Agenda item

To receive a report on the management responses to the External Auditor’s recommendations.

The Committee received a report on the management responses to the External Auditor’s recommendations as requested at the last A&S committee.

The following matters were considered:

Councillor Lawrence gave a verbal statement to the Committee.

a)            Chief Executive attendance. A Member of the Committee raised that a report should not be deferred because of the Chief Executives non-attendance. The Member asked for an explanation as to why the Chief Executive is not in attendance and specifically why they were not invited to the July Committee meeting, since they were specifically requested to attend by the Committee at the March 2025 meeting. The Chair clarified that the Chief Executive did not decide to not attend, but rather it was mutually agreed to bring the report back to July committee and get questions from Members and then have the Chief Executive attend the September meeting.

b)            Report concerns. A Member of the Committee raised concerns that the report highlighted SLT’s complacency with the External Auditors’ recommendations and did not acknowledge that there is any need for change or improvement. The Member stated that there is no point bringing the report back to the September Committee, unless significant changes are made. The Member stated that there has been a change in attitude from SLT, from the March meeting to the July Meeting, which has gone from acknowledging there is room for improvement and changes will be made, to saying there is nothing to change. The Chair noted the comments. The Chair invited questions and views from all Members to be fed back to SLT. The Chair set out that the report can be accepted, and questions followed up on, or it can be deferred and discussed again in September.

c)            Attendance. A Member of the Committee raised concern that the Chair did not follow the correct process to invite the Chief Executive to the July A&S Committee, as set out in the motion passed by the Committee in March. The Chair responded to explain that it is their responsibility to balance the needs of officers’ time and responsibility with the Committee’s requirements. The Chair explained that the report could be discussed, and further questions and comments raised to the Chief Executive before and at the September Committee meeting. The Chair reminded members that the Director of Corporate Services (S151) is present and is a part of the Strategic Leadership Team and would therefore be able to answer questions related to the report. The Member expressed frustration that the process set out in the operating framework, regarding requiring a senior officer’s attendance at committee, was not followed or adhered to. The Chair noted the comments.

d)            Exempt Items. A Member of the Committee suggested that an additional comment could be added to section 3.31 of the report to highlight that exempt agenda items are placed at the end of the agenda to ensure that the meeting can stay public for as long as possible and any conversations that do not need to be had in private are not done so. The Member stated that it is also important to have these restricted items at the end of the meeting because it avoids any difficulties members of the public might have attempting to rejoin the online meeting and makes it clear the meeting will not come back online. The Chair confirmed that exempt items are placed at the end of the agenda because once the Committee elects to exclude the press and public, they cannot return back to the public part of the meeting. The Chair informed the Committee that the Strategic Leadership Team can be asked to add an additional sentence to the report to clarify this.

e)            Acknowledgement. A Member of the Committee asked for an acknowledgement that the External Auditors identified a significant weakness in the Council’s arrangements for governance. The Chair confirmed that the question would be fed back to the Strategic Leadership Team. The Director of Corporate Services (S151) informed the Committee that the External Auditors have been asked to provide more information as to how they reached the conclusion they did, and to enable the Strategic Leadership Team to understand what areas were looked at and considered. The Member expressed frustration that there has not been an acknowledgement from a Member of SLT that the External Auditors identified a significant weakness in the Council’s arrangements for governance. The Member asked for an example of the Strategic Leadership Team acknowledging something hasn’t been done right and highlighting what will change. The Member also asked what specifically is going to change to address the significant weakness identified by the External Auditors. The Chair noted the comments and agreed the questions would be relayed to SLT for a response. The Director of Corporate Services (S151) noted that in 2023/24, when the referenced External Auditors’ finding was made, the overall opinion was an unqualified audit opinion, which in order to come to that conclusion, the Council’s arrangements would need to be good.

·                     The Chair proposed the report was deferred to the September 2025 Audit and Scrutiny Meeting, in order to update the report based on Members’ comments, get responses to questions raised during the discussion, and to have the Chief Executive will be present.

Councillor Ames seconded the proposal.

The Committee unanimously agreed the proposal and the item was deferred.

f)             Thanks. The Vice Chair expressed thanks to Councillor Ames and Councillor Lawrence for their enthusiastic approach to the meeting.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously agreed to defer the item to the September 2025 Audit and Scrutiny Committee Meeting.