Issue - meetings

To receive the Internal Audit Activity Report.

 The Principal Auditor presented the internal Audit Activity Report which set out the work undertaken by Internal Audit during the period of 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2026, together with an update on the reports previously issued.

During the reporting period, two reports had been issued, one having a limited amber grading and the other having a good green rating.  In relation to the reports previously issued, two follow ups were in progress, three were completed and one had improved to a good green rating.  Two further reports that had a reasonable grading were discussed; no follow up was required on one due to the low-risk recommendations that were in place and a further audit had been scheduled in 2026-2027 for the other.  There were no concerns on the implementation of the recommendations and management continued to make improvements.

In relation to progress against the Internal Audit Plan, from a total of 48 audits, 16 were in progress, 15 had been completed and 16 deferred to the 2026-2027 plan. 

Work continued on commercial contracts with a total of nine academy trusts and two town councils and the team were continually looking for other income opportunities.

The Chair welcomed the report and asked in relation to the audits and the recommendations how difficult it was to revisit the audits and were the teams proficient in looking at the recommendations.

The Principal Auditor confirmed that some recommendations were complex and may take a little longer to implement and there may be a necessity to complete more than one follow-up.  Others were reasonable and good progress had been made and managers took the recommendations seriously.

During the debate, some Members welcomed managers acknowledging the seriousness of the audits and noted the good progress being made.  It was asked if the issue in primary schools could be linked to a lack of knowledge around the accounting system.  Other Members welcomed the ratings and asked what the PSP Register was for and had the work undertaken with academies grown over time.

The Principal Auditor confirmed that schools were improving and they got in touch with the team where there were issues.  Preventative work took place which helped to stop issues occurring.  It was confirmed that the PSP Register was the Health and Safety database for staff visiting high risk members of the public.  In relation to academies, trusts buy in to the council services, some of them were quite large organisations and come from outside the borough.  It was hoped that the council’s good reputation and recommendations would bring forward more business.

Members noted the report.