It was reported that there were no Declarations of Interest declared at the meeting.

It was noted that apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Jeal.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2015 were confirmed.

It was noted that there were no matters arising from the above minutes.

The Committee received and considered the comprehensive report from the Internal Audit Consortium Manager.

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager reported that her report reflected the progress made between 9 September 2015 and 24 November 2015 in relation to the delivery of the Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2015/16 and included abbreviated executive summaries in respect of six audit reviews; Procurement, Planned & Responsive Maintenance & Great Yarmouth Norse Contract Management, Great Yarmouth Borough Services Contract, Markets, Change Control & Patch Management and Network Security and Infrastructure which had been finalised during this period.

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager reported that progress in relation to delivery of the revised Internal Audit Plan 2015/16 was in line with expectations. However, during the period covered by this report, six audits had been finalised concluding in 73 recommendations being agreed with management; eight priority one (urgent), 32 priority two (important) and 33 priority three (needs attention). These agreed recommendations, together with those currently outstanding, amounts to over 100 recommendations requiring attention. The Internal Audit Consortium Manager reported that this was a serious issue which needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency as it indicated significant weaknesses in the Council's control environment.

The Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods circulated copies of an Action Plan which detailed how the agreed audit recommendations relating to procurement issues would be addressed.

The Transformation Programme Manager reported that a thorough review of the Market was being undertaken which would result in a central Market Policy document which would address all of the current failings. A Member welcomed this initiative as a review of the Market was long overdue. He hoped that the review would rectify the current situation whereby the Market Manager was not obliged to work on a Saturday.

The Chairman requested that an update on the Market be reported at the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

(i) That the Committee receive and note the outcomes of those audits finalised during the period.

(ii) That an update report regarding the Market be given at the next meeting.

The Committee received and considered the comprehensive report from the Internal Audit Consortium Manager.

The report informed Members on the latest progress made in relation to management implementation of agreed audit recommendations which fell due between 1 August 2015 and 30 September 2015.

The Internal Audit Consortium Manager reported that as of 30 September 2015, there were a total of 31 recommendations outstanding as 3 had been closed down since the report was written; 29 of which had been previously reported to the Committee and five of which were reported as outstanding for the first time. Completion of audit recommendations has slowed down again and a review of management responses indicates that in some areas, work is under way to address the recommendations. However, in some areas, resourcing issues appear to be affecting implementing the recommendations. 

In addition, as noted in the progress report, 73 recommendations had recently been agreed by management in relation to completed audits which represented a serious number which required action by management and indicated issues with the Council's control environment.

The Environmental Health Group Manager reported details of an Action Plan currently being undertaken to address the outstanding recommendations relating to Business Continuity and Data Centre, Back Up and Disaster Recovery. a new Resilience Officer had been appointed and the tasks to complete the recommendations were on track with revised deadline dates having been provided.

The Director of Customer Services reported that there were two IT recommendations outstanding from audits completed in 2011/12 which were Integra Application Review and capita Application Review. Support to address these is required from Norfolk County Council and revised deadline dates have been provided.

A Member raised concerns regarding the recommendation from the audit of Property and Portfolio Management in relation to reconciling the asset management data to the finance asset register which was dependent on resourcing and had not been progressed.

The Section 151 Officer reported that the number of outstanding audit recommendations would be discussed with Group Managers at their next meeting in January 2016.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee receives and notes the current position in relation to the completion of agreed audit recommendations.

The Chairman reported that there was no other business as being of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration.