Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10 - Welfare Reform impact ...

Statement on Internal Control
for the year ended 31 March 2010
During the year, to ensure effective risk management throughout the
organisation we reviewed the SRR monthly and sought greater participation
from each directorate.
Directors and senior managers were coached through the new processes
as defined within the ILF’s RCF. This provided better awareness, prioritisation
and understanding of risk identification and applying consistent scoring for
both inherent and residual risks.
In February 2010, the ILF senior information and risk owner (SIRO) provided
additional assurance on the effective management and governance of
data security and handling issues, and compliance with the Data Protection
Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000. The report was discussed
and approved at the Audit Committee and subsequently signed by the SIRO
and the Audit Committee Chairman.
During the year, we have maintained and updated our Business Continuity
Plans (BCP), and tested the effectiveness of our Disaster Recovery Site (DRS)
to ensure that in the event of the loss of essential facilities and services
at the ILF premises, we have the capability to deliver our business, to a
predetermined and agreed level, from the DRS.
Throughout the year we sought advice from our internal auditors
on emerging best practice for corporate governance and our internal
control mechanisms.
As a NDPB of DWP, our risk strategy and performance is reported to
the DWP sponsorship team, who will refer relevant outputs to the Risk
Assurance Division (RAD). RAD has the right of access to ILF premises and
systems as necessary where they decide that they should audit aspects
of the ILF operation.
63 Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10