for Internal Audit in Local Government, the Head of Audit is required to provide an annual assurance report timed to support the Annual Governance Statement which accompanies the Council’s annual accounts.  

The Committee considered the Head of Audit and Risk Management’s Annual report which set out the Head of Internal Audit’s Opinion for 2008/09. It was noted that the Annual Governance Statement was supported by the Annual Assurance Report. The report summarised the results and conclusions of Internal Audit’s work for 2008/09 and took assurance from other independent sources such as the External Auditors and inspections carried out by a number of independent review agencies.

The audit plan for 2008/09 had been fully delivered although the plan had been altered to respond to changes in risk. 105 reports had been finalised with 5 in draft awaiting final agreement.

The Members expressed deep concerns regarding the significant control weaknesses identified in Birch Hill School and Binfield Primary due to the issues relating to seeking references and completion of CRB checks. It was noted that these were raised to Priority 1 recommendations due to the high risk involved and were then followed up with a further audit to check improvements had been implemented.

The Committee raised concerns about the issue of non-payment by Berkshire East PCTs for their contribution to the pooled budget for Intermediate Care – Community Response and Reablement. Members were concerned about the lack of robust action and believed that the issue should be escalated.

The Committee noted that no assurance was given in the Major Contract Review – Procurement and that an Action Plan had been developed to address the identified issues and was being monitored by officers and Members on an ongoing basis.

89 quality questionnaires had been received and the overall response was positive. Members were advised that guidelines for the auditee and timescales for responses to the auditor were provided to staff involved in audits. The Committee felt that it was not a valid complaint that the Head teacher was not available as it was felt that this should be a priority for the school’s management team.

The Committee was advised that the Internal Audit Service had been retendered and had been awarded to H W Controls and Assurance who would be delivering the contract for three years from 1 April 2009 with a possible extension of 1 year.

The Committee noted that the authority had participated in the submission of mandatory data to support the National Fraud Initiative by the Audit Commission.

Of 1,259 housing benefit cases identified by the National Fraud Initiative 258 were investigated. The Committee discussed the difficulties in recovery of overpayments. It was confirmed that the authority’s investigative powers were used to follow up on fraud suspicions. Proactive visits were also undertaken to check where there had been changes in claimants circumstances. A Overview and Scrutiny working group were also looking into this area of work.

The Members discussed the investigation into the sale of scrap metal and noted that the identified weakness in handling waste at the depot had been addressed.

RESOLVED that the Head of Audit and Risk Management’s Annual Report setting out the Head of Internal Audit Opinion for 2008/09 be noted.