Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Steven Ross (Independent co-opted Member) and Darren Armstrong (Deputy Director of Organisational Assurance and Resilience).

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

David Ewart (Chair) declared a personal interest as a member of CIPFA.

To receive any deputations requested by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received at the meeting.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Committee with a report outlining a draft response to the current Government consultation on potential changes to the current Standards regime for consideration.

Debra Norman (Corporate Director Law and Governance) introduced a report seeking views on the draft response which had been prepared on behalf of the Council, reflecting comments received from members, on the current Government consultation regarding potential changes to the current Standards regime.

Members were reminded that an outline of the consultation questions had been provided at the previous Committee meeting on 4 February 25 where it had been agreed that a draft response on behalf of the Council should be prepared for consideration by the Committee.

Members were advised that the proposed response, taking into account comments provided to the Corporate Director of Law & Governance by members of the committee, had been detailed within Appendix A of the report.  It was noted that where responses had included “unsure”, the draft response had included the option for which a particular preference had been expressed by one or more other responders and where there were a majority in favour of a response, that had been selected in the draft.  In certain instances the proposed response had remained uncertain, based on the responses received, with member’s views therefore being sought on the preferred option to be included within the final submission.

In taking the Committee through these outstanding questions, the following comments and views were expressed:

• Consultation Question 8 – regarding the provision of voting rights to Independent Persons and co-opted members.  Members advised they would be supportive of independent co-opted members having voting rights but not Independent Persons, given their role in providing independent scrutiny, challenge and advice when dealing with complaints that reached the Assessment Criteria Stage, and this was agreed as the basis of the response to be provided.

• Consultation Question 9 – regarding the Standards Committee being chaired by an Independent Person.  Members expressed support for this provision, recognising the value this already provided to the arrangements in Brent and this was agreed as the basis of the response to be provided.

• Consultation Question 20 – regarding the nomination of an alternative point of contact for constituents where it was deemed that suspension of a councillor was an appropriate response to a code of conduct breach.  Whilst supportive of the proposal, members highlighted concerns regarding the nomination process for any alternative point of contact which members felt should be a matter for the Council to agree.  As a result, it was agreed the response provided include an additional comment advising of members views that guidance should be provided on the process for nominating an alternative contact with the preference for this to be undertaken by the Council.

• Consultation Question 21 – regarding the maximum length of suspension should that power be reintroduced as a sanction.  Whilst supportive of no maximum length being specified members felt the reintroduction of this power would need to be accompanied by guidance establishing criteria that could be applied to determine the length of any suspension, which it was felt would also need to reflect the seriousness of any breach.  It was therefore agreed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive an update on the progress in finalising the External Auditor Annual Report and Council’s Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 24.

(Agenda republished to include the attached report on 21 February 2025)

David Ewart (as Chair) commenced consideration of the item by advising members that whilst considerable progress had been made in completion of the audit and finalising the Council’s 2023-24 Statement of Accounts it had not been possible for the final Audit Findings Report to be issued in time for consideration and approval at the meeting.  Recognising that the process was nearing completion, however, he advised that the Committee was being asked to consider recommending to the Audit & Standards Committee approval of the Statement of Accounts (subject to no other material changes being identified as required by the external auditors) and delegating approval of the draft letters of representation to the Corporate Director Finance & Resources.  In recognising the comments raised by the Committee when considering the update on the audit provided on 31 October 24 and at the previous meeting on 4 February 25, the Chair advised members that a review of the issues identified and lessons learnt as a result would be undertaken with the outcome provided for future review by the Committee.

Ravinder Jassar (Deputy Director of Finance) was then invited to provide an update on the current position with members advised of the progress made in addressing the outstanding areas of the audit identified at the previous meeting as part of the updated Audit Findings Report on 4 February 25.  Confirmation was provided that the audit of Plant, Property and Equipment (PPE), which was the original cause of the delay in the audit, had concluded with it anticipated that the final Statement of Accounts would be in a position to be signed off prior to the backstop deadline on 28 February 25, subject to no further material changes being required.

Sophia Brown (Key Audit Partner – Grant Thornton) was then welcomed to the Committee and invited to provide a further update for members on the current status of the audit, with the following issues noted:

• Whilst the Audit Findings Report had not been subject to further update, confirmation was provided that work on the PPE note to the accounts had been completed with the revised note included as part of the Financial Statements.

• Work was ongoing to complete the final internal consistency checks on the revised financial statements in order to provide final assurance on the application of the variances and adjustments identified.  At this stage, however, it was felt any further changes identified would be for disclosure purposes only and not likely to involve any material adjustments to the core Financial Statements. As such, it was confirmed that Grant Thornton were supportive of the recommended delegations being sought to enable the Statement of Accounts and Letters of Representation to be approved with the adjustments to be made included in the final updated Audit Findings report.

The Chair thanked Ravinder Jassar and Sophia Brown for their updates with confirmation provided by Sophia Brown that the internal consistency checks were not expected to identify any further material change or adjustments to the core Financial Statements.

As no further issues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To review the Audit & Standards Advisory Committee work programme 2024 – 25.

The Committee RESOLVED to note the Forward Plan and Work Programme for the remainder of the 2024-25 Municipal Year with it noted that a review of the number of items scheduled on the agenda for the 25 March 25 meeting would be undertaken with the Chair & Vice-Chair in advance of the agenda for that meeting being finalised.

Members were advised that a draft work programme for 2025-26 was being prepared for consideration by the Committee at their next meeting on 25 March 2025 with the submission of any comments regarding future areas and priorities for consideration welcomed in advance of that meeting, via Harry Ellis (Governance Team).  As an initial comment, a need was identified to ensure that the weakness and control deficiencies identified as a result of the external audit on the Statement of Accounts was included for consideration as a priority within the Internal Audit Plan.  In response, the Chair advised that whilst he would ensure these comments were fedback to Darren Armstrong (as Deputy Director of Organisational Assurance and Resilience) it was also important to note the advice at the previous meeting confirming that a number of these issues had already been included within the Plan.

No items have been identified in advance of the meeting that will require the exclusion of the press and public.

There were no items of business considered at the meeting which required the exclusion of the press and public.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director Democratic Services or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None identified at the meeting.