Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit at Stoke on Trent City Council, Claire Potts introduced a report informing Members of the proposed Internal Audit Plan for 202021 and to seek approval on its contents.

Members were advised that the Plan had been prepared prior to the Coronavirus outbreak and some revisions therefore may need to be made.

One of the risks associated with the production of the Plan was the inability to access people for discussions during the lockdown.  The risk assessment could also be subject to change. 

Members attention was drawn to paragraph 2.1 of the report and Appendix A of the report which outlined the work that would be carried out in 2020/21.  The Plan had been produced at the beginning of March.

Some of the audits that had been deferred form 19/20 had been included in th new Plan.

Members were advised that the Draft Internal Audit Charter 2020/21, attached at Appendix B was the same as last year with some minor changes to reflect the revised arrangements for the provision of internal audit services.

Councillor Pickup enquired as to how relevant the Plan was in light of the current situation.  Mrs Potts advised that, due to uncertainty as to when the lockdown would end, it could not be assessed.  However, some of the work could be started at this stage.  The Plan that was in existence at this point in time was the best one under the circumstances.  The Plan would be kept under review and regular updates would be provided to the Committee.

Councillor Pickup referred to the Council’s reserves of which some had been used and asked how much money had been received from the government.

Mrs Potts advised that this was covered in Appendix A under the Corporate heading of Financial Resilience which was on the Plan to be looked at.

Councillor Stubbs asked how the Committee could approve the schedule when there was uncertainty as to what may happen over the next few weeks, adding that it tied the Council to something that could change tomorrow.

Councillor Stubbs asked if a decision could legally be deferred as there was uncertainty as to what the Audit Plan would look like in the next few months.

The interim Executive Director for Resources and Support Services, Jan Willis

advised that internal and external audits had differing remits and financial resilience would be one of the areas focussed upon by the external auditors.  Internal audit focusses on key controls.

If the Council did not have an Audit Plan, even though it could be subject to change, all audit activity would be on hold.  A lot of the Audit Plan covered core financial systems.  One thing that could change may be how some of the audits are prioritised.

The Chair agreed that it was essential to have a starting point.

Councillor Stubbs stated that his concern was to the general public in that the only way they could be kept informed at present was through virtual meetings and published documents.  Councillor Stubbs was happy to go forward but to add somewhere that statutory requirements would be done first.  In addition, he asked that once a cost was known, could this Committee be notified.

Resolved:     (i)         That, in accordance with the Committee’s terms of

reference, the Internal Audit Plan for 2020/21, be approved.

(ii)        That the Internal Audit Charter for 2020/21 which sets out

how the plan will be delivered, be approved.

(iii)       That the Committee receive quarterly reports on the

delivery of the assignments within the plan and on the implementation of actions arising.