Agenda item

To receive and consider report 133/07 of the Audit Manager. 

Introduction and Report Summary

The purpose of this report is:

·        to summarise the outcomes of recent internal audit activity for the Committee to consider.  The Committee is asked to review the report and the main issues arising, and seek assurance that action will be/has been taken where necessary.

The Contact Officer for this report is Adrianna Penn, Audit Manager for South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council, telephone (SODC) 01491 823544 and (VWHDC) 01235 547615.

Recommendation

thatMembers note the content of the report.

The Committee received and considered report 133/07 of the Audit Manager, which summarised the outcome of recent internal audit activity.  Appended to the covering report were reports resulting from seven audits carried out on Vale services by the Internal Audit service.  The Committee reviewed the Internal Audit reports and the main issues arising. 

Rent Accounting

The Internal Audit report gave an 'unsatisfactory' rating to the Rent Accounting service.  However, the Audit Manager recognised that there had been improvements since the review. 

The Deputy Director (Housing and Community Safety) had been invited to the meeting to respond to the audit report.  He explained the complicated nature of the debt collection process and the need to obtain Court orders.  This was a different procedure to other forms of debt collection across the Council but there was no separate rent arrears debt collection policy; the corporate debt collection policy was used.  Previously, the rent arrears had been collected through the Council's corporate sundry debtor system but a new system had been employed to collect rent accounting data, which then provided debt data for monthly transfer to the Council's financial management system. 

The Chief Finance Officer reported that he wanted to investigate this area further, in particular whether using the Housing system was better than using the Council's corporate debt recovery system. 

The Committee accepted the explanation of the Deputy Director that these were difficult debts to collect but also agreed that further investigation was necessary to find the most effective solution.  The effectiveness of debt recovery was the key issue.  Systems should not get in the way of implementing policy but should help the Council achieve it. 

Members asked that consideration was given to whether the corporate policy was sufficient or whether it needed to be adapted for rent collection purposes.  The Deputy Director agreed to look at this with the Portfolio Holder and report back in due course.  It was recognised that any change to policy would require a decision of the full Council.  The Deputy Director agreed to bring this action forward for completion by June 2008 (reference 5.4.27 in the Audit report). 

The Audit Manager reported that the audit could not determine whether the system was effective.  There was more work to do and an audit review would be undertaken after six months.  Members requested some comparative data with other Councils as well as details of the debt trend following adoption of the new system.  The Committee was reminded of the need for Internal Audit to remain independent; therefore, the Chief Finance Officer agreed to investigate this. 

Cash

The Committee noted that the Cash audit had resulted in a 'satisfactory' rating.  The Audit Manager reported that all income arrangements in the Vale would be reviewed in 2008/09.    

Insurance

It was noted that this audit had resulted in a 'satisfactory' rating.  A restructuring had taken place of this service but for the Vale this role would still be carried out by the Head of Asset Management.  The Deputy Director (Finance) reported that he would be following up the actions. 

Health and Safety

This audit had rated the Health and Safety service as 'satisfactory'.  It was noted that health and safety checks were carried out on contractors.  This was a two-level check.  The client monitoring officer would carry out checks and call on the Health and Safety Adviser if necessary. 

Excess Charges

This service had been rated 'good'.  The Committee welcomed the audit report. 

Environmental Protection

This service had also been rated 'good'.  Members were pleased with the outcome. 

SOLL Leisure Contract

This audit had attracted a 'satisfactory' rating.  It was reported that the recruitment exercise to fill the vacant contractor monitoring officer post had been unsuccessful.  In the interim, the Leisure Facilities Manager and the Parks monitoring officer was monitoring the SOLL contract.  Members were pleased that this interim measure had been put in place. 

The Committee discussed the general point of contract monitoring, any contract, not just the SOLL Leisure contract.  Members considered that contract monitoring was of such importance that monitoring should continue, even in the event that a monitoring officer was absent or had left the Council's employment.  Interim measures must be put in place to monitor contracts in these circumstances.  Members asked that the Deputy Director (Contracts and Procurement) should be asked to ensure this happened across all services. 

RESOLVED

(a)       that report 133/07 be noted;

(b)       that in relation to the Rent Accounting Audit:

(i)         that the Deputy Director (Housing and Community Safety) be invited to investigate whether there should be a specific debt collection policy for rent arrears and make recommendations on any changes;

(ii)        that Internal Audit and the Chief Finance Officer be invited to investigate further the effectiveness of rent arrears debt collection;

(c)        that the Deputy Director (Contracts and Procurement) be requested to ensure that contract monitoring is in place for all contracts, even in the event that a monitoring officer is absent or has left the Council's employment.