Issue - meetings

Report by the Orbis Chief Internal Auditor

23.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Internal Auditor.

23.2     In response to questions about the follow up audit of Building Condition, Russell Banks and Kevin Foster confirmed that its focus would be on whether a schedule of surveys had been put in place and was on track rather than whether the whole estate had been surveyed. Graham Glenn set out that there was a prioritised RAG list of improvements, directed to (A) addressing the Red-flagged issues and (B) preventing Green-flagged issues slipping into Amber status.  The priority list enables informed budgeting. 

23.3     Kevin Foster set out details of the challenges faced by the Property Service and the investment decisions taken in response to the priority list.  The main focus is on customer facing buildings, and Health & Safety concerns (fire safety, legionella, asbestos) of each property.  He further confirmed that the County Council was adapting its service model, to revert to the commissioning model as opposed to the Surrey County Council in-house model used by the Orbis Property Service.  He set out the challenge to recruitment, as the private sector and other authorities are all competing for Surveyors and Project Managers.    

23.4     The Chair requested a short narrative to accompany each School Audit.  Russell Banks agreed to include this in future reports. 

23.5     In respect of HR/Payroll, the Council’s Policy was clarified, in that there are two categories of extra hours: a. Overtime/Additional hours and b. Plain hours 

a. Overtime/Additional hours

i. Overtime hours are extra hours worked that, when added to the employee’s contractual hours are over 37 hours in one week.  Overtime hours, where applicable (see a.iii and a.iv below), are paid at time and a half except on Sundays and/or Bank Holidays when payment is at double time (1.5 or 2 x hourly rate).

ii. Additional hours are extra hours worked over and above an employee’s contractual hours up to 37 hours in one week and are also known as plain hours.  Additional hours are paid at plain time.

 iii. Overtime does not apply to Social Workers, staff paid on or above Single Status Grade 8 or staff covered by the Flexible Working Hours Scheme, other than planned overtime (paid at plain time) with the line manager's permission.  For these staff, additional hours apply and are paid at plain time.

 iv. In addition overtime rates do not apply to employees on LMG salary scales. 

 v. Time of less than half an hour on any day will not be counted as overtime. Overtime will be aggregated for each calendar month and only complete half hours paid for.

vi. For staff in receipt of weekend working increments, if overtime is worked on a Saturday or Sunday the relevant overtime rate still applies.

vii. For Former Weekly Paid Workers - Overtime undertaken on a Sunday is paid at double time with a minimum payment of 2 hours. 

23.6     In respect of Troubled Families, the scope and remit of the Internal Audit Team and of the Audit and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23

Report by the Chief Internal Auditor.

18.1     The Committee considered a report by the Orbis Chief Internal Auditor which presented an update on all internal audit and counter fraud activity completed during Quarter 1 2019/20, including a summary of all key findings.  The report included details of progress on delivery of the annual audit plan and an update on the performance of the service.

18.2     In response to a query about how agreed actions are monitored, the Audit Manager set out that the higher risk actions are subject to tracking, with regular liaison with the relevant management team.

18.3     The Committee requested clarification on the Spydus (Libraries) feeder system to the General Ledger. It was set out that this was a high volume, low value, system operated by the Library Service to monitor book loans, fees and charges. 

18.4     With regard to Waivers the Committee was informed that these were used in circumstances where following the Procurement Standing Orders was not appropriate.  The Chief Operating Officer assured the Committee that each Waiver was subject to advice from Legal Services, and then signed off by the Head of Procurement and the relevant Chief Officer.   

18.5     The Committee RESOLVED (1) to agree that there were no actions that needed to be taken in response to issues raised in the audits carried out in Quarter 1;

(2) to agree that there were no new or emerging risks for consideration for inclusion in the internal audit plan; and

(3) to congratulate the Orbis Internal Audit Service staff on the successful progress against the performance targets.