Agenda and minutes

Members of the Audit Committee are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any of the matters on the agenda and, if so, to formally declare that interest.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting of the Audit Committee held on 8^th April 2025, are attached for approval by the committee

It was agreed:

That the minutes of the last meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Moss explained that a training session would have been held directly before this meeting in relation to the accounts but as the accounts would now be considered at the next meeting of the Audit Committee the training had not been required. Councillor Moss reported that the training would now be held at 6pm prior to the next meeting of the Audit Committee on 20 October 2025.

Report from the Director of Finance attached

The Leader of the Council Councillor Eamonn O’Brien presented a report setting out the Progress Update from the Council to the Statutory Recommendation received from the External Auditor under schedule 7 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

It was explained that the report provides the second update on activity and delivery against this action plan with the previous update being brought in April 2025 and highlights the improvement work that has been carried out by the Assurance Boards. In addition to the work carried out by the Boards there have been Council wide briefings, Senior Management sessions and Strategic Leadership Team engagement with the improvement work and compliance sprints.

The progress made in the Improvement Action Plan was set out and it was explained that there continues to be progress made within the expected target date.

The plan was split into the following areas:

·         Financial Resilience – All actions on track or complete. The Finance Board overseeing key milestones around zero based budget workstream and development of the 26/27 budegt proposals on track.

·         Finance Capacity and Transformation - All actions are complete or on track apart from recruitment to phase 1 as per the last report. There was a slight delay following the conclusion of the consultation process whilst a recruitment partner was procured to support the first round of recruitment and increase the likelihood of a successful recruitment process in a very challenging labour market.

·         Governance and Compliance including Estate Management and Leadership and Governance Arrangements -

·         The work to review long leases has now been completed. An exercise was undertaken by Land and Property in which they reviewed a sample of leases, they considered the demise, term, commencement date, rent reviews, repairing obligations (including an extract of the clause) and insurance obligations. The work carried out by Land and Property was validated by the legal team. No issues were found from this assurance work. All of the new six assurance boards have been set up and meet on a monthly basis, each assurance Board provides a highlight report of their activity which is reviewed by the Executive Leadership Team. The establishment of the Corporate Landlord team is overdue however staff consultation has commenced and will end on 18th August 2025.

Councillor O’Brien explained that the work had established better processes and challenged the way in which work was carried out and identified where change to working cultures was required. 

The assurance framework which supports the six Assurance Boards has been developed further and finalised with a detailed Improvement Work Plan accompanied by quarterly milestones which are tracked through each Board’s Highlight Report.

The assurance framework details roles and responsibilities of Chairs, Deputies and Leads of the Board. It determines attendance and sets out meeting expectations. Improvement activity is on going across all Boards.

Those present were given the opportunity to make comments or ask questions and the following points were raised:-

·         Councillor Gartside referred to the delay in recruiting finance posts and using agencies to assist  ...  view the full minutes text for item AU.85

Report from Mazars is attached.

Alistair Newall, Audit Director, Mazars will present the report.

Alastair Newall, Senior Manager at Forvis Mazars the Council’s external auditors presented the External Auditors Audit Progress Report year ending 31 March 2025.

Alastair reported that the final remaining responsibility in respect of the 2023/24 audit relates to the Council’s whole of government accounts (WGA) return.

Forvis Mazars had submitted the National Audit Office’s (NAO) assurance statement in February 2025 as required by their Group Audit Instructions. However, the NAO’s instructions state they may request further work from auditors on local authorities WGA returns as they complete their work. Until the NAO confirms no further work is required, it cannot be confirmed that all of the audit work is complete. It was explained that consequently, Forvis Mazars have not yet issued the Audit Certificate concluding the 2023/24 audit. As soon as the NAO confirm no further work is required, or any work they require is complete the certificate will be issued.

The report gave an update on that latest NAO guidance and the NAO has prepared Local Audit Reset and Recovery Implementation Guidance (LARRIG) 06 with the endorsement of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The NAO issued its suite of LARRIGs to support auditors.

To meet the backstop requirements, Mazars issued a disclaimed audit opinion on the Council’s 2023/24 statement of accounts. As part of the audit of the 2024/25 audit, Mazars will consider LARRIG 06 in determining how and when they rebuild assurance.

The LARRIG makes clear the work required to rebuild assurance following a disclaimer of opinion(s) may be significant and will vary between authorities. In part, this is because rebuilding assurance on opening balances is complicated by the different reserves and balances held, their link to income and expenditure and the application of statutory overrides.

