Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance 2010/11 annual plan

Report: 7
Date: 22 March 2010
By: Director of Audit, Risk and Assurance

Summary

This report sets out the proposed 2010/11 annual plan for the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance.

A. Recommendation

That members

1. approve the 2010/11 Annual Plan for the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance.

B. Supporting information

Approach to planning

1. The attached 2010/11 annual plan, Appendix 1 reflects the new strategic direction for the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance approved by members at the December meeting of Corporate Governance Committee. There is a greater emphasis on risk based audit activity, providing risk and control advice to major change programmes and a focus on high risk/cost areas of the business.

2. The programme of work supports the MPA’s strategic plan laid down in Met Forward and the strategic priorities and objectives of the Policing Plan. It has been drawn up in consultation with the MPS Management Board, MPS senior managers, MPA SMT, MPA business management group, Audit Commission and HMIC. The plan has been agreed with the MPA Chief Executive, MPA Treasurer and MPS Director of Resources.

3. The annual plan is drawn from our five-year rolling risk analysis. However, as we move towards implementing our new approach an increased emphasis has been placed on incorporating the MPS assessment of risk. Our risk model takes into account a number of factors, including financial values, impact on operational activities, reputational risk, likelihood of a major system failure and the length of time since the last audit. The MPS corporate risk register and a number of business group risk registers have informed our overall assessment of risk used to determine the work programme.

4. Overall the plan will enable me to provide the required annual opinion on the adequacy of the internal control framework and give greater assurance on the effectiveness of risk management in the MPA and MPS. My opinion will form part of the MPA annual governance statement for the 2010/11 published accounts.

Key elements of the 2010/11 annual plan

5. The plan at Appendix 1 is shown by MPS directorate to give a clear indication of audit coverage. It features our three key areas of work, risk and assurance audits, interim assurance audits (follow ups) and risk and control advice to programmes and projects.

6. Key risk and assurance audits include; the Olympics and Paralympics budgetary control framework, corporate tasking and asset management within Central Operations, DPS witness protection, police officer/staff discipline framework, linguistic services and major incident response and specialist areas within IS/IT and procurement. We also plan to conduct a number of cross-cutting reviews, for example, corporate charge cards and police overtime.

7. We will audit three specialist OCUs, two within SCD and one SO and five BOCU audits within TP. Our programme of work on material systems will be carried out in liaison with the Audit Commission to provide assurance on the adequacy of key MPS financial systems.

8. The planned follow up programme of interim assurance audits will provide assurance on the progress being made in improving the internal control framework for those areas we reviewed in 2009/10.

9. We are to provide risk and control advice to a number of key programmes and projects. These include; transforming HR, the MPS training development programme, contract compliance, phase 2 of the finance modernisation programme, TP modernisation, corporate real estate and ACPO TAM governance arrangements.

10. Counter fraud activity includes a review of our fraud risk assessment to develop and implement a fraud prevention strategy in liaison with the MPS. We will conduct fraud investigations with an increased emphasis on identifying the risk and compliance issues leading to internal fraud to inform our risk review and fraud prevention activity. Our analytical work programme will also identify potential areas of concern and help to provide assurance on the management of high cost and sensitive areas of the business.

Allocation of resources

11. We are currently in the consultation stage on the proposals for the restructure of the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance. The proposals support the delivery of the plan and provide an adequate level of coverage with 83% of the audit need being met. I will report on the agreed structure and any implications for the plan at the next meeting of this committee. The allocation and split of resources for the delivery of the plan is shown below:

Table 1: allocation of audit days

Review

12. As previously agreed I will revisit the plan in consultation with MPS management board, MPA SMT and members on a quarterly basis to ensure that we are responding appropriately to emerging issues and risk. Any subsequent proposed amendments to the plan will be reported as part of my quarterly updates on progress.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The MPA’s commitments in relation to equality and diversity are considered in all aspects of work conducted by the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance.

2. We monitor the behaviour of our staff through questionnaires to auditees on a range of matters related to audit and investigative work.

D. Financial implications

The plan will be delivered within the budget for the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance approved by the Authority.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Julie Norgrove, Director Audit, Risk and Assurance, MPA

For information contact:

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

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