Witnesses:
David John, Audit
Manager
Russell Banks,
Orbis Chief Internal Auditor
Key
points raised during the discussion:
-
The Audit
Manager introduced the report and provided a summary:
·
Of the 13 formal audits in quarter 1, 2 received
minimal assurance which were: Schools
Safeguarding Arrangements and the
Surrey Pension Fund Administration.
·
More specifically, minimal assurance was given to
the School Safeguarding Team due to significant control weaknesses
within the way the team previously operated, exacerbated by
large-scale staffing changes as a result of the directorate
restructure.
·
Surrey Pensions Fund Administration received that
level of assurance due to long-term weaknesses in process and
control, and inefficiencies in team working practices. To address
this, there was a new interim Pensions Manager appointed and a
Governance Board was set up between Finance, Audit and Pensions
Teams which continues to track recommendations. Deadlines for
agreed actions would not be met due to resourcing and complexity,
with the follow up audit now scheduled in quarter 3.
-
Members were concerned that only 1 out of 13 audit
reports in quarter 1 received substantive assurance and asked how
these compared to last year and how they were being addressed. In
response, the Audit Manager commented that it was partly positive
as it showed audit resource was focussed on the highest risk areas,
which was indicative of a good relationship between senior
management and Internal Audit. The Orbis Chief Internal Auditor noted that this
pattern of assurance mirrored that of his 2018/19 Annual Audit
Opinion for the Council, overall which was Partial
Assurance.
-
The Audit Manager notified the Committee that a
verbal update relating to the follow-up audit for Surrey Pension
Fund Administration could be reported to the Committee in
December.
-
In
response to the Orbis Chief Internal
Auditor proposing that someone from the service concerning
the Schools Safeguarding Arrangements would
report to the Committee, Members agreed that the Chairman
would write to the Chairman of the Children,
Families, Life-long Learning and Culture Select Committee drawing
attention to the report.
-
The Audit Manager responded to a Member query by
stating that there were no historical records prior to 2017
concerning Schools Safeguarding Arrangements
due to bad practice. The majority of records were kept
on email and those records were lost when staff left
the team as there was no central repository.
It was hoped that the new IT platform would resolve that issue once
it was approved.
-
In
response to a Member query, the Orbis
Chief Internal Auditor and the Audit Manager informed the Committee
that the problem of self-assessment questionnaires not being
submitted by the school safeguarding team was being addressed. A
new online tool was purchased to allow self-evaluation of
safeguarding arrangements which logged records
centrally.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
-
A13/19
- The Audit Manager notified the Committee
that a verbal update relating to the follow-up audit for Surrey
Pension Fund Administration could be reported to the Committee in
December.
-
A14/19 -
The Chairman would write to the Chairman of the Children, Families, Life-long
Learning and Culture Select Committee drawing attention to the
report on the Schools Safeguarding
Arrangements.
RESOLVED:
That the Committee noted the
report and considered that no further action was required in
response to issues raised.