Agenda item

(To receive a report from Julie Castledine (Principal Auditor) which provides details of Audit work completed up until 12 October 2020; advises on progress on the revised 2020/21 plan; and highlights any other relevant issues)

Consideration was given to a report which provided details of Audit work completed up until 12 October 2020 and advised on progress on the revised 2020/21 plan.

It was reported that 75% of the actions had been completed, 9% of them were not yet due and the remaining 16% had been deferred to a later date.  It was noted that where actions had been delayed, this was due to the implications of Covid-19 and the differing priorities.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         In relation to the Transformation project and business world redesign, it was noted that there have been problems in the past, and it was queried how audit was engaging in development of the project.  It was clarified that the reference to Information Assurance was the Council's Information Assurance team which was led by David Ingham.  This team had been very much involved to ensure that the data being handled in a secure fashion.  In terms of wider assurance, the Executive Directors for Resources and Commercial were on the BW Project Board.   Work was underway to ensure that lessons have been learned.  Payroll was a particular area of interest with a focus on how data was being prepared and transferred before starting to process parallel runs.  It was also noted that Audit also had a presence on the Design Authority and Business Change Governance Boards, and officers were able to give general feedback and highlight reports would be produced.  Transformation Board Meetings were regular and well attended with good engagement from IT.  It was highlighted that there was a wide range of support for this programme.  The first update report would be brought to the meeting of the Audit Committee in February 2021.

·         Concerns were raised regarding resourcing the work in the Plan.  It was queried whether there was the right resource, with the right skills for the right amount of time, and whether the team was on track to deliver the Plan.  The Committee was advised that the Team was able to buy in specialist resource, which included some IT resource which was looking at the digital work.  It was noted that this was something that the Council was planning to expand its resource and skill set in, in the future.  There was awareness that there would be a challenge through winter the months, and time had been incorporated to ensure that there was sufficient time for staff wellbeing.  Some additional resource had also been approved for agency staff.  Whilst there was confidence that the Team had sufficient resources to deliver the agreed plan, given the turbulent and uncertain time it could not be guaranteed that plans and resources would not be affected for the rest of the year. 

·         In relation to a question about future resourcing, the Committee was advised that there was a business plan, which included a talent management programme which included support to existing staff, succession planning, coaching and mentoring.  It was highlighted that meetings took place regularly to look at resourcing. 

·         In relation to the comments made regarding payroll, it was commented that a repeat of the situation when Business World was implemented and changed to Serco needed to be avoided.  It was believed that many of problems at that time were caused by the TUPE of staff, as well as problems with data cleansing.  It was acknowledged that a number of problems had been due to the quality of the data.  However, there was now a clear data cleanse policy which been signed off.  It was also noted that the same staff were being retained and that it was an experienced team. Following further audits, Payroll and HR now had substantial assurance. 

·         In relation to IR35, it was noted that the HR team along with consultant expert, had carried out a lot of work on the process. More detailed guidance was now in place and would shortly be shared with schools and LCC managers.  The issue of guidance had been delayed subject to review of the Hoople process.  It had been established that the process differed very little from the Hoople standard.  Managers should be assessing someone's status for IR35.

·         In terms of payroll, it was noted that it was planned to carry out three parallel runs, and it was noted that there was a very experienced Testing Manager.  The revised plan was due to go to the project board the following week.  It was highlighted that the emphasis was on carrying out quality parallel runs.  There was high confidence that the parallel runs would be of good quality and sufficient.

RESOLVED

            That the outcomes of the Internal Audit Progress Report be noted.