Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on progress achieved in implementing recommendations arising from audits carried out in 2008/09, and significant issues arising in audits carried out in the first half of 2009/10.

1.2. The report summarises:

· Progress against the Hampshire County Council internal audit plan for 2009/10.

· Significant matters arising from 2009/10 internal audit work.

· Priorities for the remainder of 2009/10.

2. Contextual Information:

2.1. The 2009/10 internal audit plan was prepared in line with the updated internal audit strategy that was approved by the Governance Committee in December 2008. The original plan totalled 4,082 days and, in addition, 375 days of work in progress was carried forward from last year. The table below shows that we are on course to deliver the revised audit plan during the year as we have delivered 59% of the 2009/10 plan as at 31 October. Delivery of work in some departments was frontloaded in the first six months of the year to maximise scheduling opportunities and to take account of both departmental and audit staff availability.

Table 1 - summary of audit days delivered 1 April 2009 to 31 October 2009:

	Days
Previous year carry forward		375
2009/10 agreed audit plan	4,082
Net variations to the plan	-120
Revised plan for 2009/10		3,962
Total for 2009/10		4,337
Actual days delivered		2,579
Percentage of revised plan delivered		59%

2.2. A summary of the audit opinions given to date for each department is included in Appendix 1.

2.3. The 2008/09 annual internal audit opinion reported to members of the Governance Committee in June 2009, concluded that Hampshire County Council has an appropriate framework of control that provides reasonable assurance regarding the effective, efficient and economic achievement of the County Council's objectives. Audit testing showed controls to be generally working in practice.

2.4. The 2009/10 internal audit plan includes time to follow-up issues raised in 2008/09 and work is in progress in some areas to provide assurance to management over the effectiveness of the actions taken. The results of this work will be included in the annual internal audit opinion which will be presented to members in June 2010.

3. Significant matters arising from 2009/10 internal audit work

3.1. Details of the main issues identified between April and October 2009 are given in appendix 2 which is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 7 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. Appropriate action has been agreed by relevant managers to address these issues and progress is being monitored.

Irregularities

3.2. Eight new cases of potential irregularity were reported to us in the period to 31 October 2009, however in one instance we found that there was no case to answer. The remaining cases have been or are being investigated.

3.3. Proactive fraud detection work is also being undertaken in accordance with our programme. Investigation of the data matches reported by the Audit Commission's National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise for 2008/09 have also continued. To date, the NFI exercise has not identified significant levels of fraud or savings in Hampshire and the outcomes therefore continue to contribute to the overall positive assurances that we are able to provide.

4. Priorities for the remainder of 2009/10

4.1. During the period to 31 October 2009, internal audit work focused mainly on establishment visits, departmental systems, investigations and completing work in progress from 2008/09. During the remainder of the year, internal audit attention will turn to key financial systems reviews. This is to allow audit samples to be drawn from a greater number of transactions by utilising work done in the first half of the year.

4.2. In line with the internal audit strategy and other reports to members on monitoring compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance, internal audit work is also in progress to provide an opinion on the effectiveness of corporate governance and the extent of compliance in departments and the County Council as a whole. The scope of this work will include corporate procurement, partnerships, data quality, information management and service planning. It will be informed by a new officer group which has been set up to coordinate the various aspects of the Council's business which impact in a cross-cutting manner on corporate governance. The results of this work will be included in the annual internal audit opinion for 2009/10 which will be presented to members in June 2010.

5. Recommendation

It is recommended:

5.1. That the Audit Committee approves the progress of internal audit work during 2009/10 and decides if further follow-up action is required for the key issues arising from that work.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

.

Other Significant Links

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. Equality objectives are not considered to be adversely affected by the proposals within this report.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. The proposals in this report are not considered to have any direct impact on the prevention of crime

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

No specific changes.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

No specific proposals affecting adaptation to climate change.