Agenda item

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The Senior Internal Auditor presented the recommendation follow up report to the Committee. He highlighted there was positive progress since the last report to the Committee in May 2024. He added 59 recommendations have been completed and 72 recommendations remain overdue which included 6 high priority recommendations. He brought to the Committee’s attention the follow up process was outline in Section 2 of the report along with Table 1 at 3.1 of the report outlines the position of the recommendations as of the 25^th October 2024.

The Senior Internal Auditor referred to page 55 of the agenda and explained Figure 1 was a direct comparison to the last position present to the Committee and show the position for high and medium overdue recommendations by 100 days and by 365 days or more. He referred to section 4 of the report highlights the outstanding risks association with overdue recommendations. He advised appendices 1 and 2 provide the outstanding high and medium recommendations in further details. He brought to the Committee’s attention the Senior Leadership Team would be discussing the outstanding recommendations at their meeting on the 19^th November 2024.

The Chair invited comments and questions from the Committee.

The Chair, Councillor Ryves commented he was disappointed there was still a high number of outstanding recommendations and hoped there was more progress.

Councillor Bearshaw commented the recommendations were overdue but understood the outstanding recommendations were big projects. He sought clarification on forecasting the deadline date, so the recommendations were no longer overdue and a more realistic measure.

In response to Councillor Bearshaw comment the Assistant Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer agreed to discuss this with the Senior Leadership Team.

Councillor de Winton recognised that a number of the overdue recommendations were not in control of the Borough Council. He referred to page 59, the procurement and contract management audit which was a high overdue recommendation was not in the control of the Borough Council due to awaiting implementation of new legislation. He questioned if a disclaimer could be added to the report to highlight this was out of the control of Borough Council. He commented his disappointed the outstanding recommendation on page 66, the accounts receivable audit.

The Senior Internal Auditor agreed the report would be reviewed to see if this could be possible to be included in the next update to the Committee for outstanding recommendations which were out of the control of the Borough Council.

Councillor Long agreed with Councillor de Winton Comments and commented there was only concern for the outstanding recommendations with no external factors. He referred to the King’s Lynn Transport Strategy and commented it was positive to see progress had been made. 

The Assistant Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer responded to Councillor de Winton comment regarding the accounts receivable outstanding recommendation. She advised the Committee, in terms of the debt write off’s, the team were trying to get the finance system to generate a report and explained it was not a simple process in which the team had originally anticipated. She added an alternative method was being considered which meant the data would be manipulated into a format which can realistically be reviewed and updated. She brought to the Committee’s attention this was the reasoning for the report to Senior Leadership Team. 

The Chair, Councillor Ryves referred to page 62 which outlined the Car Parking and Civil Enforcement recommendation and questioned the latest response included capacity issues had delayed the process.

The Assistant Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer confirmed she would provide a robust response from the Assistant Director for that directorate.

Councillor Bearshaw provided an update on the King’s Lynn Transport Strategy and advised it was deferred on the Regeneration and Development Panel work programme and advised he hoped it would be an item for the forthcoming Regeneration and Development meetings. He added instead of the outstanding recommendations to be included in the report in the order of risk.

Councillor Devulapalli asked if some of the recommendations were still relevant and referred to page 66, the accounts receivable recommendation. 

The Assistant Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer provide clarification to Councillor Devulapalli and explained this was being monitored within the finance team and there was not a report for Senior Leadership Team currently. She explained further, in detail the Power Bi application takes information from an excel spreadsheet which can be manipulated and subject to human error. She added the aim was to get the report directly extracted from the finance system.

Councillor Bearshaw sought clarification on which 6 high priority recommendation would get looked at first based on risk.

The Senior Internal Auditor referred the Committee to Appendix 1 which outline the high priority recommendations. He explained it is difficult to prioritise the recommendations considered as high priority as they are within multiple directorates. He advised once the number of recommendations were manageable reprioritising them could be considered. 

Councillor Long commented some recommendations were risks to be concerned of however some were political priorities such as the King’s Lynn Transport Strategy and expressed his concern for the impact on the public if this was not delivered.

The Monitoring Officer highlighted and provided assurance to the Committee; one of the Chief Executive main priorities was to address the outstanding recommendations.

Councillor Morley, Portfolio Holder highlighted some of the recommendations were strategic and some were out of the control of the Borough Council such as the procurement and contract management awaiting legislation to be sanction.

RESOLVED: The Audit Committee received the Internal Audit Follow Up of Outstanding Recommendations report and considered the progress being made across the organisation to close outstanding internal audit recommendations.