Information Technology Audit: A Follow-Up on the 2020 IT Audit – ICT AcrossLocal Councils

The Auditor General, Charles Deguara, today presented to the Hon. Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Dr Anglu Farrugia the National Audit Office (NAO) report entitled
“Information Technology Audit: A Follow-Up on the 2020 IT Audit – ICT Across Local
Councils”.
The scope of the follow-up audit was to establish improvements made in the IT setup of
the local councils since the 2020 NAO audit, specifically focussing on the actions taken on
the main recommendations made in the original audit. Out of 28 recommendations
extracted from the 2020 NAO audit, this follow up audit found that 7% of the
recommendations were fully implemented, 50% were partially implemented and 43%
were not implemented. The following are some of the key issues and related
recommendations incorporated in the report:

• IT Management – The NAO commended the extensive work carried by the Local
  Government Division (LGD) and the Ministry Information Management Unit (IMU)
  since the 2020 audit. The NAO recommended that all six regional councils should have
  an ICT officer to support the region’s local councils not just the current two.
• Software – The NAO recommended that the LGD urgently adopt a centralised
  accounting software package and unified payroll for all local councils.
• Tracking of customer complaints and incoming mail – The NAO positively noted LGD’s
  efforts in this regard, particularly the development of the complaints workflow form
  and pushed for its immediate implementation.
• Social Media – The NAO recommended that the LGD appoints a person at both
  Division and Regional council levels to ensure regular updating of web content for
  effective citizen communication.
• Live and On-Demand Streaming – The NAO suggested that regional councils, in
  collaboration with LGD, regularly ensure the quality of live and on-demand streams of
  local council meetings.
• On-line Payments – The NAO commended the increased use of online payments and
  suggested that this practice is enhanced further to improve accountability and
  traceability.

To view report (.PDF) please follow link.