Agenda item

Members are asked to consider and note the Annual Report of the Head of Internal Audit 2021-22, along with the counter fraud and information governance work undertaken during the year.

Also, to note the outcome of the internal audit quality assurance and improvement programme and the confirmation that the internal audit service conforms with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards

The Committee received the report, presented by the Audit Manager, Veritau, which provided a summary of the internal audit work undertaken in 2021-22, along with an opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and internal control.

The report also set out the counter fraud and information governance work carried out during the year 2021-22.

The Audit Manager, Veritau confirmed that the overall opinion of the Head of Internal Audit on the governance, risk management and control framework operated by the Council was that it provided Reasonable Assurance. 

Members noted that at the beginning of 2021-22, the Council had been recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its working practices and, since then significant and increasing resource had been redirected to the preparations for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

The Committee heard that the report included the outcome of Veritau’s internal audit Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme, it was explained that the Internal Charter set out how internal audit at the Council would be provided in accordance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS).  It was noted that between autumn 2020 and autumn 2021, Veritau had undertaken a fundamental review of internal audit practices which had resulted in the development of a new three-year strategy that detailed how the internal audit service would be improved.

The Audit Manager, Veritau advised, that based on the results of the quality assurance process the Head of Internal Audit had concluded that the internal audit service provided by Veritau generally conformed to the PSIAS.  

The Corporate Fraud Manager, Veritau presented the section of the report related to the Council’s counter fraud activity in 2021-22, which highlighted that actual savings of £16k had been achieved through fraud investigation; in addition, warnings were issued to two individuals for failing to provide information in relation to the Single Person Discount, and investigation work had assisted in the recovery of a council owned property.

The Committee heard that there had been a change in the type of fraud investigations carried out by the counter fraud team in 2021-22, with the highest proportion of cases, at 43%, in relation to suspicions of Council Tax related fraud; while Covid-19 grant fraud had reduced in number to 29% of cases.

The Committee noted that in addition to the fraud work carried out, Veritau had shared intelligence updates from their work with other local authorities and national contacts to alert officers to potential identities and bank accounts which had been used to commit fraud.

Members acknowledged that the threat of cybercrime had increased in 2021-22 as Councils and other organisations were targeted by increasingly sophisticated frauds.  It was noted that to help combat this trend following an increase in mandate fraud noted both regionally and nationally, the counter fraud team had worked with officers to review and update processes within the Council to prevent fraudsters re-directing payments.   

The Audit Manager, Veritau presented the section of the report related to the information governance work carried out during 2021-22, which highlighted the progress made with the reviews of the Council’s Information Asset Register and Privacy Notices, completion of work to enable compliance with surveillance regulation and ongoing work to support the Council with information requests and information incidents.

RESOLVED:

To note the reports.