Agenda item

Simon Webb introduced the report, making the following key points: 

·  This was the regular quarterly internal update report which summarised the work  by the East Kent Audit Partnership. The report contained details of the  performance of the Easter Kent Audit Partnership up until the end of quarter one,  30th June 2023;

·  Nine audits were completed during quarter one;

·  Three areas had achieved substantial assurance. This was noted as garden waste and recycling income, the HRA business plan and insurance and inventory of portable assets;

·  Area’s which concluded reasonable assurance included environmental protection service requests, rent accounting collection and debt management;

·  Employee health and safety concluded limited assurance;

·  Planned maintenance contract letting and management concluded no  assurance;

·  Follow ups were considered an important part of the audit. During the period,  three follow ups had been completed;

·  Complaints monitoring moved from no assurance up to reasonable assurance,  this was a significant improvement;

·  There had been slippage in implementing the recommendations regarding absence  management, revised due dates for the actions were proposed. 

Speaking under Council Procedure Rule 20.1 a Member asked questions and made a  comment as follows: 

·  The audit findings were welcomed;

·  There had been fortnightly meetings with the Section 151 Officer and Health and  Safety Manager. Cabinet was reviewing health and safety statistics;

·  If residents were not getting good value for money regarding East Kent  Opportunities, actions would be taken to address this. 

Members commented and made the following points: 

·  There had been historic governance and management problems, officers would be bringing a report to October’s Cabinet meeting regarding this;

·  What was the process for writing off debts?

·  A question was raised around carefully chosen language in the report;

·  Areas of concern were related to contractors fitting low cost non-direct wired  carbon monoxide alarms in every instance, and thirteen new boiler installations  with thirteen instances of work paid for and no certification. These examples had flagged up issues with the way the contract was managed;

·  Were officers confident that the internal audit plan for 2023/24 and 2024/25 would cover the  core aspects of the Council in terms of assurance?

Chris Blundell, Bob Porter and Matt Sanham responded with the following points: 

·  There were different arrangements made in the constitution for writing off debts.  At a certain level debt would need to be presented to Cabinet, under a certain  level the Section 151 Officer could write off the debt;

·  There would be a follow up audit;

·  The gas boiler installation and the installation of carbon monoxide alarms were  considered legacy issues from East Kent Housing setting up this specific contract. The Council requested the necessary installation certificates, but they were delayed until the contractor confirmed that they had  put the correct anti-corrosion additives into the water. This was a requirement of  the Council to ensure the life of the new central heating system would be preserved post installation;

·  Within the new gas boiler contract, every boiler would be checked by the external technical auditing contractor. New arrangements were noted as much more  robust than prior arrangements;

·  The Council took fraud and corruption very seriously;

·  The Head and Deputy Head of Audit met with the Section 151 Officer on a regular basis  to discuss the plan. The plan was a live document, and moved with the emerging  risks and opportunities of the Council;

·  Typically one follow up is untaken for audits, however there are exceptions to this, particularly if the Committee requests further assurance.

Councillor Davis proposed, Councillor Britcher seconded and members agreed to note the report.