Agenda item

1.      The item was presented by Audit Manager, Ms Debbie Chisman.

2.      The report was taken as read but Ms Chisman highlighted the key points for Member attention. Some of these included:

          a)      The positive outcomes for 2024 – 2025 review included:

                                          i.    Review of SEND assurances – High Assurance

                                        ii.    Equality, Diversity and inclusion (inclusive of the Equalities Act follow up) - Substantial assurance

                                       iii.    Risk Management – High Assurance

                                       iv.    Disciplinaries – Substantial Assurance

                                        v.    Payroll – High Assurance

          b)      The two Limited Assurance Review included the use of consultants and contract innovation.

          c)      The Oracle Cloud Programme Management Follow Up and the Helping Hands follow up audits were concluded from the 25-26 Internal Audit plan.  Both reviews demonstrated positive implementation of agreed management actions.

3.      Ms Chisman confirmed that she would provide a more substantial response to a Member’s question regarding specific departments contract extensions and terms of compliance.

4.      In answer to some Member comments and questions, the follow was said:

          a)      Chief Procurement Officer, Ms Clare Maynard, explained that contract management was delivered within the directorates and so colleagues in procurement worked closely with them to ensure novations and contract extensions were done accordingly. Through the contract register, a virtually complete list of all contracts featuring expiry dates, options to extend existed. For all high value contracts, there was a Contract Management Review Group which assessed performance midpoint and prior to extension.

          b)      It was acknowledged that, in the past, there had been various reasons why contracts were extended at the last minute, however having a clear register of all contracts it was possible to review activity in advance and if there was a need to extend in the short term, officers were doing preventive action to ensure it did not happen again.

          c)      The interim Head of Internal Audit, Mr Russell Smith, explained to Members that the Adult Social Care Budget savings piece of work would continue into 2025 / 2026.  The current piece of work focused on governance and therefore further details around those points would be provided at subsequent committees.

          d)      Mr Smith confirmed that, in terms of managed training, it was down to officers to determine the level and specific focus of training across the authority.

          e)      Mr Watts confirmed that one of the items tested through the Annual Governance Statement was an accountability for senior officers to ensure management were trained to the appropriate standards.  It was highlighted that if a blanket request for all officers to complete mandatory training was made, there was a risk that specific officers who required the training or specific development might not get captured.

          f)       Ms Maynard confirmed that specific training was now available for Spending the Council’s Money Processes. This training made the requirement clear. The Contract Management Review Group were looking at how the Council tiered their contracts.  In addition, the Procurement Team were producing a contract handover document which set out the key points, key terms and key performance indicators.  This required a signature to signify achievement. The Internal Audit Report showed a number of those contracts being executed in line with the right governance procedure.

          g)      In relation to a Member’s question on the implementation of the Oracle Cloud Programme, the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport, Mr Simon Jones, explained that the adopt and adapt methodology had been evolved into phase two.  This had presented some challenges, one being the training and development of a new system which resulted in the identification of policy changes required by the organisation.  Feedback indicated that the programme implementation was progressing well; given the size of the organisation it was inevitable that some delay and backlog of development would occur.  

          h)      Strategic Manager, Mr Ben Sherreard referred to the procurement CIAs (Contract Intelligence Agent) contained in the Internal Audit Progress Report; he confirmed that 392 acceptances had been received and 57 rejections. The rejections meant that changes were required across the Authority in order for Oracle to adopt and adapt the KCC mantra. Of these 57, 53 were addressed through training, 4 were resolved through specific intervention.  The 392 acceptances indicated that all the different teams across the organisation accepted the range of changes and so could accommodate any changes without disruption. 

          i)       Mr Betts confirmed the business basics associated with the move to using the Oracle Cloud Programme had worked well and there were no issues with the fundamentals of using Oracle for the production of management accounts in a timely way or bank reconciliations.

          j)       Mr Smith confirmed that the reason for the reduction in planned audits for 2024 / 2025 (as specified in the Internal Audit report presented to the Committee on the 3 July 2025) was down to the Annual Governance Statement being picked up in the follow up process. Mr Smith explained that Internal Audit carried out the work as part of the follow up process because the actions were determined to have been implemented and there was no need for a separate report.  This reduced the number of audits from 44 to 43.

5.      RESOLVED that the Committee NOTED the Internal Audit Progress Report for the period July to September 2025 for assurance.