The LARRIG emphasises the timely delivery of audited financial statements is a collective enterprise where both accounts preparers and auditors have important responsibilities. Effective governance and internal controls, allied to accurate and timely financial reporting, are essential conditions to support a return to the timely delivery of unqualified audited financial statements

Risk assessment

The guidance requires auditors to consider the facts and circumstances impacting the Council’s statement of accounts and the different classes of transactions, account balances and disclosures, and to apply professional judgement in determining the appropriate level of audit work to recover assurance, taking account of the reasons why previous financial years were disclaimed. Disclaimed periods of more than one year present a greater risk of material misstatement.

The guidance places an emphasis on the risk assessment procedures auditors should undertake. This means we will conduct a comprehensive risk assessment covering:

• the Council’s system of internal control for the periods subject to disclaimed audit opinions

• the areas of the accounts where there is a risk of material misstatement and the associated planned responses and

• undertake special considerations for specified matters:

a. property, plant and equipment,

b. responses to identified risks of fraudulent financial reporting in previous reporting periods subject to disclaimers of opinion, and

c. pensions related  ...  view the full minutes text for item AU.86

Report from the Head of Fraud, Audit, Insurance and Risk (FAIR) is attached

The Head of FAIR presented the Internal Audit Annual Report.

The report summarised the work undertaken by Internal Audit throughout 2024/2025 and also provided an overall opinion of the Authority’s control environment.

The table at page 7 gave an overview of where the audit time has been spent throughout the year.

It was explained that there had been a couple of over-runs, with additional work than originally thought being rolled into the year from 2023/24 and additional work requests received from housing which were undertaken. 

There was an over run on schools, additional time was required to complete the reviews due to extra testing being required as the schools examined resulted in a limited assurances, additionally, the audits were undertaken by two team members whilst training a new member to the team. 

The number of allowable days per school has been increased for 2025/26 (primary 10 and secondary 14 days)

At the end of 2024/25 there were 17 audits still in progress which have been carried forward and will be finalised during 2025/26.

During the year, 27 audit reviews, making 165 recommendations were considered when forming the overall opinion. 67% of audit reviews had overall opinions falling in the lower quartiles, moderate and limited assurance.  48% gave limited assurance and 19% gave moderate assurance.

Of the 165 recommendations, 121 recommendations appeared in reports giving an overall limited assurance.

For reports with an overall opinion in the bottom two quartiles – 97 recommendations were made which were graded either fundamental or significant recommendations, therefore 59% of recommendations issued relate to reports with an overall opinion in the lower two quartiles.

Appendix B shows the first follow ups completed in the year and appendix C shows the second follow ups completed in the year.  23 first follow ups were completed, and of the 90 recommendations revisited, 43 (48%) were identified as either being outstanding or partially implemented. It was explained the report stated that 17 second follow ups were also completed and out of 39 recommendations followed up 17 (44%) were identified as either still being outstanding or partially implemented, this is incorrect, and the table in the appendix is accurate – the report should state that out of 39 recommendations, 26 were outstanding or partially implemented, which is 67% had not been implemented.

During the year a Governance and Assurance Board was established and all fundamental and significant recommendations outstanding after second follow up are reported to this Board. The Board reports to the Members Assurance Group, so all outstanding recommendations are scrutinised in depth, in addition to the scrutiny given by this Committee.  

The remainder of the report outlines other areas where audit work has been undertaken during the year, Persona, Schools, investigations and advice. The report also refers to the PSIAS review undertaken of the Internal Audit Service. 

Based upon the results of the audit work undertaken during the year, taking into account the findings reported in 27 audit reports, 23 first follow-ups and 17 second follow ups, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item AU.87

Report from the Section 151 Officer attached

Appendix A

Appendix B

The Risk Manager presented a report which provided an updated position with regards to the risks identified and assessed on the Council’s Corporate Risk Register.

28 risks were currently present on the Corporate Risk Register and had been identified as those that have the potential to disrupt the Council’s strategic objectives and service delivery.

The report presents all relevant information and scoring of these risks, an overview being:

Of the 28 risks,

17 risks are currently rated as Significant (risk score 15-25)

10 risks are currently rated as High (risk score 8-12)

1 risk is currently rated as Moderate (risk score 4-6) 

1 has increased in score

1 has decreased in score

22 have remained static

4 have been newly introduced

3 are proposed for closure

The following points were raised:

·         Councillor Berry referred to CR.34 Sure Maintenance and asked whether this risk should remain on the register due to the serious key potential impacts noted.

