Agenda item

The Head of Corporate Resources introduced the report. He said no consultancy report or negative assurance had been finalised since the last report, and audit recommendations were being implemented. He added that an officer from Corporate Asset Services was at the meeting to take questions from Panel members. He concluded that the Internal Audit Charter which was included in the report, had been improved, and would continue to improve.

Richard King commented that he was surprised that at the end of February there were still 26 pieces of audit work that had not been completed, and would need to be done by the end of June. The Head of Corporate Resources replied saying this delay had occurred because of the transition from external contractors to internal provision, and added that this had been a difficult year for the audit section.

The Chair asked why 3 pieces of work had been dropped off the audit plan, and was told that they were not part of the risk register audit being processed, and this was requested by the Departmental Management Team because of the constraint on resources, but they have been booked to be done in September. Councillor Ingleby asked about Highway Maintenance Reactive Maintenance which currently had a superseded recommendation, and was told that in future officers would notify Panel Members if recommendations were to be closed.

The Interim Corporate Asset Strategy Manager gave a short presentation on what officers were currently doing to ensure the production and maintenance of an efficient asset strategy for the council. The Chair asked if the council had an IT system that would cope with the data, and the Interim Asset Strategy Manager said there had been some delays in completing the IT system, but this would be addressed.

The Chair said she understood that there would be additional income generated through the new strategy. The Interim Corporate Asset Strategy Manager said an example would be of a commercial estate which generated an income of £ 2.5m in the past, could potentially make £4m in future. The Interim Corporate Asset Strategy Manager said officers were looking at new land and sites that could generate new income. Councillor Slater said community centres could be better utilised for income generation. He asked if members could use the register to see what properties were owned by the council, as this could help them pre-empt issues, and was told they could.

Councillor Hooks commented that it would be useful to have this register, as it could improve income and business development. He added that in response to the findings that the Council did not have a champion for Asset Management at member level, it would be necessary for members to get involved, and champion some of the ideas that might be generated from this project. Councillor Mallory said members involvement would be crucial, and added that the way forward could be discussed at the Public Accounts Select Committee (PASC). The Interim Corporate Asset Strategy Manager said members could get involved through Ward Assemblies. He added that officers were planning how to roll out the new strategy. The Head of Corporate Resources said a piece of work was being done at PASC and inviting Members to become Champions could be included in the recommendations. The Chair thanked The Interim Corporate Asset Strategy Manager for attending the meeting.

Audit Charter

It was noted that the Charter had been revised to include comments from Panel Members. Following a question from Mr King, the Head of Corporate Resources said the restructuring of the Audit section would be completed in two years time, which would be the end of the transition period. Mr King questioned officers proposal of changing the reporting period of the Plan from 1 April to 1 July, and Panel members were told that because of insufficient resources it would be efficient to have it in July this year, but it would revert to April in future. It was noted that the external auditors were in agreement to this arrangement.

Mr King said he had expected to see the audit strategy included in the Charter. The Internal Audit Contract Manager responded saying Lewisham did not have a separate strategy for audit and the Charter was similar to that of other boroughs. Mr King then said he thought either the Audit Panel or Council should approve Lewisham’s Strategy. The Head of Corporate Resources said historically this would be included in the audit plan.

Councillor Mallory commented that he had thought a charter should be a short document, which this one was not. The Head of Corporate Resources told Panel Members it was a compromise between standards and comprehensiveness. He added that an executive summary of the charter could be done with additional appendices. Councillor Slater said in future it would be helpful if the reports include executive summaries as a cover sheet followed by the comprehensive reports. This was agreed. The Internal Audit Contract Manager said she would do an executive summary of the Charter. This was agreed.

The Head of Corporate Finance explained why London Borough Heads of Internal Audit have agreed to team up to conduct the external assessments between them. Highlighting the cost efficiency. Panel Members agreed to the rationale, and Mr King added that cross fertilisation was very important among London Boroughs.

RESOLVED that the report be noted, and an executive summary of the Audit Charter to be done for Audit Panel Members.