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Issue - meetings

External Audit Value for Money Report

 

 

Meeting: 30/01/2025 - Audit and Governance Committee (Item 42)

42 Auditor's Annual Report on West Oxfordshire District Council (Value for Money Arrangements and Recommendations) pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Purpose:

To provide Members with the Auditor’s Annual Report on Value for Money Arrangements and Recommendations 2023/24.

 

Recommendations:

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1.    Note the contents of the report and annex.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report provided the Committee with the Auditor’s Annual Report on Value for Money Arrangements and Recommendations 2023/24.

 

The Key Audit Partner of Bishop Flemming introduced the report, highlighting that:

  • The report could not be finalised until the auditor had given their opinion on the accounts.
  • The auditor looked at three key areas: financial sustainability, governance, and improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
  • There were three amber indicators where the auditor had made recommendations for improvements going forwards. Partly the amber indicators were a result of timing issues due to the audit backlog and the picture was positive overall.

 

The Committee questioned who provided the management responses, whether officers or the Executive. The Director of Finance explained that the Council’s senior management team had provided the responses and had disagreed with two of the auditor’s recommendations:

  • Management had disagreed with a recommendation that the corporate risk register is considered by the Audit and Governance Committee quarterly as the Committee did not meet on a quarterly cycle. The Committee commented that twice per year was a good frequency.
  • Management had not agreed with undertaking a Peer Review because of the Phase 2 transition of staff from Publica to the Council and the prospect of local government reorganisation.

 

The Committee debated the merits of undertaking a Peer Review at the current time and whether to raise this with the Executive. Members commented that given the current uncertainty around local government reorganisation and the pressure on officers this probably was not the right time for a peer review on balance.

 

The Committee noted that Democratic Services could provide information about what training individual members had undertaken.

 

The Chair proposed noting the content of the report. This was seconded by Councillor Beaney, put to a vote and agreed by the Committee.

 

 

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