The Risk Manager explained that all planned actions have been carried out which form the mitigating controls, but she stated that she would take the concerns raised back to the risk owner for an update on the status of the safety certificates.

·         Councillor Bernstein referred to two of the new risks, CR.40 and CR.41 and stated that he was surprised that the risks had only recently been added.

It was explained that these risks were introduced as a result of the closure of CR.3 and now had clearer focus on each area.

·         Mr Webster referred to the Risk Management Strategy and asked why in the ‘roles and  responsibilities’ set out in the strategy, the Audit Committee was not included?

The Risk Manager stated that the Audit Committee should be included. The strategy would be amended to include the Audit Committee.

It was agreed:

1.    That the report be noted

2.    That the Committee approve the closure of CR3 – Security and Resilience, CR7 – Effect of ICB Establishment and Budget pressures.

3.    That the Committee recommend that CR34 – Sure Maintenance Contract remain open

4.    That the revised Risk Management Strategy be noted and approved

Report from the Section 151 Officer attached

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

The Head of Fraud, Audit, Insurance and Risk presented a report setting out the Audit Teams’ progress against the annual plan. The report covers 1^st March to 30^th June 2025.

It was explained that the team have been focussing on completing reviews brought forward from 2024/25 and have also started work on the 2025/26 plan.

• Twelve reviews were ongoing
• Three reports were at the draft stage
• Four reviews had been allocated to auditors, so they could commence background work for the review.
• Nine first follow ups and four second follow up exercises have also been completed.
• Six reviews had been finalised from 2024/25 plan and,

Of the six reviews finalised, three reviews had limited assurance and three had moderate assurance.

Report subjects are listed at paragraph 2.2.1 of the report and were available for discussion in part B of the meeting.

The Governance & Assurance Board has met four times to discuss outstanding recommendations since the last progress report.

The June 2025 meeting received updates of 17 recommendations, 6 fundamental and 11 significant, which are still either partially implemented / not implemented.

Whilst there are a number of recommendations outstanding, the direction of travel of implemented recommendations is positive, and the number of total outstanding recommendations reported to the group has fallen from 27 to 17 since the last Audit Committee.

The team have continued to provide advice when requested and have actively been involved in undertaking investigations.

Since the 2025/26 plan was approved, one amendment is required, and that is to remove the review for Greater Manchester - Supporting Families following advice that an annual review is not required this financial year.

There is no requirement for the review since the funding has been effectively mainstreamed and integrated into Family Help Budgets – meaning the funding comes directly to the Council and not passported through the combined authority.   We are not going to be penalised if our targets for successful families are not met.

Internal Audit were not aware of this when the plan was created for 2025/26 when the provision for the review was made.

Those present were invited to ask questions and the following points were raised:

·         Councillor Moss referred to the schools reports and the 23 recommendations associated with those reports and asked if there was a requirement for the recommendations to be reported to the assurance Board who would attend.

The Monitoring Officer advised that the relevant head teacher would be invited.

It was agreed:

1.    That the contents of the report and the work undertaken by the Internal Audit team be noted

2.    That the changes to the 2025/2026 Audit Plan as set out in the report be approved.

To consider passing the appropriate resolution under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business since they involve the likely disclosure of the exempt information stated.

It was agreed:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100 (A)(4), Schedule 12(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, for the reason that the following business involves the disclosure of exempt information as detailed against the item

Report from the Section 151 Officer attached

The Head of Fraud, Audit, Insurance and Risk introduced the report which was provided for information only.

The report related to the reports highlighted in the Internal Audit Progress report which was delivered in the open session of the meeting.

Members were given the opportunity to seek clarification / challenge any parts of the report / audit reports which they have already received each month.

It was agreed

That the report be noted.

Report from the Section 151 Officer attached

The Head of FAIR introduced the report which was provided for information only.

The report related to the status of investigations as at 30 June 2025.

Members were given the opportunity to seek clarification and challenge any parts of the report.

It was agreed

That the report be noted.

Report from the Section 151 Officer is attached

Appendix A

The Head of FAIR presented a report providing an update on the Annual Counter Fraud Plan 2025/26 and the work undertaken by the Counter Fraud Team during the period 1^st April 2025 and 30^th June 2025.

It was agreed:

That the report and information received at the meeting be noted.