Members considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and Head of Internal Audit and Risk Management which provided the Committee that provided a summary of the audit work undertaken and opinions issued in the period April to June 2019.

The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

A member expressed concern in respect of the limited assurance given to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and the continued delay in the completion of DoLS assessments. Officers were asked for a report to update the Committee on the action being taken to address and improve the current arrangements. Reference was also made to the audit of Our Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector Grants and the partnership working arrangement with the Voluntary Sector and the Council. The point was made that the monitoring information from grant recipients is being provided to the Council however, it was not clear how this was being acted upon if an issue was identified. Officers were asked if the recommendations that had been made were sufficient to address this concern. Officers were also asked for an explanation why, in view of the arrangements in place, had the audit of the prevention and detection of procurement fraud received a moderate assurance.

The committee was informed that DoLS is a challenging area of service and the national average duration for the completion of an assessment is 138 days. At a local level the average assessment completion time is 130 days and the concerns raised on this situation had resulted in an audit. Members were informed that the audit work is a key element of the improvement plan for the service. The Committee would also have the opportunity to question the Executive Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing and the Director of Adult Services at the meeting of the Committee in October 2019. In respect of the concerns raised regarding Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector Grants, it was reported that the audit report on the service had identified the lack of feedback to the voluntary sector. The report recommendations were made to address this matter and improve consistency of recording contact with the organisations, actions taken and the support provided to recipients. In response to the concern raised regarding the prevention and detection of procurement fraud. It was reported that the moderate assurance related to the areas of improvement required to improve prevention and detection of fraud through reporting and utilising data and intelligence of records of individual procurement activity.

A member referred to the changes made to the report format and questioned the process followed in undertaking this and the reason for the delay in providing executive members with audit reports.

It was reported that the audit report format will provide an executive summary including an opinion to identify key issues, areas for improvement, the timeframe. It would not include the action plan. Members were informed that audit reports were circulated to the members of the senior management team in advance of executive members to provide time to read the reports and be aware of any issues raised.

Decisions

1. To note the report submitted.

2. To note the comments received.