This report provides an update on key findings emanating from Internal Audit reports issued since the last quarterly progress report.

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the key findings emanating from the Internal Audit reports issued for the period 1 October to 31 December 2023 (Quarter 3).

The report summarised the findings, recommendations and management actions that had been put forward for each audit review and stated the overall assurance opinion level given by the Internal Audit team. A total of six audit reviews had been finalised in the period, as follows:

• Commercial Investments (Oracle Agreement) (Reasonable Assurance opinion given);
• iTrent (Payroll) Expenses (Reasonable Assurance opinion given);
• Reading Foundation for Art (Limited Assurance opinion given);
• Employee Gifts, Hospitality & Declaration of Interests (No Assurance opinion given);
• Continuous Healthcare (Limited Assurance opinion given); and;
• Iken Billing Process.

The audit of the Employee Gifts, Hospitality & Declaration of Interests had found that although the Council had documented its expectations of staff including roles and responsibilities within these areas, there was a failure to ensure that staff were aware of these expectations, to provide a robust process which staff were proactively encouraged to use, and to manage, monitor and report declarations. 

In relation to the Reading Foundation for Art (RFFA), there was a lack of clarity and documenting of roles and responsibilities carried out by RBC on behalf of the RFFA, with tacit knowledge of these held by a few individuals. There was a risk of tasks being overlooked, over-reliance on the Museum Curator, and loss of knowledge with the departure of key individuals. The lack of clearly understood and documented policies and procedures had led to issues with various finance processes. 

Although the Council was proactively redeveloping its procedures and processes in relation to Continuous Healthcare (CHC) to ensure people were appropriately assessed before a claim was submitted to the NHS, the audit found there was a risk that social workers could bypass the Council’s internal peer-review process of the application.  Furthermore, there were no controls in place for analysing the Multi-Discipline Team’s reasons for refusing a claim for CHC funding, advocated by the Council despite having a copy of the decision letter on file.

The report also detailed the audits that were currently in progress and gave a summary of investigations work that had taken place between 1 October and 31 December 2023.

Resolved:       That the audit findings be noted, and the recommendations and management action underway, as set out in the Internal Audit & Investigations Quarter 3 Update Report, be endorsed.