Audit committee recommendations still outstanding

Town Hall. 

Almost three dozen recommendations following an internal audit of Shetland Island Council’s services have yet to be implemented it was revealed today, in part due to disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.

In total 34 recommendations are still outstanding, SIC’s Audit Committee heard today, Tuesday, 17th August, with ten classified as high priority.

However the report also noted that 13 recommendations had been implemented and Jillian Campbell, audit manager, confirmed that talks with service department leaders would resume shortly to determine if the outstanding recommendations are still relevant and needed.

Of the ten high priority recommendations, one is directed to children’s services, the other nine are concerned with the council’s corporate services.

The committee also heard of the two medium priority recommendations for the council’s pension payroll mechanisms.

SIC makes monthly pension payroll payments to approximately 1,960 beneficiaries. The scope of the audit was to gain assurance that  appropriate arrangements are in place for the administration of monthly payroll payments to SIC Pension Fund members.

The report, published in July, found overall the pension plan had “key controls in place and are generally operating effectively”.

The two recommendations regarded the process by which an early retiree can return to the workplace and the duplication of work in regards to inputting data into the Altair computer system.

A full report will appear in this week’s Shetland Times.