To receive a report.

The Audit Manager, City of Lincoln Council, presented to Members the Internal Audit Progress Report Quarter 1 which covered the period February 2022 to July 2022, pages 3 to 23 of the agenda refer.

The purpose of the report was to provide Members with details of the audit work completed during the period, to advise on progress with the 2021/22 plan and to raise any other matters that may be relevant to the Audit Committee role.

It was noted that in this period 7 reviews had been completed with the following assurances: -

SELCP

• Workforce Plan – Substantial
• Patch Management – Substantial
• Carbon Reduction – Substantial
• Towns Fund- Consultancy

ELDC

• Contract Management – Substantial
• ICT- User Education and Awareness – Substantial
• Payroll – Substantial

In terms of work in progress for the South East Lincolnshire Partnership (SELCP) the following update was provided: -

• Flood Management – a report had been issued
• Key controls – this was nearly finished
• S106 agreements – a report had now been issued
• Invest East Lindsey – a report would be submitted to November Committee
• Payroll- this audit had already commenced.

In terms of work in progress for ELDC, it was reported that the housing Benefit Subsidy was in the testing stage.

Further discussion ensued around substantial assurance in particular patch management and whether the Councils audit team looked at the testing element. Reference was also made to the payroll implementation and ongoing issues and whether any lessons had been learnt from this. Reference was also made to single contract register for improved oversight to support delivery of the Towns Fund.

The Section 151 Officer confirmed that in terms of the Towns Fund Projects the Deputy Chief Executive, Programme Delivery would provide a note back to members via the Officer Question Sheet to ensure Members got sight of the process around the governance arrangements that are in place for overseeing delivery.

(N.B Colin Davie advised that he was a Member of the Towns Fund Board).

Members considered some projects were progressing better than others.  Further comments were made around the importance of due diligence and critical detail in terms of project management. Also, East Lindsey should be looking at how it was going to manage the projects and income afterwards.

The Section 151 Officer stated that Members had received an informal presentation today which detailed projects being delivered by this Local Authority as part of the Towns Fund programme of activity. The Section 151 Officer had requested the Assistant Director Economic Growth attend a future meeting to update on the other projects where the Council was acting as accountable body.

A Member emphasised that East Lindsey was the accountable body for these projects and stated that when these projects were presented to Members it was more about governance, process, value for money and assurance.

In response to queries raised, the Section 151 Officer advised that government had given the Council a clean bill of health on its recent assurance submissions and no further action was required in respect of the information that had been provided. It was also confirmed that the Committee would receive regular presentations from the Deputy Chief Executive, Programme Deliveryon these projects.

Members were advised that the informal briefing on the Towns Fund Projects has covered the potential revenue implications in terms of the projects the authority would have responsibility for and more would be forthcoming when that level of detail was reached. A Member reassured the Committee that with any capital project revenue would be a consideration.

In terms of the business cases being submitted, the Section 151 Officer confirmed that the business cases were very extensive that had been submitted to government to secure the funding, these were available for review should members wish to see them.

In terms of sinking funds, this was something the Council would consider once it had full sight of the detail regarding these schemes. As the Council proceeded through the stages there would be more detail around future running costs noting that the circumstances for each asset needed to be considered.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED:

That the Internal Audit Progress Report be noted.