Agenda item

To receive and approve the Internal Audit Plan 2013 / 2014

The Chief internal Auditor introduced a report on the draft annual plan for Internal Audit for 2013/14 for consideration by Audit Committee. 

      The following key points within the reports included:

• The draft audit plan, which set out the Work Programme for the Audit Team for 2013/14 took into account a number of factors which included the Strategic Risk Register (SRR); Work Programmes of other Council Committees; set vision for PCC; the transfer of Adult Social Care and Public Health; key areas captured in conjunction with PwC; and Annual Governance and Assurances together with the identification of strategic operational risks and the governance arrangements; 
• A contingency amount had been set aside to manage additional requests from Audit Committee in order to attribute the necessary resources to cope with the extra workload;
• Audit Team’s Charter; and
• In order to provide coverage, an approach was identified for recruitment and the sharing of financial resources;

The Chief Internal Auditor and the Head of Corporate Services responded to comments, questions and concerns raised by Members.  In summary, responses included:

• Operational contracts and partnerships, which had included the enterprise bus contract had been discussed at a recent Sustainable Growth & Environment Capital (SGEC) Scrutiny Committee, where Officers had been present to answer any questions and to respond to comments raised by Members;
• The borrowing levels indentified within the recently approved Medium Term Financial Strategy (MFTS), by Council, had been deemed to be set at appropriate ratio levels;
• Operational contracts and partnerships had been identified as a piece of work to be included in the Internal Audit Plan for 2013/14 and the Committee may request a more detailed report regarding a particular contract if required;
• Plans for the Chief Internal Auditor to spread his services across three Local Authorities would see his time in Peterborough reduced and being covered by the existing team members, subject to recruitment; 
• A recruitment exercise was currently underway for the vacant position within the Audit Team;
• A transition board had been commissioned to manage the transfer of Public Health Services (PHS) to PCC;
• The integration of the PHS into PCC would continue to be monitored by the transition board after 1 April 2013, and it was best practice to include its progress within PCC’s Internal Audit Plan;
• PCC Officers would monitor the various grants received for Council services.  There would be a checks and balance process in place in order to ensure that grants had been received.  This would be followed by an Audit;
• Audits for fixed asset accounting for PCC properties were conducted by Serco and Enterprise Peterborough, who had the appropriate assurances set in place.  PwC had also included the PCC property fixed asset accounting within their external audit plan; and
• Schools chosen to be included in the internal audit plan were chosen from a database on a basis of risk level.

Following responses to questions, Members debated further.  In summary, comments and concerns raised included:

• Officers responses provided at the recent SGEC Scrutiny Committee had not provided satisfactory explanations over the significant increase in the Enterprise bus contract; and
• Caution should be exercised by PCC over the position of some of the Adult Social Care services.

AGREED ACTION:

The Committee:

(i) Identified any areas for further consideration;

(ii) Approved the draft audit plan 2013/14; and

(iii) Noted the contents of the Internal Audit Charter.

The Committee Further Agreed

The Chief Internal Auditor would communicate to CMT the Audit Committees concerns raised regarding PCC Contracts and Partnerships. Concerns raised included:

• The financial increase for the Enterprise Peterborough bus contract; and
• PCC’s financial position in providing some Adult Social Care services.