Agenda item

To receive a report from the Internal Auditor on Internal Audit Progress & Follow-up Report.

Councillor Cushing asked why the Council was not consistently achieving its target timescale for 15 days for responding to complaints and what remedial work was being undertaken.

The Head of Internal Audit undertook to provide a detailed response in writing to the committee on this.

Councillor Bütikofer expressed concern at the number of incomplete actions highlighted in the internal audit report and wanted to see greater progress being made along with an explanation if progress had not been made on why that was.

The Head of Internal Audit commented that once an authority’s senior management team became involved and pushed for improvements it often achieved better results.

Councillor Penfold commented that there were a number of intended to be completed by and it would be good to get more precise implementation dates.

Councillor Cushing in respect of Post Implementation asked whether the missing functionality in the finance system had been updated.

The DoR advised that there was a fixed asset module that hasn’t been implemented yet as it was on a spreadsheet, but the intention was to test it. However, sometimes the amount of work in maintaining the module outweighed the benefit of using it. The budget planner was another module that was being tested as to whether it made the council more efficient.

Councillor Shires pointed out there had been good practice in bringing the software to the council and the IT and Finance departments had worked well to implement it.

Councillor Bütikofer referred to the Council’s Corporate Project management governance arrangements and asked what the current position was.

The DoR stated that three new management boards had been set up with one to address major projects management that would look to use the project management framework to strengthen the governance arrangements.

Councillor Fletcher asked about the 299 incidents in July and August 2023 to the service desk that had not met the service level commitment for response and resolution times.

The DoR advised that it may be due to the time of year and staff being on leave but if it was service critical it would be addressed immediately. Some of the incidents could be minor ones.

Councillor Penfold’s asked whether leave was staggered to ensure that there was sufficient coverage during potentially busy periods.

The Assistant Director Legal and Governance stated that that point would be taken back to the IT team. The report was for reasonable assurance, so it did suggest that was no major critical incidents involved.

Councillor Cushing asked whether for the Income recommendation whether the access to the mail room for ex-employees had been closed down.

The DoR stated that access to that room was regularly assessed and the process for employees leaving the organisation had been strengthened.

Councillor Cushing in respect of Accountancy Services asked whether the authorisation for short term investments had been addressed. The DoR advised that it had.

Councillor Fletcher in respect of property services asked if the outstanding statement from Flagship Housing for 25 Reeves Court, North Walsham had been obtained.

It was agreed that a written response giving more information would be provided.

Councillor Cushing in respect of Civil Contingencies and Business Continuity asked if the review of the outstanding plan had been completed.

The DoR stated that workshops on the plan were being run over the next couple of weeks and the deadline had been extended to the end of July.

Councillor Fletcher asked if the deadline of 30 June 2024 had been achieved for the council to receive its income from Car Park Penalty Charge notices.

The DoR advised that the issue was sometimes getting the information from Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Council. There was currently a service review ongoing that would look at this issue.

Resolved – that (A) the Committee Chair on behalf of the Committee write to the Chief Executive asking for the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team to address the issue of the outstanding recommendations so that

(1) a further report be submitted to the committee meeting on 10 September 2024 showing progress on each of the recommendations, and

(2) Where there has been no progress the relevant senior officer be present at the meeting to answer questions as to why no progress has been made,

(B) the committee receive a written response on why the Council was not consistently achieving its target timescale for 15 days for responding to complaints and what remedial work was being undertaken, and

(C) the committee receive a written response on whether the outstanding statement from Flagship Housing for 25 Reeves Court, North Walsham had been obtained.