Issue - meetings

To examine the progress made between 29 July 2021 to 1 November 2021 in relation to the completion of the Internal Audit Plan 2021/22. (report of the Head of Internal Audit enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Internal Audit for South Holland District Council which examined the progress made between 29 July 2021 and 1 November 2021 in relation to the completion of the Internal Audit Plan for 2021/22.

The officer introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

• Point 3.1 showed that 47.5 days of work had been completed which had represented 24% of the agreed work on the internal audit plan;
• Section 4.4 highlighted completed areas which had included a final report which related to Covid Business Grants. This had given an assurance rating of ‘substantial’ with two low priorities findings outlined in Appendix 2;
• Section 5 outlined the performance measures of the Eastern Internal Audit Services contractor. Point 5.3 detailed a progress summary by the Head of Internal Audit which highlighted the large volume of work which had still to be undertaken in Q3 and Q4. Resources to complete the plan may need to be reviewed and anticipated shortfalls reported to the Committee;
• Appendix 1 detailed the whole plan and progress that had been made to date;
• Appendix 2 outlined the summary which related to Covid-19 Business Grant arrangements.
  • sound controls had been in place which had operated consistently;
  • internal procedures and checklists had assisted the application process; and
  • pre-payment assurance steps had been pro-actively built into the process which had identified fraud risks. As a result, there had been zero incidences of suspected fraud;
  • two recommendations had been noted should the Government be required to administer future grant schemes.

AGREED:

That the report be noted.