Audit Programme

The Audit Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network publishes a programme of the audits it intends to carry out in the year ahead. The programme for the period to September 2027 comprises ten audits, numbered 2026-07 to 2026-16 in continuation of the six reports published on establishment. For each audit the programme states the subject, the departments and network services concerned, the type of audit, the month in which fieldwork begins and the month in which the report is expected to be published.

The programme concentrates on the areas of greatest risk in the first year of the Network: the registration of members and citizens, the collection and accounting of revenue, the procurement of shared services, the controls over the first pay runs, access to the identity service, grant awards during the establishment period and the management of records and personal data across departments. Two performance audits examine the readiness of health services and the management of the departmental estate. The programme concludes with the certification of the Network's first consolidated accounts, for the period from 6 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, and an opinion on the accounts of each of the 26 departments.

The dates given for publication are the Office's best estimate at the time the programme was set. A report is published as soon as the clearance process described on the How We Audit page is complete; where a report will be later than the month stated, the revised date is published here.

How subjects are selected. The Auditor General selects the subjects of the programme against five published criteria. The Assembly may ask the Office to examine a matter, and members of the public may refer a matter to the Office; the Auditor General decides whether and when to take it up. Neither the Assembly nor any department may direct the Office to omit a subject.

The sums involved

The value of the income, expenditure or assets concerned, and the proportion of the Network's resources they represent.

Risk to the Network's objectives

The consequences for members, citizens and the Network as a whole if the arrangements examined were to fail, and the likelihood of failure judged from earlier audit work.

Novelty of the arrangements

Whether the function is new to the Network, has recently changed hands or depends on systems that have not yet been tested by a full year of operation.

Interest of the Assembly and the public

Matters raised by members of the Network Assembly, referrals from the public and the subjects of public concern recorded in correspondence with the Office.

Time since last examined

The Office aims to examine every significant area of the Network's administration at least once in every five years, and every department's accounts every year.

Changes during the year. The programme is reviewed each quarter. Audits may be added where a referral or the findings of another audit warrant it, and may be deferred where the arrangements to be examined are not yet in operation. Every change is recorded on this page with the reason for it, and the programme for the following year is published in September.

Referring a matter to the Office. Anyone who believes that public money of the Network has been misused or that a department or network service has acted outside its powers may write to contact@audit.gov.vin, setting out the body concerned, what is alleged and any evidence available. The Office acknowledges every referral, does not disclose the identity of the person referring without their consent, and states whether the matter will be taken up. It does not investigate individual grievances about the service a person has received, which should be raised with the body concerned.

For the reports already published, see Audit Reports; for the recommendations awaiting action, see Recommendations.