Agenda item

Report CE0 1208

The Sub-Committee considered a summary of recent internal audit activity across the Council. The following matters were considered in particular:

Social Care Payments – The Head of Audit advised that he had nothing to add to this matter and it had been treated as a normal audit. However he was not sure that the list being investigated was exhaustive and he undertook to ensure that there had been no further over-payments. A decision had been made that the new Executive Director of Education and Care Services would be involved in progressing this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

Following a question from a Member the Head of Audit undertook to check if the Christmas grant payment had been recovered.

Direct Payments – This recommendation was primarily in respect of a lack of monitoring information, mainly in the area of Children and Young People, that had not been received from clients in receipt of direct payments. The Deputy Director of Finance confirmed that controls had been put in place and returns of direct payments had to be made within 4 weeks. The CareFirst system was monitoring the repayment and direct payments would automatically be stopped if the excess payment had not been recovered.

Emergency Accommodation and Rent Arrears – The Head of Audit reported that there were still some problems with arrears. However the personal charge element had now been resolved and was being charged back to the service.

Primary School – It was noted that there had been poor record keeping at the school in question and the school had been notified of this weakness.

Audit Activity – In relation to academies, the Head of Audit reported that a total of twelve academies (primary and secondary schools) had requested the services of the Council as responsible officers. It was noted that new requirements on academies required that the responsible officer could only be an unpaid Governor of the Academy Trust.

Housing Benefit Update – The Head of Audit advised that the Single Fraud Integrated Service (SFIS) timetable process had been delayed until April 2014.

Future of Public Audit – The report advised that following a decision to disband the Audit Commission, the draft Bill set out the Government’s vision for a new local audit framework where bodies would be able to appointment their own auditors from an open and competitive market, on the advice of an independent auditor panel.

Appendix E (page 40) – The Head of Audit advised that the drop in numbers of cases was a distortion caused by NFI.

Appendix B – Waivers – Following a question about the entry for Special Educational Needs and Disability Services a waiver of £247,014 for therapy provision within schools, the Portfolio Holder for Education explained that this was due to the contract being extended for one year.

In relation to an Renewal and Recreation entry for Health and Safety (£870,000) for occupational health services, the Finance Director advised that this was Section 106 monies which the Council had 5 years to spend. This was a way of retaining the monies with the Council and the spend would be subject to the Council’s conditions being met.

Cumulative Spend —The Head of Audit advised that, following a request from the Finance Director to audit the cumulative spend report, this audit had been completed. Internal Audit had examined any expenditure with a three year cumulative spend of £200k to verify if there were supporting contracts, SLAs or waivers. The Internal Audit report concluded that there were a number of cases that needed to be examined further by management in ECS and Procurement.

RESOLVED that:

(a)  the report be noted;

(b)  the Priority One Recommendations be noted;

(c)  waivers issued over the period February 2012 to September 2012 be noted;

(d)  the continuing achievements of the counter fraud benefit partnership with the London Borough of Bromley be noted; and

(e)  the cumulative spend exercise outcome be noted.