The Interim Head of Internal Audit introduced her report summarising the work completed so far on the 2022/23 Audit and Assurance Plan and providing an update on changes within the Mid-Kent Audit Partnership.  It was noted that:

·  Since March 2022, further changes had been experienced within the Internal Audit team.  The result was that the team currently had two vacancies and there would shortly be another.  The new Head of Audit Partnership would take up her post in December 2022 and one of her first tasks would be to review the structure of the team and recruit as needed.

·  Some of the staffing shortfall had been managed so far through the procurement of a contractor who would deliver twelve audits across the Partnership from November to April.  However, some audits might not be completed, and the new Head of Audit Partnership would review the audits completed and those planned and take a view as to whether this was sufficient to deliver the Audit Opinion at the end of the year.

·  The report included details of other work completed, including follow-up of agreed actions, and there were no concerns to raise.

·  The IT Project Management audit had now been finalised with a strong assurance rating and no significant concerns identified.

·  The planned IT audits and their priority would be reviewed by the new Head of Audit Partnership.  Due to their technical nature, it would be necessary to engage external consultants to undertake this work, but reliance could be placed on external assurance already received by the IT team around the cyber security arrangements.

In response to questions, the Officers explained that in terms of the planned audit of the Waste Contract Tendering:

·  The procurement function was carried out by Officers.  The Internal Audit team was capable of reviewing the process and providing a professional opinion as to whether it was appropriate.  It was not appropriate for the Audit, Governance and Standards and Committee to be involved in the procurement process.

·  The Internal Audit team would look, mainly retrospectively, at whether the tendering process was appropriate, and the lessons learned in terms of outcome.  The team had previously audited the Waste Tender contract (the procurement process for the current contract, the operation of that contract and the governance arrangements) and fed the outcomes back to the three Councils.  This would be factored into the terms and conditions being worked on.

RESOLVED:  That the work completed so far on the 2022/23 Audit and Assurance Plan be noted.