Agenda item

5.1

The external auditors, Janet Dawson and Hayley Clarke, from Ernst & Young were in attendance to give an update to members of the Committee on the progress of the audit of the 2020/21 Statement of Accounts.

5.2

Janet Dawson mentioned that due to staff absences, the external auditors were unable to carry out their audit procedures in September as originally planned. The audit would now take place in October and the external auditors aimed to update the Committee at the 16 December 2021 meeting.

5.3

Hayley Clarke mentioned that the risk assessment process, which was presented at a previous meeting, identified two potential risks of significant weakness and that those risks remained. The risks related to financial sustainability and regeneration programmes.

5.4

Members of the Committee asked questions and the key points to note were-

5.5

The Chair asked if information related to the two sub-risks had been shared with other areas within the Council. The Head of Strategic Finance, Dave Phillips, informed the Committee that the information had been communicated within the Audit Plan. The information had also been discussed with a range of Council officers including the Director of Resources and the Chief Executive.

5.6

Councillor Simon-Clement Jones asked what the external auditors had done to mitigate the two potential risks of significant weakness. Hayley Clarke explained that they had looked at the decisions made by the Council since the beginning of the financial year and what governance arrangements the Council had put in place since then.

5.7

Concerns were raised that West Bar and the Heart of the City programmes were appearing as risks in the report. Councillor Mohammed Mahroof referred to the Council’s agreement to lease office space in the city and mentioned how that could negatively impact the Council’s budget. The Director of Resources mentioned that reports on the two programmes were taken to the Co-operative Executive, which highlighted the Council’s decision making for those proposals. It was mentioned that information on the programmes were in the public domain.

5.8

The Head of Strategic Finance mentioned that it was good practice for the Committee to have an opportunity to meet in private with the external auditors, without officers being present, and invited the Committee to consider whether they wished to do so periodically. The Committee indicated that they would like to do so.

5.9

The Chair thanked the external auditors for attending the meeting and presenting their report.

5.10

RESOLVED: That (1) the Committee noted the audit progress update report and (2) a closed meeting be arranged.