Internal Audit annual report 2005/6

Report: 8
Date: 19 June 2006
By: Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

The report at Appendix 1 summarises the work of Internal Audit for the year 2005/6, and gives the opinion of the Director Internal Audit on the adequacy and effectiveness of control within the MPS and the MPA.

A. Recommendation

That members of the Corporate Governance Committee approve the attached draft Annual Report of the Director of Internal Audit for circulation to all members of the MPA.

B. Supporting information

1. The report sets out the Director of Internal Audit’s opinion on the adequacy of control within the MPS and MPA for the reporting period. The report also includes at Annex A summaries of each audit and line management response, follow-up reviews and summaries of key areas of audit advice. Annex B to the Report gives a summary of investigations undertaken during the year.

2. Key points to note from the draft Annual Report include:

• The Director of Internal Audit concludes that the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control in the MPS falls short of an acceptable standard.
• At the request of the MPS the scoring system for adequacy of internal control has been expanded to include all relevant reported work, and significant advice.
• There are positive signs of the control framework strengthening in some areas of MPS business. Major outsourcing projects have been effectively controlled, follow up audits found much improved internal controls in most areas and high-risk audits found adequate controls in place.
• Internal Audit achieved completion of 85% of the planned systems audit work against a target of 90%.
• The investigative arm of Internal Audit, the Forensic Audit Branch, has achieved savings or losses stemmed during the year of £2m and recoveries of £353,000.
• Internal Audit has considerably increased its coverage of B/OCU reviews and continued to provide training and advice on internal control to both police officers and police staff.
• Internal Audit has advised on a number of significant developing systems including the Outsourcing Programme, MetTime and MetaFor projects.
• The Internal Audit customer satisfaction rate with their performance is 73% slightly down from last year. The highest scores were 88% satisfaction with the way audits were conducted and 97% satisfaction with the appropriateness of the auditors behaviour during the conduct of audits
• MPS response times to audit reports continue to be a cause of concern. In general it took twenty-one weeks for the MPS to respond formally to reports against a target of three weeks.
• Staff numbers employed in Internal Audit remained stable throughout the year and continue to reflect the diverse community that they serve.
• Internal Audit slightly overspent on its budget.
• MPS Management have accepted all high-risk recommendations made by Internal Audit. At the time of writing this report 54% of these had been implemented.
• Internal Audit has maintained effective ongoing working relationships with other Review Agencies and the Audit Commission.

C. Race and equality impact

Internal Audit addresses equalities aspects whenever they arise in relation to its business.

D. Financial implications

The cost of Internal Audit activities is met within the MPA’s directly managed budget. There is a risk of loss, fraud, waste and inefficiency if Internal Audit recommendations are not effectively implemented. Savings and recoveries made enable funds to be better directed towards core policing activities.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Catherine Crawford, MPA Chief Executive.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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