Issue - meetings

To receive and consider the report of the Director of Governance.

Chris Moister, Director of Governance provided the progress report.

There was a reluctance to blame Covid-19, but it was a cause for certain issues with the delivery plan. There were capacity issues with staff, as activities were undertaken by the Internal Audit Team to aid the Council’s Covid-19 response to support local residents.

The manager of the Audit Team’s temporary contract expired at the end of June 2020, and at the end of September an interim senior manager had been appointed pending recruitment. The service will be fully staffed in preparation for the start of the 2021 financial year.

In a small time frame, the Audit Team produced significant work towards Shared Services, small business grants, and benefits work.

Due to the implementation of Lancashire’s tier 3 status and the second lockdown, it was unlikely that the full extent of the Internal Audit Plan would be delivered.

It was expected that the audit would carry over into the start of the next year’s audit, but there was capacity to ensure both would be delivered.

Decision: The report was noted.