Agenda item

Internal Audit Update Report

Report of the Chamberlain

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Chamberlain providing Members with an update on the work of the Internal Audit that has been undertaken by the CoLP since the last report in May 2017.

 

The Chairman noted that there seemed to be slippage, and that a number of reports appeared to be 6 months out of date.  The Chairman asked for an update on this.   The Chamberlain explained that these outstanding reports are at the stage in which they have yielded some conclusions, but are awaiting discussion with the Commissioner before they can be finalised.

 

The Chairman asked if those marked as RED would have responses confirmed and the recommendations followed up.  A Member stated that RED/AMBER statuses do not provide a tangible feel for the true status, and suggested that increased background information and context would be useful.  The Chamberlain explained that all those marked as completed, had indeed been provided with background information at previous meetings.

 

In reference to paragraph 9, a Member asked for an update on why no security patches had been installed since 2015. The Chamberlain explained that they were working with the IT department on wide ranging issues with the transformation programme, within which this was included.  He explained that old patches do not apply to new technological systems.  He explained that Audit & Risk had just released a report on IT transformation developments.  The Chamberlain suggested that this be circulated to Members. (5)  The Chairman showed his concern over the length of time the It project had been deferred for.

 

The Chairman asked that all the outstanding reports be completed. (6)  The Chamberlain explained that many of the reports were essentially complete, though were awaiting completion of testing with Town Clerk’s department.  He explained that there was a fear of providing inaccurate recommendations if this was not done.

 

A Member suggested that it might be useful to provide a comment on why/who decided that the reports should be deferred.  The Chamberlain explained that in the case of Action Fraud, they were awaiting the Interim Service.  The Chairman requested confirmation that discussion would take place at the end of December 2017, when the interim service ends.  The Chamberlain confirmed that this was the case.

 

The Chamberlain explained that the definition of Project v Programme was crucial due to the definition of costs.  He explained that a Programme was very hard to allocate budgets at high levels.  The Chairman requested that the Chamberlain enter discussion with the Commissioner before updating the report.  He emphasised that it would be very beneficial to the broader agenda.  The Chamberlain confirmed that this would be available at the next meeting. (7)

 

The Chairman noted an error within the table of the report where the total red column was populated by “Green” and “Amber”, rather than digits.  The Chamberlain confirmed that in both cases, the table should read “0”.

 

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

 

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