Issue - meetings

The Head of Internal Audit, Veritau, presented a report to seek the initial views of Members on priorities for internal audit work during 2023/24 to help inform the preparation of the annual internal audit work programme.

The table at figure 1 on page 3 of the submitted report, included some initial ideas on areas for consideration for audit in 2023/24.  These were included to prompt discussion and were not intended to be a definitive or complete list of areas that could be reviewed.

The committee’s views were sought about areas they considered a priority for audit in 2023/24.   This might include particular areas listed in figure 1 that should be a high priority (or that may be less important) or any other areas which should be considered for audit.

A Member suggested that consideration should be given to adding Enforcement Action under other risks relating to service areas such as licensing and environmental health. 

Ongoing work continued in a number of audit areas following the last progress report to Committee in December 2022.  In particular, audits on senior management reviews and the Middlesbrough Development Company (MDC) were nearing conclusion.  A Member commented that a decision had been recently made which referred to information contained in the audit report on the MDC.  The Auditor confirmed that discussions were ongoing to resolve some of the final elements of the report.

An initial draft audit report had been shared with officers on senior management reviews which outlined Internal Audit’s findings. Veritau was awaiting a management response before the work could be finalised.

A summary of the issues identified as part of the audit of the governance arrangements in place for the Middlesbrough Development Company, was circulated to officers in November 2022.  Work had continued since and at the time of writing, a draft report was expected to be issued to officers imminently. 

Mixed progress had been made towards completing two audits within Children’s Services which were expected to be reported to the March committee.  An audit of commissioning had proven difficult to complete due to officer availability.  It was hoped to be able to produce a draft report in the near future.  Similarly, an audit of demand management (incorporating budget management) had been difficult to progress due to a number of officer changes in the relevant service area.   It was hoped to agree a specification with the new officers in the coming weeks.

AGREED as follows that:

1.         The report was received and noted

2.         Progress on ongoing audit work was noted.

3.         Consideration was given to adding Enforcement Action under the other risks to Service Areas audits.