Agenda item

Report by the Chief Operating Officer

23.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided a summary of the major findings from the audit reviews completed during first quarter of 2016/17. 

23.2     The Head of Assurance summarised the audit results in the first quarter. There were only two schools audits completed in this quarter. This is because there is a gap between to the two phases of the school audit work being undertaken by Mazars. The Committee noted that poor audit results from schools is a continuing theme.

23.3     The Head of Assurance outlined that one of the Audit Team’s performance indicators is amber, due to the small number of questionnaires received following audits. He is confident this performance indicator will be green by the end of the year.

23.4     The Chair explained that the Committee do not normally review in any detail partial assurance audit opinions. However, the follow up audit judgements for Pension Fund Processes and Systems, and Direct Payments in Adult Social Care (ASC) have not improved since the last audit and warrant further discussion. The Committee asked the Head of Business Operations to outline the background to the audit outcomes and the measures that have been put in place to address the recommendations of the audits.

Pension Fund Processes and Systems

23.5     The Head of Business Operations explained that the first audit was carried out in 2014/15 at a time when the Pension Team were having problems and were missing targets for Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). This was due largely to having weaknesses in the processes and technology being used, as well as having some team members in the wrong roles. To address these issues, the department launched a two year project to change the Pensions Team, its processes and computer systems.

23.6     The recent audit was an opportunity to get an independent view of the project progress and which identified the need for further improvement. The Pensions Team has now put in place an action plan to implement the recommendations of the recent audit and has been successful in issuing the Annual Pensions Statements and undertaking the triannual revaluation on time. The Pensions Team have continued to improve since the audit.

23.7     The Committee asked a number of questions about work backlogs, the computer system and reconciliation of information with the finance system (SAP), and sought the necessary assurance that these matters had been addressed from the Head of Business Operations.

23.8     The Head of Assurance confirmed that he was happy with proposals that have been made to implement the recommendations from the audit. The Internal Audit Team is involved with providing advice on the introduction of the new computer system and will be auditing new system in the third or fourth quarter this year which will include a further follow up of previous audit recommendations.

Direct Payments (ASC)

23.9     The Head of Business Operations outlined that there are some overlapping concerns between the two audits that had been undertaken, but there were also some new issues that have been identified as part of the most recent audit. Prior to 2014 direct payments went into client’s bank accounts and there was little information available on how the money is spent. The direct payments system has now moved to using pre-paid cards where it is easier to see how the money is spent. So some issues are therefore coming to light for the first time. The department has worked with suppliers (who are external organisations who manage direct payments on behalf of clients) to recover £208,000 of unspent money from client’s accounts.

23.10   In the first audit there were indications that the two departments (Business Services and Adult Social Care) were not working well together. Since that time the Teams have been working very hard together and regularly exchange information. The Head of Assurance confirmed that from the information he has available to him, the teams are working better together.

23.11   The Committee asked if there is any way of monitoring the effectiveness of the Direct Payments system in providing the appropriate care needed. The Head of Business Operations replied that it is difficult to assess if the nature of care expenditure is appropriate to the client’s needs without being social care professional. Business services can monitor expenditure and what the money is being spent on, but cannot monitor the effectiveness of that spending to meet identified needs. The Committee agreed to refer this issue to the Adult Social Care and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee. 

23.12   The Head of Assurance confirmed that he was happy with the proposals that had been made to implement the recommendations of the audit. A follow up to the audit is planned in fourth quarter of the year.

Other Audit Work

23.13   The Committee discussed a number of other issues arising from the first quarter Internal Audit report.

• ContrOCC System. The Committee noted from the audit of the ContrOCC system that there had been problems with providers failing to inform ESCC of the deaths of clients, and a register is now being kept of these providers. The Committee asked officers to note their concern about this issue and provide further information on this when it is next reviewed.

• Property Work pre-contract checks. It was clarified that the improvements in pre-contract financial soundness checks of contractors applied to minor works and not to major contracts. The Chief Operating Officer confirmed that Officers across Orbis are working to resolve this compliance weakness.

• Design and Build Contracts. A member of the Committee raised concerns about the use of design and build contracts, where ESCC might be vulnerable to not achieving contract compliance and value for money. The Chief Operating Officer explained that this approach requires effective client arrangements and relationship management of the contract. The department is addressing this issue via a delivery review and will make note to provide feedback to the Committee. The Committee asked Internal Audit to make a note of this issue for incorporation into future audit plan risk assessments.

23.14   RESOLVED to (1) agree that there are no actions that need to be taken in response to the issues raised in the audits carried out during quarter 1; and

(2) confirm that there are no new or emerging risks for inclusion in the internal audit plan; and

(3) welcome progress so far on the Internal Audit Plan and refer issue of effectiveness of Direct Payment expenditure to the Adult Social Care and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee.